Older readers of The Countryman remember with affection the magazine’s former home at Burford in Oxfordshire and in particular the lovely garden at the rear. Former editors often wrote about the how the garden was looking at different times of the year. We’re lucky enough to have a beautiful setting here in Yorkshire, too, and this last week has seen the trees and bushes in the small wood outside my window really burst into life. Trout in the stream have fattened up and the birds have created an enchanting choir. Some of the daffs on the estate are showing signs of age and blossom is now taking the lead role. With so many people moaning about the material side of life it is so uplifting to stroll around the grounds at present, admiring and enjoying the optimism of the natural world. The photo shows the old watermill where we occupy the top floor.

I appeared on a TV programme recently for which the producer’s brief was to find out whether England’s ‘green and pleasant land’ still existed. It’s a big question which deserves more than TV’s usual once-over-lightly treatment (or a glib little blog spot like this). I believe television itself has created a distorted vision of rural life and a generation of wannabee country folk who really don’t know what they will be letting themselves in for. The idyllic English countryside is portrayed in sun-blessed dramas; OTT presenters tempt us to ‘escape to the country’ by showing us around sumptuous country houses (have you noticed they never say why the current owners are selling up?); Kate and Bill tell us all about those lovely cute furry things that live there; and a growing number of ’shows’ featuring Blue Peter-type presenters take us around the countryside in nibble-sized chunks. Although I can see benefits coming through some programmes boosting the rural economy, with so little depth I can’t help thinking that many are doing more harm than good. Or maybe I’m not crediting viewers with enough common sense to realise there’s a lot more to the countryside than what appears on the box in the corner of their living rooms?

Being an inland, upland kind of chap I always enjoy watching the sun set over the west coast. Yes it’s often picturesque or dramatic as it disappears behind the hills where I live but I always feel there’s something more I’m missing out on, just out of sight. This proved too much of a tease at the weekend so I drove over the Pennines to witness a proper sunset. Those who live by the west coast may not understand why I feel an urge to write about such an ‘ordinary’ sunset, pictured here from above Morecambe Bay. But I was alone on a minor road on the edge of the hills; it was quiet apart from the birds, some fussing around during the last minutes before sunset; others - hunters - preparing for dusk. It was such a satisfying last half hour of sunlight and then as I headed back along the lonely Pennine pass known as the Trough of Bowland a tawny owl flew ahead of me for about a hundred yards, its beautiful, luxuriant coat highlighted by the headlamps. Nature should never be taken for granted.

I was surprised to hear this week that the 2009 Royal Show at Stoneleigh Park is to be the last. The Royal Agricultural Society of England (RASE) say that the response to the show in recent years left them with little option. Foot and mouth in 2001 closely followed by bad weather two years ago and blue tongue last year means the event has struggled both financially and in its ability to attract farming and non-farming visitors.
Alongside the Great Yorkshire this is the countryside’s biggest show of the year where farmers, rural businesses, breeders and countryside enthusiasts meet each other and the public - country dwellers and urbanites alike. I sincerely hope that smaller shows don’t follow the RASE’s lead and that all those who have over the years contributed to the Royal Show – businesses, sponsors, exhibitors and the public – will instead invest their money and time in smaller shows all around the country.
These events are not only about making a profit; we’re talking education, heritage and entertainment and a chance for like-minded people, many of whom lead isolated lives, to meet and discuss business. If other traditional country shows collapse in the same way as the Royal then it’s another nail in the coffin for our rural way of life.