Dame Jilly Cooper grew up in the countryside of Yorkshire. Apart from a brief spell in Camberley during the war, where she amused herself feeding “wartime carrots” to the Staff…
Features
Falconry: a most ancient and noble art
Falconry is one of the fastest-growing country pursuits, with 25,000 people (5,000 of whom hunt with hawks) involved, who between them keep about 75,000 birds of prey. There are more…
Back to basics – how the right base layers can be a game changer
We’re all more than capable of turning up and looking the part for a day in the field but it is what lies beneath that counts. Are your underpinnings less…
How to choose the best gundog for partridges
For wild greys and redlegs, you need a worker that’s keen, thorough and won’t mind the brambles. So which is the best gundog for partridges? Alec Marsh finds out…
A guide to Olympic shooting
The first shot ever fired as part of the modern Olympics was at the inaugural 1896 Games in Athens in the 200-metre military rifle competition. It wasn’t fired by the…
D-Day: 80th anniversary
In the grey dawn of D-Day, 6 June 1944, 20-year-old Trooper Lawrence Burn’s 35-tonne DD (duplex-drive) Sherman tank, its flotation screen raised, edged down the ramp of the landing craft…
Best proposals in the field
See how the Field man plights his troth. Rural romance from sporting swains in the field.
Small dogs: the ultimate country house companions
By their pet dogs let them be known; chatelaines of great houses, keen hunters and countrywomen to their boots. They run shoots, fending off their husband’s soaking wet spaniels and…
Field Interview: Clare Balding
“I’m very keen on Portuguese water dogs, Boxers of course. Oh, and I love lurchers and whippets. And the Hungarian pumi is a rather fabulous herding dog but rare in…
Christmas birds: from partridges to turtle doves
How did the turkey end up on our tables or a partridge in a pear tree? Birds play an interesting part in our festive traditions, writes Carla Passino