The onion may 14 by carolfarley

May 2014

WILD FLOWERS AT

N IT IO ED T RS

Also inside: TRUFFLING IN TENTERDEN NOTICEBOARD WIN BOOKS, DVDS AND SHOW TICKETS

GREAT DIXTER



WEALDEN BUSINESS GROUP Business networking that is friendly, supportive, sociable – and a great return on investment Do you own or manage a business? Would you like more business referrals? Is the support of like-minded professionals important to you? If the answer to these three questions is ‘Yes’, then why not apply to join The Wealden Business Group. No hard sell, no pressure, but definitely a sound return on investment. In our current financial year, our 34 members are on track to exchange more than 700 business leads. We meet every Wednesday for a networking breakfast at The Little Silver Country Hotel, Tenterden. We’re friendly, supportive and sociable, with a curry club, golf days, regular outings and an annual charity fundraising drive. In the past three years we have raised almost £15,000 for good causes. Join us for an initial free breakfast by contacting secretary Dee Bateman on 07958 612937, email deebateman@hotmail.co.uk. Membership of WBG is limited to one member per profession or trade. Check out our website – www.wealden-business-group.co.uk - and if your trade or profession is not already represented, then we’d love to hear from you.

This is the first edition of The Onion, a completely new and free magazine which will be delivered to you each month by The Royal Mail.

Advertising and Editorial:

01797 253668 Publication date: 1st of the month

Entries for Noticeboard email:

noticeboard@onionpublishing.co.uk

To send editorial/advertising material email: carol@onionpublishing.co.uk

For advertising sales enquiries email: sales@onionpublishing.co.uk

The Onion magazine is published by Onion Publishing Limited The Studio at Friars Cote Farm, Crockers Lane, Northiam, East Sussex TN31 6PY Editor & Publisher: Carol Farley Director & Publisher: Nicholas Farley Contributors: Caroline Boucher, Daisy David, Jessica Harding, Jack Hebden Print: Polestar Stones Cover: Great Dixter by Michael Turner

May 2014

We are all lucky enough to be living in an area of great beauty and of enormous historic importance, and the aim of The Onion is to provide an entertaining and above all highly readable magazine about this area, its people, happenings, events, clubs, organisations – in fact, everything and anything, large and small, which affects it and all of us who live here. There will be regular features on gardening, food, fashion, books, walks and a whole range of activities; there will be interviews with the famous, and some not so famous, people who live here, and we will be seeking out and drawing attention to places of interest which are within easy reach and worth visiting. In this issue Nick Farley talks to Head Gardener Fergus Garrett about the stunning meadow gardens at Great Dixter. Equally important, we also want to publicise any event with which you are associated. So, please let us know about your club, group or charity and we will make sure that your events and club nights are included at no charge in the ‘Noticeboard’ columns which will be a central feature of every edition of The Onion, and will be seen in every single one of the 22,873 homes in our area. I hope you like this first issue and that you find it both useful and a good read. Please let us know what you think and what else you’d like us to include in future issues. Carol Farley Editor The Onion Magazine

onionpublishing.co.uk

Contents

Polesden Lacey House open daily

The house with its rich collection of art and stories provides a fascinating insight into the Edwardian era.

uncovering the stories

PLUS a new display in the private apartments of former owner Mrs Greville, reveals more about this intriguing society hostess...

01372 452048 nationaltrust.org.uk/polesdenlacey

6 Noticeboard

What’s on in your local community

8 Truffling in Tenterden

On the secret trail of delicious chocolate

12 Great Dixter

World famous and ‘next door’

20 A Good Book Our book reviews

26 Rye Harbour Wildlife

The new arrivals at the Nature Reserve

29 Farmers’ Markets Where to go in your area

Beth Wilson

Professional singer available for weddings, private and corporate events

33 Hat Chat

Meet our own milliner to the stars

39 Good Gadgets Two surprising finds

40 Gardening

What’s in a label?

43 Eat

The Great House

46 Business Cards

Small ads for trades and services

47 Win

Enter our competitions

Please call on 07940 736577 www.Bethwilsonmusic.co.uk 4

The Onion magazine

The contents of this magazine are protected by copyright and nothing can be reprinted without prior permission of the publisher. The publisher has tried to ensure that all information is accurate but does not take any responsibility for any mistakes or omissions. We take no responsibility for advertisments printed in the magazine or loose inserts that might be delivered alongside it. © Onion Publishing Limited.

onionpublishing.co.uk

You owe it to yourself to eat good bread! The Lighthouse Bakery is an award winning, independent artisan bakery founded in London in 2000. The term ‘artisan’ simply means that we use few automated processes, relying instead on traditional methods. Artisan methods produce bread that is full of complex flavour and texture, and that retains the nutritional values of the high-quality ingredients used. The wholesale bakery offers a large range of fabulous speciality breads, but we champion the traditional English white wheat and wholemeal breads. We are interested in quality rather than quantity, making and baking bread in small batches. Set amidst the rolling hills of the High Weald and overlooking Bodiam Castle the Lighthouse Bakery School offers a whole range of mouth-watering one day courses for everyone, from complete beginners to serious cooks, chefs and bakers, and there are days for children too. Each course includes a delicious, home-made lunch, recipes and, of course, you take home everything you’ve baked. More importantly, you take away new skills and the confidence to carry on baking when you get home. Courses cost £175.00 per person for the day. For information on course availability, brochures and gift vouchers for the school, or for wholesale or stockist information for the bread, please visit www.lighthousebakery.co.uk, email liz@lighthousebakery.co. uk , or simply give us a ring on 01580 831 271 or 07946 530 969.

Noticeboard... EXHIBITIONS … CONCERTS … FETES & FAIRS … CHARITY EVENTS … THINGS TO DO

Don’t forget to contact noticeboard@onionpublishing. co.uk about any events you want to promote. This is a free service for all local clubs, associations, charities, and projects to make announcements and tell people about your events. Perhaps you’re looking for volunteers, or more members, or have a great event you’ve organized. This is a regular feature of The Onion each month so do tell us about it and we’ll pass it on to everyone in these Noticeboard pages. Tenterden 365 – a year of pictures from the community We would like as many residents as possible to take part in a community photographic project designed to record a year in the life of Tenterden during 2014 with 365 photographs, one for each day of the year. There will be as few rules as possible so ANYONE, of ANY age can take pictures of just about ANY subject and with ANY type of equipment. The subject must be in or around Tenterden. It is NOT a photography competition and you don’t need an expensive camera, just something that will take a picture. Tenterden 365 is a ‘Not for Profit’ project run by Stuart Kirk of Tenterden Photography. So let’s tell everyone about it and have fun with pictures through 2014. Telephone 01580 764899, email stuart@Tenterden365.co.uk, www. tenterden365.co.uk. Become a Jerwood Gallery Volunteer If you would like to meet like-minded people, be active within your local community, learn new skills and expand your knowledge of 20th and 21st century art, the Jerwood Gallery would love to hear from you. Every volunteer receives full induction and training. Volunteers can also enjoy free entry to the gallery, discount in both the gallery

10>

shop and café, free entry tickets for guests, and social events. The Jerwood Gallery, Rock-a-Nore Road, Hastings TN34 3DW. www.jerwoodgallery.org. ABBA Tribute Band at the Eastbourne Bandstand Friday 2 May 20:00 Complete show of the supergroups Greatest Hits. The ABBA Tribute Show is the most exciting and spectacular production of its kind. With superb vocal harmonies, brilliantly choreographed routines and polished musical arrangements, which makes them the number one ABBA show in the United Kingdom. The Tribute Show perform all the hits from the ABBA Gold album including: Dancing Queen, Voulez Vous, Super Trooper, Waterloo, Knowing Me Knowing You, Money Money Money, Take A Chance On Me, Mama Mia, Lay All Your Love On Me, SOS, Fernando, Gimme Gimme Gimme, Does Your Mother Know, The Name Of The Game, Thank You For The Music and The Winner Takes It All. Advance tickets are available from the Seafront office, online www. eastbournebandstand.co.uk or by telephone 01323 410611. Knead a little lift? Learn to bake bread at the Lighthouse Bakery School. Saturday 3 May Introduction to Baking at the Lighthouse Bakery School. Each course lasts one day and includes tuition, the recipes made on the day, a lovely home-made lunch, a fabulous Lighthouse Bakery apron, and all the produce you make on the day. Cost £175. If you wish to book, ring on 01580 831721 or visit the website for more information at www. lighthousebakery.co.uk.

YOUR COMMUNITY NOTICE BOARD IS FOR LOCAL EVENTS AND INFORMATION. TO FEATURE HERE, PLEASE EMAIL US AT NOTICEBOARD@ONIONPUBLISHING.CO.UK

Delivered by the Royal Mail to 22,873 local homes every month in Appledore, Benenden, Brede, Brightling, Broad Oak, Burwash, Camber, Cranbrook, Cripps Corner, Etchingham, Hawkhurst, Hurst Green, Icklesham, John’s Cross, Peasmarsh, Robertsbridge, Rye, Salehurst, Sandhurst, Staple Cross, Tenterden, Udimore, Winchelsea, Wittersham and surrounding villages. 6

The Onion magazine

onionpublishing.co.uk

Letting the

TRUFFLES out of the bag Carol Farley on the trail of delicious chocolate

I’m going to come clean right at the start: I love chocolate and although I love artisan and upmarket chocolate, I have also been known to be tempted by a common old Fry’s Chocolate Cream bar too. However, we are incredibly lucky to have one of the best artisan chocolatiers right here on our doorstep in Tenterden, although you might be unaware of this because he doesn’t advertise and he doesn’t promote himself. In fact, Kevin Bryant and his wife, Lindsay, do most things a little differently. As a small boy Kevin wanted to own a sweet shop and he has fond memories of visiting The Corner Shop in Tenterden from his home in Wittersham. But, of course, life intervened and took him in the usual direction of career and a series of jobs, including working in a bank in London, before one day Lindsay’s delicious, hand-made lemon truffles finally sparked an idea which ultimately led to their buying and moving into their current premises at 128 High Street, Tenterden to set up Truffles@Coco. 8

The Onion magazine

Originally they had not intended to make their own chocolates, they were going to buy in stock from elsewhere, but they found that no-one made them exactly the way they wanted, and so, just two weeks before the shop was due to open, they made the life-changing decision to learn how to make their own. Armed only with a kitchen full of natural ingredients Kevin and Lindsay thus began the process of developing their own recipes. Things have moved a long way from those early years, but throughout they have always stuck to their guns about ensuring that their chocolate is of the finest quality and is traceable right back to source. They only deal with small producers and they know who all their growers are. To these two perfectionists it’s all about the taste and to achieve the best taste they use fifteen basic types of milk and dark Grand Cru chocolate, and blends of them, and, surprisingly to me, no sugar is added. Sugar is only added when it’s a flavour, such as molasses. And, unlike some wellknown chocolate brands, Kevin and Lindsay don’t ever bulk their chocolate out or whip it to expand it. They are not trying to sell chocolates to the world: Kevin’s repeated expression is “if people find us and they like us – great”. In fact, Truffles@Coco is probably one of Tenterden’s best-kept secrets: they don’t advertise, they don’t promote their products, they are simply ‘found’ by people who pass the word on to other people, people from far and wide, people who really care about great chocolate. onionpublishing.co.uk

Despite this apparent anonymity the word gets about and gets a long way from Tenterden too; not a day goes by when they’re not sending chocolate to people around the world including to, for example, regular customers such as the House of Commons and the Queen’s Royal Lancers regiment. However, they also turn down work and have turned down commissions for large complicated chocolate ‘building’ projects because they prefer to make for taste rather than for appearance. So why are these chocolates so special? Well, this is how Kevin makes a truffle: first the filling is made in a rectangular tray, then Lindsay is in charge of hand-cutting the slab into squares with a spatula – they’ve tried everything else but Kevin’s old spatulas are apparently the best thing for this job. With a brush Kevin then painstakingly paints all the sides of each individual square, by hand, with an extremely thin coating of chocolate before tossing each one into a bowl of cocoa powder until it has set. Afterwards most of that cocoa powder is dusted off with a badger-hair brush (badger hair? Of course!) so that the outer coating of chocolate is just enough and doesn’t mask the flavour of the centre: Kevin is adamant that the flavour should be the star of the show rather than any unnecessary decoration. If you look carefully you might even see the imprint of Kevin’s latex-gloved fingers on the chocolate coating. These really are genuinely hand-made chocolates. May 2014

The attention to detail is remarkable and in their milk chocolates they use only fresh vanilla at the rate of one and a half pods of vanilla for about 100 chocolates. (Whereas a ratio of as little as one pod per 1000 chocolates would be more usual.) Interestingly, Kevin doesn’t measure anything. None of his recipes is written down. He seems to have an innate ability to know what’s going to work … and of course his customers tell him what their favourites are. When asked about the most adventurous thing he’d ever been asked to do, he said that he’d put engagement rings in Easter eggs (not so difficult, apparently), put a cuddly toy monkey in an egg and placed a bottle of wine in an Easter egg (quite tricky). He even, with the aid of a dentist, once tried to make chocolates with laughing gas in them, but sadly that wasn’t a great success because the gas dissipated two quickly … although they did have a hell of a lot of fun trying. So, there you are, if you want some great chocolates that taste absolutely fantastic, or even a fabulous cup of coffee – there are those who say they make the best coffee in town – head straight to Truffles@Coco in Tenterden High Street, just don’t say I sent you. FIND OUT MORE

Truffles@Coco is at 128 High Street, Tenterden, Kent TN30 6HT. Tel: 01580 763501 The Onion magazine

EXHIBITIONS … CONCERTS … FETES & FAIRS … CHARITY EVENTS ... THINGS TO DO

Motorbike Autojumble & Camp Out at Bewl Water Saturday 3 May and Sunday 4 May Organised by Bentley’s Pit Stop on the A21 raising money for the Army Benevolent Fund. Camping £5 a night. Bike entry £3. For more details telephone 07828 772475. Spring Estate Trail at Ightham Mote Saturday 3 May to Monday 5 May 10:30 to 16:00 Kite flying, geocaching and tree climbing as well as being able to enjoy a self-guided trail around the beautiful estate. Normal admission charges apply. Mote Rd, Sevenoaks, TN15 0NT. Telephone 01732 810378.

15>

will follow the tour. Please be aware this is not for large groups or coach parties and prebooking is essential. www. biddendenvineyards.com, telephone 01580 291726. Have-a-Go Longbow at Scotney Castle Saturday 3 May 14:15 to 15:15 Learn to shoot like the Archers of Agincourt. Enjoy a full hour of expert tuition in the estate. £18 per person. Booking essential on 01227 752375. Lamberhurst, TN3 8JN. Telephone 01892 893820.

Guided Walk in Medieval Parkland at Knole Saturday 3 May to Sunday 4 May 14:00 to 15:00 Join a gentle guided walk to hear more about the deer, the people who’ve lived there, and events associated with Knole. Families, buggies, wheelchairs and scooters are welcome. Normal admission charges apply. Sevenoaks, Kent TN15 0RP. Telephone 01732 462100.

Ansel Krut: Verbatim at the Jerwood Gallery Opening on Saturday 3 May The Spring Show, an exhibition of paintings by Ansel Krut (b.1959) opens on 3 May. The exhibition will bring together a selection of Krut’s works, many of which haven’t been seen previously, profiling the output of this extraordinary and influential artist. The Jerwood Gallery, Rock-a-Nore Road, Hastings TN34 3DW. www. jerwoodgallery.org.

Free Guided Tour of Biddenden Vineyard Saturday 3 May (and every Saturday throughout May) 09:45. Arrive at Biddenden Vineyard at 09:45 for a free cup of coffee and your tour to begin at 10:00 and learn the history of the vineyard. A chance to taste the wines, ciders and apple juice all free of charge in the vineyard shop

An introduction to Rye Harbour Nature Reserve (2 miles) Saturday 3 May 14:00 to 16:00 The first in a series of three walks that aim to introduce people to the nature reserve and its wildlife, and perhaps to take you to a part of the reserve you have never visited before. In this walk you will look at wildlife on the new saltmarsh and visit the birdwatching hides at the Wader,

ORTHOTICS for painful feet: running tennis aerobics squash walking hiking athletics golf workwear

Custom orthotics Premium over the counter orthotics Standard insoles

Sue Ferguson Podiatrist

Orthotics

01580 765546 Tenterden

www.sueferguson.co.uk 10 The Onion magazine

onionpublishing.co.uk

UNEMPLOYABLES CRICKET CLUB WE ARE LOOKING FOR NEW PLAYERS Do you sometimes think you’d like to play village cricket, but don’t want to play every weekend? Then the Unemployables Cricket Club could be for you. The Unemployables Cricket Club was set up 14 years ago by a group of self-employed cricket lovers (hence the name) to play a few friendly games a season. We had all played cricket at one time or another to various levels but over the years many of us had drifted away from the game because we didn’t have the time to play every weekend for a village club. The Unemployables are a wandering team who play around 8 games a season against local village clubs. We don’t have a home ground but we do hire the Northiam pitch once or twice a season so we can offer teams an away fixture. As we don’t have a ground to look after we don’t need an annual membership fee. Players pay a £5 match fee We welcome players of all abilities and ages. Our teams have included players as young as 10 and old as 70. The idea behind the Unemployables is that we try to get everyone in the team involved in the game - you won’t be fielding out on the boundary all afternoon and then bat number eleven. If you want to bowl we will try to give you a few overs but, if not, you’ll bat up the order. Games are played in a very friendly atmosphere. If you’re out first ball or you drop a catch that’s not a problem, we’ve all done it! We’re always on the look-out for people to join us and we would be very pleased to welcome new players (especially batsmen) to our club. So if you’re interested call Terry on 01797 253375 to find out more.

OSTEOPATHY A lifestyle choice

Bill Ferguson Osteopath Headaches are more common than Back Pain

01580 762754 Tenterden

www.billferguson.co.uk

Nick Farley visits

Great Dixter

World famous and ‘next door’ The meadow landscape which you will see at Dixter might once have been an everyday country sight, but not any more. Farmers have to manage their meadows commercially as pasture, or as a source of hay and silage for animal feed, but Dixter’s Great Dixter is famous for so many things but for me it is the meadows are managed for aesthetic effect and for the wildlife they attract and support. wild flower meadows that are its star attractions in spring A farmer doesn’t want and early summer when they are flowering ‘weeds’; at their best. It’s important here, It is difﬁcult to convey in photographs Dixter does. In short, however, to establish exactly the impact of the meadows when they Dixter’s meadows are what we mean by ‘meadows’. To are in full ﬂower gardeners’ meadows many people a meadow, I guess, and it was Dixter’s is simply a large grassy place great gardening owner, Christopher Lloyd, containing a few buttercups or other ‘weeds’ and perhaps and his Head Gardener, Fergus Garrett a cow or two. A Great Dixter meadow is nothing like that at all: a Dixter meadow can be quite small – in fact it may just who, as it were, sowed the seeds for the wonderful Dixter meadows we see today. be average lawn size and it might not even be very grassy; and although it will certainly have an abundance of wild To talk to Fergus about the meadows in his flower ‘weeds’, it will definitely have no bovine life. Equally certainly, however, it will have oodles of wild life. charge and to attend one of his courses on Great Dixter is a world famous garden. Visitors come from every part of the globe specially to see it, and yet for us it’s right here under our noses. I shouldn’t think that anyone reading these pages lives more than a 30 minute drive from Dixter. We can drop in ‘next door’ any old time.

12 The Onion magazine

onionpublishing.co.uk

meadow gardening is a revelation. You may imagine, as I did, poor fool, that a meadow garden could be left to itself to get on with life and all manner of wonderful plants would spring out of the soil hell bent on delighting all and sundry. Well, as I have found to my cost, if you leave a meadow to look after itself it will simply become a ghetto of docks and thistles, these being just about the only weeds that can out-muscle the grass. Dixter’s meadows may look like a floral triumph of neglect over order but they actually take one hell of a lot of managing. Fortunately, I understand that the excellent book ‘Meadows’ by Christopher Lloyd and Fergus will once again be in print this year and if you are going to try your hand at creating a meadow garden get this book the split-second it is published. Fergus is updating it as you read this. It is difficult to convey in photographs the impact of the meadows when they are in full flower, and equally difficult to describe their considerable but rather different impact when they are not. This is particularly true of the two relatively small meadows which flank the main path to the front door and which are, therefore, the first view of the garden a visitor gets. Their position means that these two sentinels cannot be ignored, avoided or hidden. Their situation, either side of the main entrance, leads one to expect them to be formal lawns and it can come as a bit of a shock to the first time visitor to find these lawns far from formal, indeed they are often rather unruly as long grass and all manner of wild flowers and naturalised bulbs fight for attention in a succession of colour from early spring to late summer. Then, when all the flowering has finished and the ‘weeds’ have set seed the, by now very tall, brown grass straggles and flops May 2014

Images from left: The magnificent Long Border seen from one of the meadows (Michael Turner). Above top: Dixter’s beautifully restored oasts are the perfect backdrop to a meadow in mid June. Above: Irises in a tangle of meadow grass in July (Carol Casselden) The Onion magazine 13

Above: Wild orchids and oxeye daisies fill the meadows in late May early June. Right: Great Dixter

scruffily about, sometimes beaten down by summer rain, until finally it is cut leaving patches of of frankly rather unsightly coarse brown patches to welcome the visitor. To some unprepared visitors it’s probably a bit like turning up at Buckingham Palace and finding a couple of scruffy blokes in jeans lounging about on guard rather than the smart chaps in bearskins and scarlet tunics which they were expecting, but those of us who see those meadows in their spring and summer glory recognise that this… er….autumnal scruffiness is the price we have to pay for it. There are many different stunning meadow areas at Dixter each with its own particular flavour: the drained upper moat with its celandines, snakeshead fritillary, summer snowflakes and wild gladioli; the orchard meadows covered in daffodils in early spring – planted, incidentally, over 100 years ago. Then there are primroses, anemones, wild orchids, Queen Anne’s Lace, buttercups (of course) and so much more. And when you have exhausted the meadows, or they you, there are the more formal, and perhaps more orthodox, parts of this spectacular garden to enjoy. 14 The Onion magazine

If you have travelled to Dixter from distant parts you probably only get a once-in-alifetime snapshot view of it; it is, after all, difficult to make frequent visits from Tokyo or even from Towcester, but we can drop in ‘next door’ easily at any time and see the garden in its many moods as the seasons change, and I urge you to do just that. FIND OUT MORE

Admission is £11 but the price of an annual ticket is £22 and with that you can go as often as you like. A two person annual ticket is only £30 which is even better value – the meadows alone are worth that. If you want to learn more about meadow gardening Dixter runs an excellent study day conducted by Fergus Garrett himself, and I can highly recommend it. You will learn with talks and slides in the main hall and practical sessions in the garden. This year’s course is on Monday June 9th. www.greatdixter.co.uk onionpublishing.co.uk

EXHIBITIONS … CONCERTS … FETES & FAIRS … CHARITY EVENTS ... THINGS TO DO

<10

Quarry and Ternery Pools. Meet at Rye Harbour car park. No booking necessary. Donations appreciated. www. sussexwildlifetrust.org.uk/whatson, email rhnroffice@ sussexwt.org.uk, telephone 01797 227784. ‘Medieval Merriments’ at Bodiam Castle Saturday 3 May to Monday 5 May 11:00 to 16:00 You are invited to celebrate the arrival of Spring with some Medieval games and music. Bodiam Castle, Bodiam, nr Robertsbridge, East Sussex TN32 5UA. www.nationaltrust. org.uk/bodiamcastle, email bodiamcastle@nationaltrust. org.uk, telephone 01580 830196. Two Bluebell & Wildflower Walks at Sissinghurst Castle Sunday 4 May 10:00 to 14:30 and again at 14:00 to 16:30 Come to see the woodland at this beautiful time of year on a guided walk with the ranger team, finish the walk off with a free cream tea in the restaurant. Meet outside the restaurant. Supervised children are welcome. Please bring sturdy footwear suitable for walking around the estate on muddy paths. Booking essential. Telephone 0844 249 1895. Ellen Terry’s war exhibition at Smallhythe Place Sunday 4 May 11:00 to 17:00 An exhibition on Ellen Terry’s visit to Australia and New Zealand and the dramatic events that affected her life. For more information contact Katie Shaw katie.shaw@ nationaltrust.org.uk, telephone 01580 762334.

18>

‘Wader Watch’ at Rye Harbour Nature Reserve (3 miles) Sunday 4 May 04:30 to 08:00 The early birdwatcher catches the bird... an early morning walk for a good chance to see a range of wading birds and to count the Whimbrel leaving their roost at dawn. Meet at Rye Harbour car park. No booking necessary. Donations appreciated. www.sussexwildlifetrust.org.uk/whatson, email rhnroffice@sussexwt.org.uk, telephone 01797 227784. Tenterden May Fayre Monday 5 May 12noon to 16:00 Traditional May Fayre at the Recreation Ground, Tenterden Morris & Maypole Dancing at Standen Monday 5 May 13:00 to 16:00 See a performance from the Wild Hunt Bedlam Morris Dancers, plus have a go at dancing around the maypole yourself. W Hoathly Rd, East Grinstead, Sussex RH19 4NE. Telephone 01342 323029 Tulip Festival at Pashley Manor Gardens Until Bank Holiday Monday 5 May 11:00 to 17:00 2014 marks the 20th anniversary of the Tulip Festival at Pashley where over 25,000 bulbs in more than 100 varieties are planted throughout the gardens to stunning effect. Representatives from Bloms Bulbs will be present throughout the festival with a display of 2,000 cut tulips

Beautiful lawns at affordable pr ices SEE RESULTS IN JUST

professional la wn

10 DAYS care

2013-2014

Basic lawn treatment plans are available to improve your lawns all year round. Fc` NXi[ `j pfli cfZXc CXne DXjk\i fg\iXk`m\% Fc` _Xj 0 p\Xij f] \og\i`\eZ\ n`k_ CXne DXjk\i Xe[ _Xj jg\ek _`j \ekì\ nfibè^ ZXi\\i è kli] ZXi\%

ASK FOR YOUR

FREE LAWN ANALYSIS

8jb X i\Xc \og\ik XYflk pfli cXne% :Xcc '/'' *)- ,'(' Xe[ Yffb X =I<< cXne ZfejlckXk`fe n`k_ Fc`# fi k\ok k_\ nfi[ cXne kf -'... n`k_ pfli gfjkZf[\ Xe[ n\ n`cc ZXcc pfl YXZb%

nnn%cXnedXjk\i%Zf%lb May 2014

The Onion magazine 15

Asparagus - spears of joy There is always a sense of eager anticipation when the first purple green spears of asparagus push their way through the soil. Farm workers know that it heralds the start of six to eight weeks of back breaking work as the spears are picked and graded out in the fields. The precious harvest then finds its way to farm shops, supermarkets and market stalls throughout the country. British

asparagus is hailed by leading chefs as the best in the world. While we might all grumble about the British weather, the UK climate allows asparagus stems to develop slowly producing a full, sweet flavour and a fine, tender texture quite unlike any other crop. And because it’s grown on our doorstep, we can enjoy British asparagus at its most flavoursome and nutritious – that’s no doubt why,

Asparagus Frittata Ingredients 1 bundle of asparagus spears (approx. 450g), woody stem removed 1 tbsp olive oil 1 small onion finely chopped 1 clove garlic, crushed 6 eggs, beaten 125g crumbled feta cheese 125g pancetta cubed 100g boiled potatoes, sliced Handful of basil leaves Serves 4

This is lovely as a light lunch with friends. It is very quick and easy to prepare and is best served with a glass of chilled white wine! 1. Blanch the asparagus spears in boiling water for three minutes. Plunge straight into cold water to keep the bright green colour, drain and set aside. 2. In a heavy based frying pan, sauté the onion and garlic over a gentle heat until softened and golden. Add the onion and garlic mix to the beaten eggs and season well. Mix the crumbled feta into the egg mixture. 3. Fry the pancetta in a splash of oil until crisp, add the asparagus spears, potatoes and roughly torn basil leaves. Pour over the egg mixture and cook over a medium heat until nearly set.

4. Place the pan under a hot grill to finish off the top. 5. Cut into slices and serve with fresh crusty bread and a green salad.

Warm Asparagus with Toasted Pine Nuts and Parmesan shavings This simple dish makes a wonderful dinner party starter and really does celebrate the flavour of asparagus. 1. Bring a pan of salted water to the boil, add the asparagus and cook for 3-4 minutes. Drain and keep warm. 2. Add the butter and pine nuts to a cold frying pan and heat gently. Make sure the butter does not burn, but just turns a golden brown and begins to foam slightly. Add the lemon juice, give a quick stir and remove from the heat. 3. Arrange the asparagus spears on to four plates and spoon a little of the butter and pine nut mixture over the top of each plate. 16 The Onion magazine

4. Shave the parmesan over the top and serve immediately.

Ingredients 24 spears of best grade asparagus (woody end removed) 100g unsalted butter 75g pine nuts Juice of 1 lemon 35g parmesan Serves 4

onionpublishing.co.uk

during the season, we Brits eat every last British asparagus spear ourselves, not one is exported overseas. Asparagus is often thought of as being incompatible with wine, but if you choose carefully you can find a wine that will taste delicious and complements most asparagus dishes. Fruity wines tend not to go well with asparagus and can taste rather

metallic. As a rule, rosés and wines with oaky or tannic elements are best avoided when choosing a wine to accompany an asparagus dish. Instead try to enjoy your asparagus with a wine that doesn’t conflict with its ‘green flavour’ - Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio, White Zinfandel, Beaujolais and Pinot Noir should all work very well.

Asparagus Soup Ingredients 25g butter 1 bundle of asparagus (approx. 450g) chopped with the woody end discarded 1 small onion, finely chopped 2 garlic cloves, crushed 2 generous handfuls of fresh spinach 750mls of vegetable stock Toasted croutons and little Single cream to drizzle Serves 4

This vibrant soup is bursting with colour and flavour. It’s an excellent way to use second grade asparagus spears. 1. Fry the asparagus in the melted butter in a large pan for a few minutes to soften. 2. Add the chopped onion and garlic and continue to cook for 5-10 minutes, stirring all the time. 3. Add the spinach and pour over the stock, bring to the boil. Turn off the heat and blitz with a hand blender. 4. Season generously with sea salt and black pepper. If it needs it add a little more hot water to achieve the desired consistency. 5. Ladle into bowls and drizzle with a little of the cream and sprinkle with a handful of croutons.

6. Serve immediately with warm granary bread

Asparagus and Ham Tartlets These tasty tartlets would make a delicious starter or could be packed up for a springtime picnic… 1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Whisk together eggs and cream and season well, set aside. 2. Brush each sheet of filo with the melted butter, then cut into 8 equal squares. 3. Layer three sheets of filo at different angles into the holes of a muffin tin. 4. Divide the sliced asparagus, ham and most of the chives into the pastry cases and pour the egg mixture over the top. 5. Cook in the oven for 20 minutes until golden and just set. Sprinkle May 2014

with the remaining chives and serve immediately.

Ingredients 3 large eggs 150ml double cream 3 large filo sheets 75g butter, melted 250g asparagus, woody stems removed, sliced 90g ham shredded Small bunch fresh chives, chopped Makes 8 tartlets

The Onion Magazine 17

<15

EXHIBITIONS … CONCERTS … FETES & FAIRS … CHARITY EVENTS ... THINGS TO DO

and to offer advice and take bulb orders for delivery in the Autumn. Admission £10.00. www.pashleymanorgardens. com, email info@pashleymanorgardens.com, telephone 01580 200888. 1812 Firework Concert at the Bandstand, Eastbourne Wednesday 7 May 19:30 to 22:00 A tradition celebrated every Wednesday evening, consisting of a tumult of concert music ending triumphantly with Tchaikovsky’s 1812 overture accompanied by a spectacular Firework display. Licensed Bar. Advance tickets are available from the Seafront office, online www.eastbournebandstand.co.uk or by telephone 01323 410611. In advance - Adult £7.50, Child £3.75. On the night – Adult £9, Child £4.75. Knead a little lift? Learn to bake bread at the Lighthouse Bakery School Wednesday 7 May Italian Bakery at the Lighthouse Bakery School. Each course lasts one day and includes tuition, the recipes made on the day, a lovely home-made lunch, a fabulous Lighthouse Bakery apron, and all the produce you make on the day. Cost £175. If you wish to book, ring on 01580 831721 or visit the website for more information at www. lighthousebakery.co.uk. The Seagull by Chekhov Thursday 8 May at 19:45 A playful and inventive adaptation of Chekhov’s play as performed by Shifting Sands Theatre. Considered one of Chekhov’s major works, it interweaves both comic and tragic situations in the lives of a famous actress, her son and their lovers. Queen’s Hall Theatre, Cranbrook School, Cranbrook, Kent, TN17 3JD. www.queenshalltheatre. co.uk or telephone the Box Office on 01580 711856. Freddie & The Mercurys at the Eastbourne Bandstand Friday 9 May 20:00 Get ready to see Queen rock again on stage in the form of one of the best tribute bands around today. Fronted by Gary Goodmaze as Freddie and four of the best musicians alongside him this show literally rocks. All the big bombastic hits, all the costumes, all the moves and a concert that will be GUARANTEED TO BLOW YOUR MIND. Advance tickets are available from the Seafront office, online www.eastbournebandstand.co.uk or by telephone 01323 410611. Vinehall Classical Concerts present the Aronowitz Ensemble (Ldr: Guy Johnston, Cello). Saturday 10 May at 19:30 Performing works by Dohnanyi, Schubert and Tchaikovsky. The Aronowitz Ensemble was formed out of the desire of seven outstanding international artists, such as the BBC Young Musician winner cellist Guy Johnston, to explore and perform chamber music together in the highly adaptable combination of string sextet and piano. Since its sell-out debut at St John’s, Smith Square in 2004, the 18 The Onion Magazine

24>

Ensemble has maintained a busy schedule of engagements across the UK and beyond, covering a vast range of repertoire – familiar, neglected and new. For full details/ free mailing/tickets phone 01580 883092 or write to AG Whitehead, Vinehall School, Robertsbridge, East Sussex TN32 5JL. Email geoffreywhitehead@vinehallschool.com. Birdwatching for all (2 miles) Saturday 10 May 10:00 to 12:00 What better way to celebrate World Migratory Bird Day than with a birdwatching walk at Rye Harbour when the breeding season is in full swing. We should see Sandwich and Common Terms and Black-headed Gulls on their nests. Two walks will take place: join the family/beginners group walk or the more experienced birders group walk. Both walks will be accessible for wheelchairs. Meet at Rye Harbour car park. No booking necessary. Donations appreciated.www.sussexwildlifetrust.org.uk/whatson, email rhnroffice@sussexwt.org.uk, telephone 01797 227784. Early Bird Walk at Sissinghurst Castle Saturday 10 May 06:00 to 11:00 Dig out those walking shoes and take a guided ramble around the Sissinghurst estate with a ranger, to see what flora and fauna you can see. Warm up afterwards with the included breakfast. Suitable for Groups. Please wear sturdy footwear appropriate for rough terrain. Please meet by the restaurant. Supervised children who can walk long distances are welcome. Booking essential 0844 249 1895. £12.50. Arts and Craft Fair at Homewood School and Sixth Form Centre Saturday 10 May 09:00 Due to the success of the Christmas Craft Fair Homewood School in Tenterden is holding an annual Spring Fair. The number of stalls is limited to 50 and allocated on a first come first served basis. Stalls of any one kind will be limited to four to allow for stall holders to maximize their sales on the day. For further information or to book a stall contact Mrs Fowler on 01580 764222, email m.fowler@ homewood.kent.sch.uk. Roller Disco in Tenterden Saturday 10 May Family session 18:30 – 20:00 Over 8s, Teens & Adults 20:30 – 22:00 Only £5.00 each including skate hire NO in-line skates allowed. Tenterden Leisure Centre. Kent TN30 6RA. Telephone 01304 619007. Call to check latest times or cancellations. www.atlantis-entertainment.co.uk. Open Morning at Vinehall School – for prospective parents Saturday 10 May 09:30 to 12noon Vinehall School, Robertsbridge, TN32 5JL, telephone 01580 880413 onionpublishing.co.uk

MEN

THE

TUESDAYS NEED YOU

This is a call to any men who love to sing. The Tuesdays is an informal singing group based in Tenterden. We sing for fun and support local projects and charities. And we want to boost the number of men in our group. Fancy joining in with our shows this year? To ďŹ nd out more please visit our website at www.thetuesdays.co.uk, or contact Helen Walsh by email to hlnwlsh@gmail.com or telephone 07789 856553

A GOOD Book

In this regular column we’ll be featuring books that we, and our reviewers, like. They may not necessarily be new books, but they’ll be fiction and non-fiction books that we have enjoyed. They have all been read by us and reflect our own views and opinions. We’ll always include at least one children’s book in the selection each time. We’d love to hear your thoughts on anything you feel we should be reading and sharing with others.

FROM THE ARCHIVE

Life with Badger By Maurice Wiggin Jacketed hardback. (via www.abebooks.co.uk) Originally published 1967

If you are not a cat lover/liker/ admirer then please look away now, for this book is a paean of praise and affection, a biography, of Maurice Wiggin’s cat, Badger. Maurice Wiggin was a Features Editor of the London Evening Standard when Badger came to live with him and it tells of all the joyful times they had together. It is a charming, delightful read, not only because Badger was obviously quite an extraordinary character, but also because Wiggin has a beautiful turn of phrase. Extract: “At Herne Hill Badger did, once, bring in a mouse. It was during the intense and prolonged freeze-up of 1947, and the mouse which he brought in had, I fear, long been dead. But his pride in the refrigerated little corpse was pathetic, and although we longed to laugh, we were careful not to offer him that deadly insult. After all, he had recognized his find, without prior education, as a mouse, fit prey for a cat. We agreed that that was to his credit, and showed that his instincts were sound.” Carol Farley 20 The Onion Magazine

Physics: 100 Breakthroughs that Changed History By Tom Jackson Published October 2013 by Worth Press Jacketed Hardback, Non-fiction £20.00

Physics is the latest title in series of four very readable science books by Worth Press which explain the ‘100 breakthroughs that changed history’ and, believe me, you really don’t need to know anything about science to enjoy these books. Tom explains everything so beautifully and simply without ever being patronising, however, please don’t think these are ‘Janet and John do science’ books either. In the Physics book we are taken from Number 1 breakthrough, the dawn of Science (explaining nature), through to 100, Supersymmetry – with everything in between. I didn’t know that much about Physics before reading this book, and I’m hardly an expert now, but this is a great way of beginning to understand some

of the more difficult issues and theories. And I even got an answer right in a pub quiz as a result of having read this book. Plus, apart from getting a beautifully produced hardback book for £20, you also get a fantastic fold-out timechart in a wallet at the back of the book which puts everything in context with world events. I think they’re extraordinarily good value at £20 and if you’re down as the science expert in the pub quiz team you can even bone up on The Universe, The Elements and Mathematics with the other titles in the series. I’m certainly poring over them all. Carol Farley

The Cazalet Chronicles

The Light Years, Marking Time, Confusion, Casting Off By Elizabeth Jane Howard Published by Pan Fiction Paperback £8.99 Final volume, All Change to be released in paperback May 10 2014

You might have caught an abridged version of these books on Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour. I heard a snippet and was intrigued: not sufficiently intrigued to go out and buy volume one, but to order it from the library (it took ages to arrive and I’d forgotten all about it) and I’ve been onionpublishing.co.uk

hooked ever since and bought them all, including volume five in hardback – I couldn’t wait until the paperback release this month. The Cazalets are a well-heeled family who live in scruffy grandeur in London and, at weekends, in Sussex, near to Tunbridge Wells. (Note that these fictional Cazelets are nothing to do with the real Cazelets who live at Fairlawne House near Tonbridge.) The tale starts in the late 1930s with three generations of Cazalets. The patriarch and two of his sons are timber merchants in London. These two – both married and with children – have been through the First World War, Hugh still suffering from shellshock and the loss of a hand, his womanising brother, Edward, unscathed both mentally and physically. The youngest son, Rupert, is an artist, who was too young to have been called up and is married for the second time (his first wife having died giving birth to their second child) to a flibbertigibbet, Zoe, who largely ignores her stepchildren. As the family gather in the rambling Sussex house, calmly run by Mrs Cazalet senior (‘the Duchy’) and an army of servants, they await the outbreak of the Second World War, May 2014

their numbers swelled by cousins, aunts, family friends and their old governess. The narrative focuses on each character in turn; long, boring summer afternoons captured so perfectly through the eyes of the children; the bone-numbing cold of winters with pre-war lack of heating and not very plentiful hot water (queues for baths), the helpless inertia felt by the women as the war looms and rationing, clothes coupons and lack of domestic help start to take effect. The adults all smoke and drink a great deal, dress for dinner and go dancing in London whenever the opportunity arises, often clad in dresses made from curtains. Howard’s eye for detail is delightful and her tone uncensorious. Edward’s daughter, Louise, is undoubtedly based on her – beautiful, unhappy in her first marriage (Louise to a society portraitist, Howard herself to naturalist Peter Scott), a total lack of maternal feelings, unfulfilled ambitions. The books track the family through the war, into the austere Fifties and onwards. The younger generation largely migrate to London - the home-schooled girls totally illequipped to find any interesting work. By this time the characters are so familiar the reader is immersed in, and intrigued by, their different problems. Howard wrote these wonderful books at the end of her life – she died recently aged 90 having only just completed the fifth volume. They are a fitting memorial. Caroline Boucher

Motorcycle Journeys through the Alps and Beyond (5th edition) By John Hermann Published in May 2014 by Whitehorse Press ISBN: 978-1-884313-38-7, Paperback Price: £24.99

You are probably not a motorcyclist and I recognise that you might even hate the noisy dangerous things, but I urge you not to be put off by the word ‘motorcycle’ in the title of this book nor by the picture of the motorcycle on the cover. This is a book which is every bit as much for car drivers as it is for bike riders. It is one of my all-time favourite books. It was first published over twenty years ago in 1993 and it has just been published in its new fifth edition this year, which is a pretty good reason to review it. I do happen to be a motorcyclist and I love touring in Europe which is how I came to discover this book in the first place. However, a few years ago I gave a copy of this book to a car-mad chum of mine who wouldn’t be seen dead within a million miles of a motorbike. He read it from cover to cover in two days, jumped in his car and immediately shot off to Andermatt. It has had the same effect on other drivers too. It’s that kind of book. Surprisingly, John Hermann is an American, but he’s been riding The Onion Magazine 21

in Europe every year since 1975, often making two trips a year. He’s ridden over 300,000 miles in Europe mostly in the mountains. He knows whereof he speaks. If you enjoy riding or driving, and I do mean driving as opposed to just blatting down the Autoroutes, Autobahns and Autostradas, this is definitely the book for you.

A272 - An Ode to a Road By Pieter and Rita Boogaart Published by Pallas Athene Non-fiction Paperback £19.99

This is a book for those for whom the journey is more important than the destination. This is a book for those who like to refuel themselves and their machines in spectacular surroundings with likeminded people rather than in the soulless hurly burly of motorway service stations.

If you need to go west from this part of the world - and let’s face it, we can’t go too far east - you will almost inevitably at some point find yourself on the A272.

This is a book which will send you on beautiful roads to beautiful places, places which you probably wouldn’t have found on your own. Most travel guides, I think you’ll agree, are only about places but this guide is about the fun bits in between the places. If you can read this book and not immediately want to drive through The Dolomites or over The Pyrenees or up and down every pass in The Alps I shall be very surprised.

You’ve used it a million times, I’m sure, and probably been quite unaware of it. Put simply, the A272 is the road that runs the 90 miles from Poundford in East Sussex to Winchester in Hampshire. However, to a Dutch couple, Pieter and Rita Boogaart, it means so much more than that and they have been travelling along this road on holiday for many years. What Pieter and Rita truly love about the road is the fact that it “epitomises England”.

In fact, if I were on Desert Island Discs and they asked which book I’d take as well as The Bible and Shakespeare it would be this book. It has taken my wife and me on so many wonderful journeys and as I write this now I’m avidly re-reading it and I am remembering those journeys while, at the same time, I’m planning a million more. In fact, I’m itching to go right now. It’s a great book and I love it. Nick Farley

Of course, you may feel that, as you live in England, you already know what epitomises England thank you very much and that you don’t need two Dutchmen to tell you about it; but I think you’d be wrong. Because the road means so much to them they have taken an interest in its buildings, people and landscape that we, as natives, take for granted and ignore. This, the third edition of this travel classic, opens our eyes.

22 The Onion Magazine

Rita and Pieter follow the A272 from east to west celebrating the good, the bad and the ugly, the beautiful, the trivial and the glorious. Past Uckfield and Cuckfield, Wineham and Twineham, past Littleworth and Fittleworth towards Pittleworth. Past Ovington and Avington. And in the distance they look at places like Lewes, Brighton and Chichester, at Barcombe and Balcombe, Duncton, Runcton and Buncton, Havant and Lavant, Walderton, Walberton and Warbleton. What is just a road to us is a joy to them. We can share their enthusiasm: this book encourages us to explore, by giving fascinating insights to the landscape, the places, the people and their stories. I can guarantee that you will discover many fascinating things in this book; things about places that you have probably passed by, or through, many times without ever really ‘seeing’. It has taken this Dutch couple to make me take the time to open my eyes and properly to ‘see’ the very special places and people along this ordinary road. This is an original and fascinating book that is particularly special to we who live here and will inevitably be users of the A272. Nick Farley

The Great War – a Pictorial History By Duncan Hill Published 2013 by Atlantic Publishing Paperback Price: £8.99

onionpublishing.co.uk

A GOOD BOOK When I was studying the First World War for my GCE history exam (it wasn’t GCSE in those days), we used a very worthy and extremely boring text book which was appropriately coloured a dull brown. I failed the exam. Then, only a few years later, I found myself working for The Daily Mail and I was amazed to find that there were beautiful bound copies of the back numbers of the newspapers, including all of those from the Great War. Furthermore, in the picture library, which was in constant day-to-day use, there were thousands of the precious, actual photographs taken by the photographers at the front in that war. These, like all the other photos in the library, were simply regarded as a working resource and were kept carelessly and loose in muchthumbed, tatty brown envelopes. Wouldn’t I, as a schoolboy, have loved access to this wonderful archive? It would have made history so much more interesting and vivid. Well, albeit too late for my GCE, we do now have access to that material in a really super book: The Great War - a pictorial history, by Duncan Hill, compiled from those very same Daily Mail archives. As the name suggests this is principally a book of photographs, many of them hitherto unseen, with contemporary editorial May 2014

extracts and, importantly, with modern context-setting comments from the author/compiler. I know that we have all seen endless film from The Great War and there is a danger of our becoming blasé about it, but there is something about the impact of simple black and white, still photographs which film just doesn’t have. The ability to dwell on a particular image is something to do with it, I think, and for one reason or another you will certainly dwell on many of these images. As you would expect there are some pretty gruesome pictures, but there are some very jolly ones too and there is some black humour: one chap, for example, considered Friday Oct 12th 1917 to be a bit unlucky “I was hit in the shoulder by a machine gun bullet and as I stumbled I was hit in the foot, and as I lay another hit me in the other foot and another hit me in the side. Decidedly Friday is an unlucky day!” It is the centenary year of the outbreak of that awful war and if you want to know what it was like and you want your children and your grandchildren to know too, this book will go a long way towards putting you right in the front line. Apart from its wonderful content I also found this book very ‘user-friendly’, to use the modern argot; often books such as this are literally too big and heavy and their weight and size discourage their use, but this one is just right: 96 A4 pages.

important, but that’s probably a drum for beating on a different day. Nick Farley

Moon Bear By Gill Lewis Published in February 2013 by Oxford University Press Paperback £8.99

Bear too!

Emotional and heart-warming to read. The way the author describes everything is just magical. It’s so good that two of my friends are reading Moon

The author describes what is happening in a way so that you can picture everything in your head. The author writes a beautiful story and you picture the people yourself with just the clues you get given and read between the lines. Reviewed by Daisy David, aged 10.

It is also, incidentally, a demonstration of why an independent and free press is so The Onion Magazine 23

<18

EXHIBITIONS … CONCERTS … FETES & FAIRS … CHARITY EVENTS ... THINGS TO DO

Craft Market at Highbury Hall Saturday 10 May 10:00 to 16:00 Held on the second Saturday of every month, Highbury Hall Craft Market offers a wide variety of crafts and produce from local artists, craftsmen, producers and retailers. All stallholders are from Kent and East Sussex and offer something for everyone. Free admission and tea, coffee, freshly made sandwiches, homemade cake and other treats are available all day. All profits from organizing this event go to Tenterden Youth Club for the Youth Café Project. Kellys Keepsake Cards also donates 10% of all her sales to the Air Ambulance. For more details contact 07956 295076. An illustrated talk: Edward Gordon Craig at Smallhythe Place Sunday 11 May 14:30 to 16:00 An illustrated talk on theatrical theorist and designer Edward Gordon Craig, and his father, Edward Gordon, the Arts & Crafts architect. For more information contact Katie Shaw katie.shaw@nationaltrust.org.uk, telephone 01580 762334. Carly Bryant in Concert at the Sinden Theatre Sunday 11 May 20:00 Carly’s songs encompass notes of rock, French jazz, Chopin-esque piano, tangy blues and Tarantino surf-noir, but amidst this lies a distinct vocal that flickers between a

sensual intimacy and a deep Tom Waits-like growl. www. carlybryant.com. Tickets £10 at the Sinden Theatre, Homewood School, Tenterden, TN30 6LT. Box office 01580 763826 Laura van der Heijden (BBC Young Musician of the Year 2012) with the Cranbrook Symphony Orchestra at St Ronan’s School, Hawkhurst Sunday 11 May 15:00 Laura performs Tchaikovsky Rococo Variations and Dvorak Rondo Op.94. Also in this family-friendly programme Vaughan Williams – the Wasps Overture, Bartok – Romanian Folk Dances. Conductor – Andrew Witham. Adult £10, £5 student in advance online at www.thecso. org.uk. Or Adult £12, £8 student at the door on the day if available. Tenterden Folk Club at the William Caxton Pub, Tenterden Tuesday 13 May 20:00 to 23:00 Free sing-a-round style folk club. Floor singers, musicians, storytellers, step dancers, always welcome. Held on the second Tuesday of each month at the William Caxton Pub, Tenterden. For information contact Alan Castle, telephone 01233 626805, info@tenterdenfolkfestival.org.uk, www. tenterdenfolkfestival.org.uk. Best kept wine secrets of France by Guy Boursot

Advertise locally with your local community magazine to more than 22,800 local homes What we oﬀer to advertisers: Royal Mail guaranteed delivery Free advertorials What we oﬀer to readers: Comprehensive editorial Local features and writers

May 2014

WIL



GREAT DD FLOWERS AT IXTER

Also insid e: TRUFFLING NOTICEB IN TENTERDEN OAR WIN BOO D KS, DVD SHOW TICK S AND ETS N

FIR

Free advertisement designs Five years’ local magazine experience Wide coverage of community events Free Royal Mail delivery

Contact Carol on 01797 253668 sales@onionpublishing.co.uk

The local magazine produced by local people for the local community 24 The Onion Magazine

onionpublishing.co.uk

EXHIBITIONS … CONCERTS … FETES & FAIRS … CHARITY EVENTS ... THINGS TO DO

Wednesday 14 May Wine-tasting and lunch organized by the Winchelsea Second Wednesday Society £12. For details contact Richard Feast, telephone 01797 222629. 1812 Firework Concert at the Bandstand, Eastbourne Wednesday 14 May 19:30 to 22:00 A tradition celebrated every Wednesday evening, consisting of a tumult of concert music ending triumphantly with Tchaikovsky’s 1812 overture accompanied by a spectacular Firework display. Licensed Bar. Advance tickets are available from the Seafront office, online www.eastbournebandstand.co.uk or by telephone 01323 410611. In advance - Adult £7.50, Child £3.75. On the night – Adult £9, Child £4.75. Open Morning at Dulwich Prep School, Cranbrook Thursday 15 May 09:00 Little Stream and Nash House welcome prospective parents at 9am. A short talk from the Headmaster will be followed by tours of the school led by staff and pupils. Upper School will be open at 11am. The Headmaster will welcome parents and children in the John Leakey Hall and Year 8 pupils will then show parents around the school. There will be an opportunity for parents to chat informally to staff and some of the current parents after the tours. If you would like to attend, please email or phone the Registrar, Sally Ahlers, to book a place. Registrar@dcpskent.org.

Join us!

29>

The Young Elvis Tribute Show at Eastbourne Bandstand Friday 16 May 20:00 The Elvis Legacy; featuring the top selling International Elvis Tribute Act Mark Summers. Recently described as “The Closest to Elvis” Mark Summers has toured the world performing as the King, appearing on stage, radio and television. Mark has worked with members of the Presley family, close friends, original band members and members of Elvis’ ‘Memphis Mafia’. Advance tickets are available from the Seafront office, online www. eastbournebandstand.co.uk or by telephone 01323 410611. Brocante Vintage ‘Home & Garden Collectables’ sale Friday 16 May and Saturday 17 May 09:30 to 16:30 The Three French Hens’ brocante vintage sale of ‘home & garden collectables’ will be held at Silcocks Farm, Grange Road, St Michaels, Tenterden. www.thethreefrenchhens. co.uk. The Baron’s Art School at Jerwood Art Gallery Hastings Friday 16 May 18:45 to 23:00 Enter the strange and enchanting world of The Baron’s Art School, where paintings really do come to life. This is an art class like no other. Let The Baron take you through a sequences of realities, journeying into the paintings in an entertaining and surreal adventure. ‘Bringing Painting to

www.tenterdentown.co.uk/joinchamber

It’s the best business decision you will make...

Over 200 member businesses - monthly networking meetings - showcase your business advertise on the Tenterden website - display at the Tenterden business fair in June social media help - join in the Love Tenterden loyalty card scheme May 2014

8753

Tenterden & District Chamber of Commerce

The Onion Magazine 25

New arrivals at the

RYE HARBOUR NATURE RESERVE

A visit to Rye Harbour Nature Reserve is interesting at any time of the year, but my favourite time is around May when the days get longer and warmer, and we can enjoy the reappearance of insects, flowers and, of course, the birds start to nest. About this time the returning summer migrants have begun to appear, first are Wheatear and Sandwich Tern, then Common and Little Terns, and then a variety of warblers and wading birds and also the Cuckoo (which stays to eat an abundance of hairy caterpillars).

26 The Onion Magazine

During May the great white masses of flowering Sea Kale appear on the shingle, then the large flowers of Yellow-horned Poppy and the blue spikes of Viperâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Bugloss and the reserve becomes very alive as the terns, gulls and waders nest in their noisy thousands on islands. This really is a very special area for wildlife with over 200 species that are nationally rare or endangered and it has national and international wildlife designations yet it is also an area with easy access for everyone. My preferred mode of transport is a bike but there are many miles of level footpaths and plenty of seating plus five large birdwatching hides, all with access for wheelchairs. The site has a variety of habitats and, as well as the coastal section with its shingle, saline lagoons and very new saltmarsh, there are also the freshwater pits inland with the recently established reedbed at Castle Water. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s here that you may see Marsh Harrier and, if you are lucky, onionpublishing.co.uk

even hear the booming of the elusive Bittern, or the explosive call of Cettis Warblers and the squealing of Water Rail. The reserve sits on ‘young’ land created by the sea and the wind only during the last 500 years and the old shorelines are marked by military defences – Henry VIII’s Camber Castle, the Napoleonic Martello Towers and World War II blockhouses. There has been a Nature Reserve here since 1970 and it has been supported by a Friends group since 1973. In 2011 the Sussex Wildlife Trust took on the management responsibilities from the county council and the reserve is now flourishing and the wildlife and facilities get better each year. Visiting couldn’t be easier and after your visit you’ll find that there are a couple of pubs and an excellent tearoom cum art gallery in Rye Harbour village where there is also a large free car park. Dr Barry Yates of Sussex Wildlife Trust FIND OUT MORE

To find out more visit www.sussexwildlifetrust. org.uk or www.wildrye.info. To find maps, details of events and wildlife. Perhaps even volunteer on the site or with practical management, or join the Friends of Rye Harbour Nature Reserve and the Sussex Wildlife Trust.

May 2014

Images from top left: Common terns seen nesting near to one of the hides. Below left: Yellow Horned poppies on the shingle ridges. Above top: Biting Stonecrop in full flower near the Black Hut. Above: Watch bird life from the comfort of one of the excellent hides. This is a winter view from Castle Water Hide. Below: Oystercatcher family at Rye Harbour Nature Reserve

The Onion Magazine 27

The Friends of the Ancient Monuments The Friends of the Ancient Monuments is a charitable organisation which, through fund-raising events, supports the Winchelsea Corporation in the maintenance of the Ancient Monuments in the Town primarily the three Town Gates, the Court Hall, the Town Well and the Queen Elizabeth Well. The Friends also support improvements to the Museum, which is housed within the Court Hall building. Each year the Friends hold a variety of functions, lectures, tours of the ancient cellars, entertainments and suppers to which all are invited throughout the year. Cellar tour details are below and bookings can be made by email: cellars@winchelsea.com or via the Winchelsea Post Office and, during the Rye Festival, via the Rye Festival Box Office. If you wish to join the Friends then please use the membership form on the www.winchelsea.com website to apply.

28 The Onion Magazine

onionpublishing.co.uk

<25

THINGS TO DO...

31>

Life’ is a special commission for Museums at Night 2014. Tickets £15. To book call 01424 728377. The Jerwood Gallery, Rock-a-Nore Road, Hastings TN34 3DW. www. jerwoodgallery.org. Knead a little lift? Learn to bake bread at the Lighthouse Bakery School Saturday 17 May Introduction to Baking at the Lighthouse Bakery School. Each course lasts one day and includes tuition, the recipes made on the day, a lovely home-made lunch, a fabulous Lighthouse Bakery apron, and all the produce you make on the day. Cost £175. If you wish to book, ring on 01580 831721 or visit the website for more information at www. lighthousebakery.co.uk. Elgar’s ‘For the Fallen’ and Brahms’ ‘German Requiem’ by Battle Choral Society Saturday 17 May 19:30 An evening of music dedicated to the fallen of all nations 1914 – 1918. At Christ Church, St Leonards. Tickets £15 each to include a glass of wine or fruit juice. Available from Raggs Boutique, 20 High Street, Battle; Little Larder, 39 Norman Road, St Leonards or telephone 01424 870862 or 01424 845219. ‘Relive the Fabulous Forties’ at the Kent & East Sussex Railway in Tenterden. Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 May The weekend is an opportunity to experience wartime Britain and the forties lifestyle as the Railway turns back to the clock to wartime Britain. There are flying displays by a Hurricane and Spitfire (on Sunday 18 May, weather permitting); singing; and plenty of dancing from the Cinque Ports Lindy Hoppers. Vehicles and authentic costumes from the period will be on show, and a 1940s village scene with wartime cookery demonstrations. Steam trains run all weekend, and train ticket gains entry to the event and includes unlimited train travel between Tenterden and Bodiam stations. Admission: Adult £16, Senior Citizen £15, Child (3-15 years inc) £11, and Family (two adults and up to three children, or one adult and up to four children) £45. For more details visit www.kesr. org.uk , email enquiries@kesr.org.uk or telephone 01580 765155. Hawkhurst’s Film and Photograph Festival – Flix & Pix Saturday 17 May 10:00 to 16:00 Sunday 18 May 10:00 to 15:00 A selection of entries and the winners of the photographic competition will be on display in a special exhibition at Hawkhurst Primary School Hall, Rye Road, Hawkhurst. Castle Water Wildlife Walk (2.5 miles) Saturday 17 May 13:00 to 16:00 A circular walk looking at wildlife in the fields and ditches around Camber Castle and visiting the bird hide at Castle Water. Meet at Brede Lock. No booking necessary. Donations appreciated. www.sussexwildlifetrust.org.uk, May 2014

Farmers’ Markets TUESDAY 6 MAY 09:00 to 11:00

Wittersham

Wittersham Village Hall EVERY WEDNESDAY 10:00 to 13:00

Rye

Strand Quay, Rye, East Sussex ,TN31 7AY EVERY THURSDAY 09:00 to 12noon

Rolvenden

St Mary’s Church, Rolvenden, TN18 5PN Rolvenden Village Hall, Maytham Road, Rolvenden TN17 4ND EVERY FRIDAY 10:00 to 12noon

Brede

Brede Village Hall, Cackle Street, Brede, East Sussex, TN31 6DX EVERY FRIDAY 07:00 to 15:30

Tenterden

Market Square, behind Savannah Coﬀee Shop, Tenterden & Tenterden High Street from 08:00 to 12noon FRIDAY 9 MAY and FRIDAY 23 MAY 10:00 to 15:30

Sissinghurst Castle

Sissinghurst Castle, Biddenden Road, Cranbrook, Kent TN17 2AB SATURDAY 24 MAY 9:30 to 13:00

Cranbrook

Vestry Hall, High Street, Cranbrook, TN17 3HF The Onion Magazine 29

Soundingoff It’s very appropriate that this, the first ‘Sounding Off’, should be about noise, more specifically, other people’s noise. Other people’s noise, as we all know, is the loudest noise, it’s the most annoying noise and it’s the noise most likely to induce in me a towering rage and at the same time reduce me to a gibbering fool.

garden without the accompaniment of a radio or CD player it means that the rest of us will find our garden time accompanied by Mr Someone Else’s selfish, inconsiderate racket too. Do people no longer have any idea of their responsibility to the community in which they live?

It wasn’t very long ago, let’s say about 100 years, and that’s not very long in the grand scheme of things, that music could And it’s not just music; it’s all the other stupid only be heard ‘live’, except that back then no one would have noises that people thoughtlessly inflict on us. thought to say ‘live’ because the Wouldn’t you, for example, concept of recorded music was like to get your hands on the Pubs are for drinking in, talking in, readbarely known and broadcast ‘Health and Safety’ bloke ing in, and eating in, they are decidedly music was unknown. In those who decided that all lorries not places for listening to someone else’s going backwards should days music was only heard if invariably hideous music. one was in the presence of the bleep at a million decibels? player or singer of that music. Why do lorries need to do What a brilliant idea that was: one noted perhaps that artiste ‘A’ that? They don’t bleep when they go forwards. was going to play such and such a piece on a certain date at a Of course ‘they’ will tell us that countless particular place, and one chose to go and listen or to stay away. thousands of lives have been saved since A perfect concept. You only heard the music you chose to hear. reversing lorries were made to bleep, but ask anyone to prove it and I bet they can’t. How on Contrast that with the torture we endure today. Music, any earth did we manage to survive all those years old music, other people’s rotten taste in music, is loudly and when lorries happily went backwards when indiscriminately sprayed in my direction all of the time. It’s required and relied on the common sense of unavoidable. How is my experience of a pub, or a shop, or even people to get out of their way? a lift improved by my having to listen to music, let alone music chosen by some anonymous being who doesn’t know me and I don’t need a bleep to tell me not to stand can have no idea of my musical taste? Pubs are for drinking in, near a lorry going backwards; I can see the talking in, reading in and eating in, they are decidedly not places sense of not putting myself in such a position. for listening to someone else’s invariably hideous music. Lifts It’s just another unnecessary, unpleasant are for going up and down in; they are not for brief, random noise made by someone else. I just wish they concerts. Do I buy more in Halfords or Currys because they play would stop bleeping, stop playing music I don’t music very loudly in those shops? No, I don’t. I actually buy less want to hear and stop sharing with me their because I avoid going in those shops, but if I have to go there I loud, mindless, mobile phone conversations get out as quickly as I possibly can. wherever I go. I wish, in short, that they would all shut up. Soon it will be summer and we might sit outside in the garden If you would like to Sound Off about anything, then with a drink or the newspaper and there it will be - someone please feel free to do that here. This column is open else’s music! Just because someone else cannot sit in his/her to everyone to say what they like about anything, provided, of course, that they don’t break the law. We obviously won’t print anything that is libellous or that is in some other way illegal. It’s your opinions that we’re interested in. If you have something to say about anything at all, and if you can say it in about 500 words, then let us have it. We don’t have to agree with you, but if you have an interesting point of view we will print it. Send your piece to carol@ onionpublishing.co.uk. The article can appear with your name or anonymously, you can choose, but do make sure that you include your name and address when submitting your piece.

30 The Onion Magazine

onionpublishing.co.uk

<29

EXHIBITIONS … CONCERTS … FETES & FAIRS … CHARITY EVENTS ... THINGS TO DO

email rhnroffice@sussexwt.org.uk, telephone 01797 227784. Hole Park - Open Garden for NGS Sunday 18 May 11:00 to 18:00 Hole Park was first opened in 1927 soon after it was laid out. The 15-acre garden is surrounded by parkland with beautiful views and contains fine yew hedges, large lawns with specimen trees, walled gardens, pools and mixed borders combined with bulbs, rhododendrons and azaleas. Massed bluebells in woodland walk, standard wisterias, orchids in flower meadow and glorious autumn colours make this a garden for all seasons. The Sundial Garden was redesigned and planted in 2013. Admission £6, Children £1. Telephone 01580 241344. For other opening times and information, please phone or see garden website. Open for charity. Hole Park, Cranbrook, Kent TN17 4JB, www.holepark.com. 1812 Firework Concert at the Bandstand, Eastbourne Wednesday 21 May 19:30 to 22:00 A tradition celebrated every Wednesday evening, consisting of a tumult of concert music ending triumphantly with Tchaikovsky’s 1812 overture accompanied by a spectacular Firework display. Licensed Bar. Advance tickets are available from the Seafront office, online www.eastbournebandstand.co.uk or by telephone 01323 410611. In advance - Adult £7.50, Child £3.75. On the night – Adult £9, Child £4.75.

32>

Elderflower Fields Festival Friday 23 May to Monday 26 May At a new venue for 2014 in Ashdown Forest, the Elderflower Fields Festival has been completely designed for families with children. The ‘Urban Woods’ activities are designed to give children a flavour of sports and pursuits including skateboarding, climbing, slack lining, mountain biking and Parkour, and newly introduced for this year there is kayaking, raft-building and tree climbing. There is also a Sports Camp that will include volleyball, archery, ultimate Frisbee, rounders, stoolball, hockey and an assault course. There are also Arts Camp workshops and a brand new Youth Music Zone with instrumental taster sessions provided by the teachers from Sussex Academy of Music plus group music making workshops and jam sessions. Camping is included in the ticket price at Elderflower Fields and there are glamping options too. Adult Weekend ticket £95 plus booking fee, Child 5-16 yrs Weekend £45 plus booking fee, Under 5 Weekend booking fee only. www.elderflowerfields.co.uk, Twitter @ ElderflowerFest, www.facebook.com/elderflowerfields. Ultimate Dirty Dancing – The Tribute Show at Eastbourne Bandstand Friday 23 May 20:00 An Evening of Dirty Dancing is a smash hit tribute to one of the greatest movie soundtracks of all time and has been wowing audiences all over the UK. This feel good show is the ultimate party and has something for everyone, girls

Apply the Winning Principles of Sports Coaching in Your Organisation Top professional business thinker and rowing coach Murray Eldridge helps you: • Develop a high performance organisation • Get ahead of the competition • Adapt and apply key elements of sports psychology to business • Develop the mental skills of resilience, confidence and toughness, leading to high performance teams

Leading High Performance shows how high performance in business can be achieved and how leaders can create a high performance environment through good leadership, good coaching and through developing people. Leading High Performance by Murray Eldridge (Crimson Publishing, RRP £19.99). Available in all good bookshops and online stores.

“The most in-depth comparison you’ll find between how sports coaches get results out of their teams and the status quo that we see today inside most corporate and public organisations.” Karen Lindquist, Director Organizational Solutions, Management Centre Europe.

May 2014

www.crimsonpublishing.co.uk

The Onion Magazine 31

<31

EXHIBITIONS … CONCERTS … FETES & FAIRS … CHARITY EVENTS .. THINGS TO DO

and guys alike. You’ll find yourself on your feet, swept away on a wave of nostalgia as you sing along to all the hits including: Do You Love Me, She’s Like the Wind, Big Girls Don’t Cry, Hey Baby, Wipeout, Be My Baby, Hungry Eyes and the timeless, Oscar-winning (I’ve had) The Time of My Life. Advance tickets are available from the Seafront office, online www.eastbournebandstand.co.uk or by telephone 01323 410611. Judy Garland talk at Smallhythe Place Saturday 24 May 14:00 to 16:30 This extended talk by Gary Horrocks delves into the fascinating life of Judy Garland – includes an exclusive video on the big screen. For more information contact Katie Shaw katie.shaw@nationaltrust.org.uk, telephone 01580 762334. Quiz Night – Northiam Bonfire Society Saturday 24 May 19:30 Northiam Bonfire Society is holding a quiz night in Northiam Village Hall. £60 a table. Maximum 8 plays per table. Price includes a ploughmans at half time, and two bottles of wine on the table. Wine on sale, raffle. To book or for more details contact Karen on 01797 253375, email Karen@terenceayling.co.uk. ‘Sculpture in Particular’ at Pashley Manor Gardens Saturday 24 May every day until Saturday 31 May, 11:00 – 17:00 The gardens provide the perfect setting for sculpture. Each year Pashley features the work of many eminent sculptors. Exhibitors have included artists such at Philip Jackson, Emily Stone, Guy Portelli and Peter Clarke. Throughout the season there is a display and sale of sculpture in the gardens. In addition, for these eight days, there will be an indoor display and sale of maquettes and small sculpture. www.pashleymanorgardens.com, email info@ pashleymanorgardens.com, telephone 01580 200888. Kent & East Sussex Steam Railway’s ‘40th Anniversary Gala Weekend’ Saturday 24 May, Sunday 25 May and Bank Holiday Monday 26 May As well as featuring six members of the ‘home’ steam fleet, representing classes of engine that have run on the line since 1974, there will be the only chance to see the unique loco ‘Gervase’ in the South of England this year. ‘Gervase’ was rescued for preservation on the K&ESR in the early 1960s. There will also be other gala appearances of locomotives, heavy goods trains and shunting demonstrations at Tenterden. There will also be a through service from Tenterden to Junction Road at 10am each day for which advance booking will be advisable. The Carriage & Wagon shed at Tenterden will be open allowing visitors to take a fascinating look behind the scenes at the restoration and maintenance work on this line’s fleet of historic coaches. Gala prices – Adult £18, Senior £15, Child £13, Family £50, Member £11. Two day tickets: Adult £35, Senior £28, Child £25, Member £21. Three day tickets: 32 The Onion Magazine

38>

Adult £45, Senior £35, Child £30, Member £25. For more information or to book tickets telephone 01580 765155 or visit the website www.kesr.org.uk. Coastal Plants at Rye Harbour (2 miles) Saturday 24 May 10:30 to 12:30Find out how the single and saltmarsh plants cope with their harsh environment. We will also see a few coastal birds. Meet at Rye Harbour car park. No booking necessary. Donations appreciated. www.sussexwildlifetrust.org.uk/whatson, email rhnroffice@sussexwt.org.uk, telephone 01797 227784. Open Garden in aid of Pilgrims Hospices Saturday 24 May and Sunday 25 May 14:00 to 17:00 Visit this pretty cottage garden, buy plants and enjoy a cup of tea and piece of cake. Primrose Cottage is signed just off the B2082 1m E of centre of Wittersham, on the road leaving Wittersham for Rye. Primrose Cottage, Rose Hill, Wittersham, TN30 7HE. Entry £3. Children under 12 free. All proceeds are in aid of Pilgrims Hospices. Jenny & Michael Clarke, telephone 01797 270820, greenfingers@ kent.uk.net ‘May Games and 50 Things’ at Bodiam Castle Saturday 24 May to Sunday 25 May 11:00 – 16:00 You are invited to join in with some Medieval May games and see how many of their ’50 things to do before you are 11 and three quarters’ you can do. Bodiam Castle, Bodiam, nr Robertsbridge, East Sussex TN32 5UA. www. nationaltrust.org.uk/bodiamcastle, bodiamcastle@ nationaltrust.org.uk, telephone 01580 830196. Romney Marsh Classic Events – Classic Show and Motorcycle Jumble Sunday 25 May 10:00 Hamstreet, Nr Ashford, Kent, TN26 2JD (A2070 10 miles from M20 Junction 10). King John’s Lodge – Open Garden for NGS Sunday 25 May and Monday 26 May 11:00 to 17:00 4-acre romantic garden for all seasons surrounding an historic listed house (not open). Formal garden with water features, rose walk and wild garden and pond. Rustic bridge to shaded ivy garden, large herbaceous borders, old shrub roses and secret garden. Further 4-acres of meadows, fine trees and grazing sheep. King John’s Lodge, Etchingham, West Sussex TN19 7AZ. Admission £4, Children free. Telephone 01580 819232. Call to check latest times or cancellations. For other opening times and information, please phone or see garden website. Open for charity. www.kingjohnsnursery.co.uk. Sir Edward’s Fair – Family Fun Day – at Bodiam Castle Monday 26 May 11:00 – 16:00 Celebrate St Augustine’s Day with Sir Edward at his annual fair. Bodiam Castle, Bodiam, nr Robertsbridge, East Sussex TN32 5UA. www.nationaltrust.org.uk/bodiamcastle, bodiamcastle@nationaltrust.org.uk, telephone 01580 830196. onionpublishing.co.uk

HAT CHAT Carol Farley talks to model milliner Catherine Delaney Buying a hat is easy. Buying a hat which makes you feel good is more difficult. Buying a fabulous hat which fits, and which makes you look fabulous is virtually impossible.

which led me to someone who does, someone who, literally, makes hats for the stars, right here in our midst. And so it was that I found myself in Tenterden chatting over a cup of tea with the gifted and charming Catherine Delaney.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve got a few hat boxes in the spare room, filled with hats that I thought were right at the time. Hats bought for weddings, garden parties, and other assorted special occasions. Some of these hats were bought ‘off-the-peg’ purely because the colour was a perfect match for the outfit that I was determined to wear, however ill-advised that might have been. But get it right and there’s no denying that a hat adds the finishing touch to a special outfit.

Catherine has been a milliner for twenty two years. She studied at the London College of Fashion, worked at the very last hat factory in Soho, did lots of work for London theatres, started her own business in Waterloo and finally, twelve years ago, moved here and set up her studio in Tenterden, where she still does lots of work for television and West End shows – Les Misérables, CATS, Phantom of the Opera and work for The Globe Theatre, for example. It was while researching hats for her work at The Globe that she found herself in the V&A and was allowed access to the cap and cape given to Sir Francis Drake by Queen Elizabeth I. These are not on display and are kept very carefully and, she

I feel ‘dressed’ when I’m wearing a hat. However, I don’t really know anything about hats and it was only a chance remark May 2014

The Onion Magazine 33

says “…they were virtually unworn and had been kept under wraps – still with the brightest shimmering colours and with gold thread embroidery – absolutely amazing. They even let me hold them – they were terribly heavy. It was a real privilege.” In complete contrast she also works on pantomimes in London and in York and has made just about everything from giant tomatoes to pies and toadstools. And, of course, she has her private clients who simply want beautiful hats for ‘ordinary’ special occasions. She is also now working with Figis in Sayers Lane, Tenterden which has opened up a whole new market for her – “they are a lovely family and their clothes are beautiful.” She does everything herself so her clients do get a very personal service and that includes David Beckham OBE: she made his wedding hat. “It was many years ago now” she says. “When he got married he wore the most beautiful suit of Italian ivory silk and I made him a matching top hat, with his silk. He never intended to wear it because it was at a time when he had a lot of hair, so it was always planned to be a prop and was only ever going to be carried, but I made it very thoroughly as if he was going to wear it. I made it in the traditional way – layers and layers of stiffened linen which took weeks to dry and which was then covered in his silk. It took three weeks for the shape to dry. Traditional toppers take six months to harden but I didn’t have that long so I had to use a different type of glue. “Oh, and I also made Baby Spice something for the wedding too – a little ivory trilby hat. “Actually I’ve been very lucky to have done lots of very exciting things. Two years ago I did a job for the Metropolitan Opera House in New York - although it was quite scary because there were such a lot of cast members and I didn’t get to go to America. So I had to entrust all the hats I’d made to the designer for her to take them to New York and then, once they 34 The Onion Magazine

onionpublishing.co.uk

“Then I would put a hat on you to get an idea of the kind of dimensions that suited you. I would look at that and say, you might need a much wider crown, or broader brim. I would then sketch something out on paper which I think would work for you and then get you in for a shape fitting, which gives us something to work from. If the outfit is more tailored you might want a more tailored hat – nothing too flouncy or fluffy - it would depend on what you were wearing. “So I’d work out a basic shape for you as a stepping stone before you came in for a shape fitting, then many fittings along the way before it’s completed. We work out dimensions and shape and trimmings as we go along. I work directly with the client and provide them with exactly what they want and with what looks best on them. I don’t mind how many times I see my client as long as we get it right and that she, or he, is happy with it in the end.”

were out of my hands, it was up to the wardrobe person to dress the actors properly and up to the actors to wear them correctly. They looked wonderful in the photographs, it was such a relief. I made 36 English gable headdresses and 8 or 9 French hoods. As Ann Boleyn herself grew up in the French courts she wore French hoods rather than the English gables which were very severe – very odd things. There is a certain elegance about them though. We researched them thoroughly and they are an amazingly complex layered garment.” Catherine doesn’t make many hats for men (despite having made the Beckham wedding topper) but one of her clients is a singer in a Ska band and he likes to wear a very particular little pork pie hat which is his signature and she says that it’s taken her years to feel that she’s got the perfect shape for him. I wanted to know how long it takes to make a hat for someone: “You would typically bring in your outfit. Most people will have a particular outfit they’ve already decided on. We would talk generally about the colours you wanted. May 2014

For this season she’s thinking perhaps of having a bit of a Downton Abbey theme – an Edwardian, deep-crowned, wide-brimmed, cloche type of thing, with some roses on it. Gorgeous! Flowers are apparently difficult to get in this country and are expensive so Catherine now makes all her own flowers, particularly roses. The flowers are painstakingly made by dyeing the fabric, stiffening it, cutting out the petal shapes which will be different sizes, then heating up the tools, pressing the shapes, making the leaves, then mounting everything on wires, but, despite all that work, she says that it’s really worthwhile doing because it creates such a beautiful effect. She loves using feathers and uses, surprisingly, cockerel feathers – lots of them; sometimes taking over 100 to make one hat, every one of which she has to strip and trim individually. On her website there’s a woman looking quite fabulous in a large ostrich feather headdress. Striving for authenticity she uses materials from anything and anywhere: “I tend to use The Onion Magazine 35

vintage veiling as they used to use silk, which is much more delicate - not nylon as they do now.” And she has a fondness for the 1940s and uses a lot of old materials as they were much better quality than anything you can buy these days. “You can’t buy anything like this any more, I always try to pick up old materials when I can.” Making the perfect hat is one thing but then it has to be handed over to us to wear and wearing a hat is not something everyone can do, as Catherine says, “There are people who can put on a dustbin lid and they look absolutely fabulous in it, but the rest of us, we have to have something a little more creatively designed for us. I’m the same, I have a very small face, I can’t just wear any hat, but when I make a hat for a client I will make sure that they know how to wear it. “There are basic guidelines, for example, the basic crown should be the same width as your temples and the brim wouldn’t usually be wider than the shoulders unless you are a model or someone very statuesque who can get away with something very dramatic. And with small faces and small cheekbones, you don’t want to swamp the face. If someone is quite small and stout it wouldn’t be right to wear a giant cartwheel hat but they might benefit from a slightly taller crown to give them a bit of lift and stature.” Apart from the Downton Abbey influence on hat wearing, Princess Diana was apparently a wonderful role model for hat wearers. Catherine says that “when Diana died, hat wearing took a bit of plunge and ladies started to wear the dreadful fascinator for a good few years. You only have to look on eBay where, for £9, you can get half a turkey on your head and they’re very cheaply made. A good hat should frame your whole face. But now there’s a swing back towards traditional hat wearing and fortunately we now have another Princess who looks great in a hat. The 36 The Onion Magazine

Duchess of Cambridge has been wearing some stunners which has helped a lot.” And, as someone who likes hats, I am delighted to hear that hats are making a comeback. And am doubly-pleased that that chance remark lead me to meet Catherine, to see her wonderful creations and to feel that when I need a special hat for the right occasion I know just who to go to make me look and, more importantly, make me feel fabulous. FIND OUT MORE

Catherine Delaney can be contacted on 07866 373588. All consultations are by appointment. www.catherinedelaneyhats.co.uk. Shoot and photography kindly provided by Oliver McNeil of Legend Photography www.legend-photography.com.

onionpublishing.co.uk

‘The real taste of Italy’ Fabulous Italian deli and cafe serving delicious Italian food including panini, cakes and pastries. “My favourite coffee shop. Always something tasty and unusual on offer too”

Fabio’s Italian Cafe, 16 Stone Street, Cranbrook. Tel 01580 720555

<32

EXHIBITIONS … CONCERTS … FETES & FAIRS … CHARITY EVENTS .. THINGS TO DO

Children’s Birdwatching at Rye Harbour (2 miles) Tuesday 27 May 14:00 to 16:00 There should be thousands of birds to see on the main breeding pools on Rye Harbour Nature Reserve … and we will be looking out for their chicks too. Suitable for accompanied children aged over 5. Meet at Rye Harbour car park. Booking essential. Charge £3 per child.www. sussexwildlifetrust.org.uk/whatson, email rhnroffice@ sussexwt.org.uk, telephone 01797 227784. Tudor Skittles in the Garden – Knole Tuesday 27 May 11:00 to 16:00 It’s rumoured that Henry VIII played skittles at Knole, so channel your inner King (or Queen!) and enjoy the magical surroundings of the garden. Normal admission charges apply. Sevenoaks, Kent TN15 0RP. Telephone 01732 462100. Adventures in Archaeology Tuesday 27 May to Sunday 1 June 11:00 to 16:00 Uncover Bodiam Castle’s secret history and see what archaeologists have found before you. Bodiam Castle, nr Robertsbridge, TN32 5UA. Telephone 01580 830196. Email bodiamcastle@nationaltrust.org.uk, www.nationaltrust. org.uk/bodiamcastle. Creepy Crawlies at Rye Harbour (1 mile) Wednesday 28 May 14:00 to 15:30

43>

Go a-hunting with the warden, Chris, as he takes a closer look at the fascinating and bizarre world of insects and spiders. Suitable for all ages. Children must be accompanied by an adult. www.sussexwildlifetrust. org.uk/whatson, email rhnroffice@sussexwt.org.uk, telephone 01797 227784. Torchlight Family Tour of Knole Wednesday 28 May 11:00 to 12noon Knole’s show rooms are beautifully dark and atmospheric to conserve the fragile collection accumulated over 600 years. Be guided by one of the experienced team before the house opens to the public and see some of the secrets of this extraordinary house. Normal admission charges apply. Adults £5. Children £2.50. Booking advisable on 01732 462100. Sevenoaks, Kent TN15 0RP. Pond Dipping at Castle Water (2.5 miles) Thursday 29 May 13:30 to 15:30 Join the Rye Harbour wardens and volunteers for a walk across fields to Castle Water to see what creatures are lurking amongst the reeds. You might perhaps find newts, water beetles, medicinal leeches and water scorpions! Suitable for accompanied children aged over 5. Meet at Brede Lock. Booking essential. Charge £3 per child. www. sussexwildlifetrust.org.uk/whatson, email rhnroffice@ sussexwt.org.uk, telephone 01797 227784.

THE ONION SPONSORSHIP FUND The Onion’s aim is of course to be entertaining and, equally important, we want The Onion to be useful, not only to individuals but also to all the local clubs, societies, charities and other organisations in the area. One of the tangible ways in which we can do this is to help sponsor some of the events and activities of local groups and so we are setting up a special sponsorship fund. Initially, it will be small, but each month we will make available a sum of money to be used by any local group to help run an event or activity or to achieve a particular aim. We shall obviously not be able to help everybody but if your group could benefit from this please write to us with your event details. nick@onionpublishing.co.uk 38 The Onion Magazine

onionpublishing.co.uk

Good GADGETS Two excellent garden rakes For goodness sake, how good a gadget can a garden rake be? A rake is a rake. A rake is a wide thing with teeth that ….er… well, that rakes stuff up. And yet here are two quite different rakes which are demonstrably better at doing that simple job than any others and which do not get the recognition they deserve. Both of the examples described here I have been using for nearly forty years. Both are excellent and different, but perhaps their specialness is not immediately apparent when you see them in a shop. Hence this article. When pulled towards you the rake will pull out moss or skim the surface and rake leaves.

The curved tines are the secret of success, allowing the rake to glide easily over the surface as you push it away from you. My 30 year old version is still going strong.

The first one is what the manufacturer, Wolf Garden Tools, unhelpfully chooses to call a Longspan rake, which simply means it’s wide; a fact which is obvious when you see it but which in no way helps you to understand either how it works or what its benefits are to you, the raker. It would be more sensible to call it a selfcleaning rake because that is its great benefit – it cleans itself: as you pull it towards you across the lawn it gathers leaves or hedge May 2014

cuttings or other debris and then as you push it away it glides over the top of the lawn without digging in, leaving its tines clean and ready for the next pull. All of which, I realise, sounds like one of the great non-events in world gadgetry but, if you think about it, no other rake does that. The usual spring-tine lawn rake gets clogged in a nano-second with leaves or moss or sundry other stuff every time you pull it and, very important this, you can’t push a spring tine rake away from you (you can’t push any other ordinary garden rake come to that) instead you have to lift it. Lifting a rake repeatedly is tiring, and cleaning it frequently is very, very irritating. With the Wolf self-cleaning rake you can pull it and push it and that is its strength because when you push it, it cleans itself. That speeds things up enormously, as well as taking much of the backache out of the raking job. Moreover, because it is wider than most rakes it covers the ground quicker. True, its increased size makes it a bit heavier, but that doesn’t matter because you don’t have to lift it very often, it stays on the ground. A good gadget indeed. Sadly, however, Wolf now only makes a 23inch (58cm) version. My own rake, bought back in the 1970s, is a panoramic 36 inches wide (91cm) and it’s a pity that it’s no longer made in that size. Wolf Longspan rake: £36.99 (plus a Wolf clip-on handle. Cost dependent on length) The rubber tined rake made by Bulldog Tools is the second unusual rake. Its virtues are perhaps more obvious than the one above. Its rubber tines make it brilliant for raking and clearing stuff on patios, tiles, drives and other hard areas where a metal rake is quite useless. I also find it useful for some jobs on the lawn and for some jobs in the flower beds where the rubber tines are kind to emerging plants. When I bought my rake (again back in the 1970s) I also bought a spare set of rubber tines but, amazingly, I am still using the originals. That’s it then; two very simple, proven and effective ‘gadgets’ which I have used for many years and which I wouldn’t be without. Bulldog rubber tined rake: available in two sizes from £27.58. The larger one specified above is £34.57 The Onion Magazine 39

What’s in a

label?

This month Jack Hebden takes a look at fertiliser

name; it is a formulation that was issued by the Government in the Second World War for a balanced fertiliser as part of the ‘Dig for Victory’ campaign. Today many manufacturers offer Growmore fertiliser and they all have the same make-up of the three most important plant foods - Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium. Put very crudely and simply nitrogen is for the green growth, phosphorus builds the roots and potassium improves the flowering and fruiting, and every packet of Growmore will have a label on it saying that the NPK is 7-7-7.

May is the month when the garden really starts to move. The last of the Spring bulbs have all but disappeared and the Summer flowers and vegetables are making fast growth, so now it’s time to give them some feed. After the unbelievably wet winter some of the food that plants need will have leached out of the soil and will need replenishing. This will be particularly true of the vital nitrogen which quickly leaches away in wet conditions leaving plants looking yellow and sick. You may have noticed earlier in the year that some of the fields of Autumn-sown cereals around here were looking decidedly yellow until they were top-dressed with nitrogen fertiliser. So, what fertiliser should you buy? There are umpteen liquid, powder and granulated fertilisers to choose from and by buying a well-known brand you won’t go far wrong, but there are differences between the various brands and types and it is worth reading the admittedly confusing labels which all fertiliser packs are required to carry by law. Don’t pay too much attention to the slogans and pictures on the pack promising fantastic flowers, fruit and vegetables. The claims are true, but that’s because it’s also true that any fertiliser will give you better plants than no fertiliser. Some, however, might be better than others for certain jobs or at certain times of the year. The best known fertiliser must be ‘Growmore’. Growmore isn’t a trade name or a brand 40 The Onion magazine

Top: Growmore NPK analysis. Below: NPK analysis of Growmore showing the more realistic 7-3.1-5.8 analysis.

That means 7% nitrogen, 7% phosphorus and 7% potassium and that seems pretty well balanced; but look at photo 2 and you will see that this more detailed view the NPK of 7-7-7 is supplemented by additional information showing that the water soluble proportions of NPK are actually 7%, 3.1% and 5.8%, which means that Growmore is actually a bit nitrogen rich and a bit weak on phosphorus. Does this matter very much? Well no, not really. It does mean perhaps that Growmore is onionpublishing.co.uk

MAY GARDENING well suited to use right now, early in the season, when growth is likely to be the prime requirement, but if you use Growmore throughout the season everything will be just fine. The fact is that the plants will take what they need and provided that some of it is there for the taking they’ll be OK. However, sometimes they might benefit from a little bit more of one thing than another and there are times when a fertiliser with a different emphasis is useful. At fruiting or flowering times, for example, look for a fertiliser that has a greater proportion of K, the potassium content. The ubiquitous Tomorite is one such which, because of its high potassium content, is useful on any plant at flowering or fruiting time; it’s Rhododendrons are one of the plants that benefit from a specially formulated fertiliser. not just for tomatoes. Two of many other potassium weighted fertilisers which are good for using in Well, RoI stands for Republic of Ireland where they, more sensibly and more helpfully in my the coming months are the slow release pelleted Vitax Q4 and view, give the soluble content of NPK. It simply the liquid feed Phostrogen, but if you are planting new shrubs, means that the pack is sold in both countries perennials or soft fruits in the Autumn it will be a good idea and has to comply with both sets of laws, but to incorporate a fertiliser with a high phosphorus content into I think the RoI analysis gives a more ‘accurate’ the planting mixture which will help the new plants to quickly reading of the balance of chemicals available develop strong root systems. to the plant. You will also notice if you read the labels on the fertiliser Finally, one very important label is the price packs that there are minute proportions of other absolutely and I have found that there is a wide variation vital chemicals in the mix; things such as magnesium, boron in the price of identical, branded fertilisers in and copper for example. The NPK make-up of the fertiliser different shops and garden centres. Fertiliser is important but no plant can exist without these other trace elements and it is often these which distinguish the formulation is very expensive and it certainly pays to shop around and to go somewhere that offers not of certain specialist mixtures such as rose fertiliser. However, only a good price but also a good choice of so-called ‘rose’ fertiliser does not need to be restricted to roses different fertilisers. - what’s good for roses is just as good for all manner of other shrubs and flowering plants. One last confusing point about the labels: you will often find on the packet that there are two sets of NPK analysis, the first labelled as the “UK or EC Fertiliser declaration” and the second as the “RoI Fertiliser Declaration” and they give two different figures for the same packet contents. How can this be? May 2014

Two analyses of the same fertiliser in the same packet. The Onion magazine 41

EAT

The Great House, Hawkhurst

BY NICK FARLEY We had lunch at The Great House in Hawkhurst and that’s always a real pleasure. This restaurant cum pub is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year and throughout its life it has managed to maintain a consistently high standard, and that’s not easy in the fickle world of ‘eating out’. All too often we see dazzling new stars streak across the restaurant firmament, only for them to fizzle and burn out, often within a few months, while The Great House for ten years has remained … well, great. However, it’s not perfect, but unlike so many eating places it’s very easy to forgive The Great House its slight imperfections, and the reason for that is because it’s one of those oh-so-rare places that recognises that the quality of the service is every bit as important as the food. There are quite a few places these days where one can get good food, but there are very few places where one can get good service. Good service is not an optional extra. Let’s deal with the service first: The Great House has always seemed to draw its staff from the Eastern European countries and from the Baltic states, and they – the staff not the states – are, in my experience at least, virtually faultless. I don’t know whether it’s their training or whether it’s innate, but they are invariably charming, helpful and efficient. From the warm greeting you get when you walk in to the smiling ‘goodbye’ when you leave the staff are excellent and their attitude contributes so much to the success of a meal. Other restaurants take note. But man cannot live by charming service alone, we are in a restaurant to eat and The Great House will not let you down in this department. We are not talking Heston Blumenthal ridiculous here, nor yet Michel Roux posh; no, The Great House simply deals in good food, well cooked and properly presented, and today’s lunch was no exception. Carol started with rather interesting, slightly spicy, potted shrimps which she pronounced good, while I had a bold, coarse terrine with piccalilli. It looked good and lived up to its publicity. This was followed by a lamb burger for madame while I, a noted meat-a-tarian, deliberately decided to go off piste with a vegetarian curry. This was breaking two of my rules: don’t go 42 The Onion magazine

near vegetarian dishes and don’t eat curries unless they are cooked by someone from the East. It was, however, subtle, light and delicious, as was the lamb burger apparently. The vegetableness of my main course left plenty of room for a pud and The Great House did not disappoint with a lemon tart and sorbet. Not adventurous I grant you but everything that a pudding with the words lemon, tart and sorbet in its title should be. I loved it. Sadly, Carol’s brulee was not quite up to snuff she said, although I thought it was rather good. So, clearly we like The Great House and have liked it for many years which is why we can forgive it its slight imperfections. For example, I could do without the strangled background music. There’s always a cheerful babble of conversation in the place, you’ll never be eating alone, so why the ‘music’? And, bizarrely, some of the food was served on wooden platters covered with a paper napkin (see photos); this doesn’t work. Paper, moist food and knives combine to create a mess. Plates will do chaps. But, as always, we left in a much better frame of mind than when we arrived. The Great House does that and, as you well know, you can’t say that of many places. The Great House is one of those places which you can safely recommend to people. It’s not one of those up one minute down the next places where you hope you hit it on a good night. We look forward to the next ten years of Greatness. [We each had three courses and coffee, a bottle of water plus a half carafe (500ml) of Sauvignon Blanc between us. The bill was £83.35 including tip, and the wine was £17 of the total.]

Tel: 01580 753119 www.elitepubs.com/the_greathouse onionpublishing.co.uk

<38

EXHIBITIONS … CONCERTS … FETES & FAIRS … CHARITY EVENTS .. THINGS TO DO

Wild Woodland Holiday Club, Beckley Friday 30 May 10:00 to 15:00 A whole day of holiday fun at Swallowtail Hill, where you can sit around the campfire, play games and try your hand at woodland crafts. Bring a packed lunch. Suitable for ages 6 to 11 years. Parents/carers do not accompany children. Meet at Swallowtail Hill Farm, Hobbs Lane, Beckley, Rye TN31 6TT. Booking essential. Charge £20 per child. www.sussexwildlifetrust.org. uk/whatson, email rhnroffice@sussexwt.org.uk, telephone 01797 227784. Tudor dressing up in the Great Hall at Knole Friday 30 May 12noon to 15:00 Step back in time by trying on some historical costumes and celebrating the characters that might have lived or worked in this special house over the last 600 years. Pose for a family portrait in the giant Tudor picture frame – don’t forget to bring your camera! Normal admission charges apply. Sevenoaks, Kent TN15 0RP. Telephone 01732 462100.

Wild Woodland Weekend Club Saturday 31 May 10:00 to 13:00 Forest School activities for children aged 6 to 11 years, held in private woodland in Beckley. The Wild Things get together on the last Saturday of each month and activities may include campfire cooking, woodland crafts, games, den building. Parents/carers do not accompany children. Meet at Swallowtail Hill Farm, Hobbs Lane, Beckley TN31 6TT. Booking is essential. Charge £10 per child. www. sussexwildlifetrust.org.uk/whatson, email rhnroffice@ sussexwt.org.uk, telephone 01797 227784. Tenterden Book Fair Saturday 31 May 09:00 to 15:00 15 book dealers attending with thousands of secondhand books for sale on all subjects. Refreshments available all day. Repeated the last Saturday of each month. Highbury Hall, Highbury Lane, Tenterden, TN30 6LE. Admission free. Details from Barry Williams, barryjean.williams@ btinternet.com

THE ONION’S REVIEWING POLICY From time to time in the magazine we review places to eat, places to visit, things to see, books to read and, as in this issue, ‘Good Gadgets’. Our policy is to be at all times objective and to base the reviews on our own experience and not on press releases, advertising blurb or second-hand information. So, for example, we go to restaurants or pubs incognito and pay for our food and drink. It would be impossible to be objective if that were not the case. Opinions expressed about things are always based on our actual experiences. The one exception to this rule is books: we do receive free books from publishers, but we only include in ‘A Good Book’ those books which we can recommend. The other books which, in our view, are not a good read are simply not included. In other words, we think that there is no point in telling you not to visit a particular restaurant, or not to buy some gadget, or not to read a certain book. Rather, we prefer to tell you, in our opinion, or sometimes in the opinion of a trusted correspondent, where it is worth eating, what is worth reading and so on. When we have a bad experience it will simply go unreported. May 2014

The Onion magazine 43

Bluebell walk around Cranbook and Sissinghurst The hilltop town of Cranbrook may be justified in claiming to be the capital of the High Weald; certainly its church is known as ‘the cathedral of the Weald’.

The walk Leave the north-east corner of the churchyard (TQ 776 362), bear right to skirt the southern edge of the recreation ground and cross the road to a path on the other side. This is enclosed at first but soon emerges into open countryside. When it approaches Great Swifts, a substantial mansion, there is a concrete section, but beyond the house, when the path swings right, leave the concrete by going ahead to a gate (TQ 786 369) after which there is a grassy path through woodland. The path steeply descends to the next gate. Cross a meadow to a gate directly opposite, by a clump of holly bushes. Steps lead steeply down to a lane and more steps on the other side take the footpath up the bank and soon along a field edge. It crosses straight over a crossways *(TQ 793 374) and becomes a ‘backway’ path for a short distance before joining a drive and reaching a road. Turn left into Sissinghurst and then right to pass the church. After the Old Vicarage turn left down a driveway. The drive ends when it reaches a sewage works but a path continues with an orchard to the left, and crosses a stream by a footbridge (TQ 796 378). Almost immediately there is a kissing-gate and a sign pointing to Sissinghurst Castle. Take this path, following it through the woodland, which is carpeted with bluebells at this time of year, and avoid any turnings. At length you reach the main driveway. Cross the drive, use the clapper-type stile into Park Field and follow the footpath alongside the drive, before passing through another similar stile to rejoin it beside the old 44 The Onion magazine

farmhouse. Keep left at a sign for the farmhouse and walk up to the visitors’ car park. Turn right to visit the property, otherwise look for the waymarks indicating the route through the middle of the car park and make for a stile in the top boundary. Go diagonally right in the field towards woodland and look for a gap in the boundary. Turn left to follow a track (can be muddy), but after Horse Race House there is a surfaced drive. When this meets the road, climb the stile on the left (TQ 797 384) into an orchard and keep ahead following the waymarks. Follow the path round to the right in the corner of the orchard and make for its edge. Turn left here to descend to the footbridge (TQ 796 378). From here retrace your step to Sissinghurst village back to point * (TQ 793 374). Here turn left on to a path, which leads down over fields to woodlands at the bottom. In the woods cross three footbridges, then climb a steep bank to reach a stile into a meadow. Turn right and walk around the edge of the meadow to a fence and follow this to reach a stile in the corner on to a road. Turn right, climb to a junction at the top of the hill, turn right again, and walk for 100 yards before turning left (TQ 797 364) down a driveway, which becomes a woodland path. onionpublishing.co.uk

Continue through the woods until you see a red brick house on the left. Turn right here (TQ 798 361) and follow the field edge with trees and hedge on the right. Join a concrete track at the top of the field and keep ahead towards Coursehorne Farm, where surviving farm buildings have been transformed into homes. The route then follows the lane from Dulwich College Preparatory School at Coursehorne for nearly half a mile, to the road. Turn left on to the road, and after a short distance, opposite a black and white timbered house go through the kissing-gate on the right (TQ 787 360) to enter a meadow. Make for an opening below, between a hedge to the left and a spinney on the right. The grassy path goes through this dip and then follows the edge of the spinney to a footbridge. Cross this and continue to walk round the edge of the woodland â&#x20AC;&#x201C; there is a steep drop to a ditch. When you see the sad remains of a hedgerow, with just six or so bushes remaining, turn left to follow its line and thus reach the footpath used on the outward route, turning left to walk back to the church at Cranbrook.

DISTANCE: 7.25 miles OS MAPS: OS Landranger 188 Maidstone & Royal Tunbridge Wells, OS Explorers 136 High Weald, 137 Ashford. GRID REFERENCE: TQ 776 362 STARTING POINT: Cranbrook churchyard. Images from left: Sissinghurst Castle. Above: Bluebell woods at Sissinghurst (both copyright David Hancock).

This is Walk 18 from the Pathfinder Guides No.8: Kent Walks book, published by Crimson Publishing (www. crimsonpublishing.co.uk). OS maps available (Landranger 188; Explorers 136 and 137).

Neither the publisher nor the author can accept any responsibility for any changes, errors or omissions in this route. Diversion orders can be made and permissions withdrawn at any time.

May 2014

The Onion magazine 45

BUSINESS CARDS

Hallwood Farm Oast B & B

Traditional oast house conversion with top quality accommodation set in 200 acres of lovely countryside on a working fruit farm near Cranbrook. A perfect base from which to explore the Weald of Kent

Mrs Sarah Wickham www.hallwoodfarm.co.uk 01580 712416

We deliver a wide range of Building, Garden and Landscaping Products in Small Bags, Bulk Bags or Loose Loads Quality Topsoils • Composts • Manure • Barks • Mulches Grass Seed • Turf • Lawn Dressings • Fertiliser Decorative Stone • Slate • Pathway Materials • Aggregate

Visit our website www.gardenscapedirect.co.uk or call freephone 0800 854663 Or visit us at: The Wharf, Rye Road, Newenden, Kent TN18 5QG

Spar Stores Station Road, Northiam. For all your grocery needs.

Full Off Licence. Fresh Fruit & Vegetables. Local Organic Fruit & Veg Delivered Fridays. Fresh Bread Baked On Site Daily. Cut Flowers/Plants. National Lottery Outlet. Paypoint (Phone & Bill Payments)

Main Street, Northiam, East Sussex TN31 6NB 01797 253635

Open 7am to 8pm Monday to Saturday. 8am to 6pm Sunday.

T.A. Lawrence

Wood burning and multi-fuel stove and fireplace installation

Hedge Cutting & Lawn Mowing

Call 01797 252285

Wood burning stoves

Multi-fuel stoves

Fireplace installations

Fully insured Tel: 01797 252132 Mob: 07974 545808 We survived and Cornwall is open for business!

DOES A SECLUDED LOG CABIN OVERLOOKING THE SEA APPEAL TO YOU? YES! THEN COME TO CORNWALL Self catering – Sleeps 4 Tel: 01872 501187

No answer? Leave us your number and we’re always happy to ring you back. Sorry, no pets & smoking 46 The Onion magazine

Kent and Sussex Stoves Tel: 01580 441014 Mobile: 07508 207415 Penny ad_Layout 1 14/08/2012 16:23 Page 1 Email: John@kentandsussexstoves.com Registered Installer

HOLIDAY HOME SOUTH OF FRANCE Comfortable village gite to let, sleeps 8, in picturesque Languedoc ‘Cathar Country’. Near castles, dramatic gorges, Carcassonne and Canal du Midi. Visit the website www.bugarachgite.co.uk Tel 01252 712233 or email penny.kitchen@btopenworld.com onionpublishing.co.uk

WIN

WE’VE THREE COPIES OF THE NEW CBEEBIES ‘SARAH & DUCK’ DVD TO GIVE AWAY.

Sarah is a seven year old girl with big eyes and a green hat, who lives with her quacky, flappy best friend, Duck. Together, they embark on simple but exciting adventures, discovering the world in their own imaginative way. This is the pair’s first DVD containing ten quirky stories. You’ll meet the Shallots, Rainbow, Donkey, Scarf Lady and Cake whilst joining in with a day of kite flying, a visit to the library, a trip to the zoo and much more! For a chance to win a copy of the ‘Sarah & Duck’ CBeebies DVD (www.sarahandduck.com) please send your name and address/email address to competition@onionpublishing. co.uk. Winners will be drawn and notified after the closing date. The closing date is 23rd May 2014.

WIN

WE’VE THREE COPIES OF THE GORGEOUS ‘BRIGHTON BAKES’ COOKERY BOOK BY JESSICA HAGGERTY TO GIVE AWAY.

Jessica Haggerty is the face behind Fresh ‘n’ Fruity caterers, a successful company supplying cakes and treats to many well-known cafes in Brighton. She’s also been personal chef to several celebrities. In this sumptuous treat of a book, Jessica takes you through the season with contemporary recipes for cakes, muffins, pies and tarts, all using fresh local produce with her unique blend of urban chic and old-fashioned flavours. Irresistible and individual treats for every occasion from a passionate baker, beautifully photographed throughout. Brighton Bakes by Jessica Haggerty is out now (Book Guild, £19.99) www.bookguild.co.uk For a chance to win a copy of Brighton Bakes please send your name and address/email address to competition@ onionpublishing.co.uk. Winners will be drawn and notified after the closing date. The closing date is 23rd May 2014.

WIN

TWO TICKETS TO THE COMEDY CAFÉ AT THE TRINITY THEATRE, TUNBRIDGE WELLS ON 21ST JUNE.

Let yourself go with Trinity’s regular Comedy Cafes, bringing you the best of live stand-up comedy. Have a laugh with big names and hot newcomers. The Onion has two tickets to giveaway for the June Comedy Café on 21st June (at the time of going to press they are billing Javier Jarquin and Celia Pacquola). The Trinity says “raise a glass with delicious drinks from our well-stocked bar, and share tasty homemade food from Trinity’s café. Our auditorium is transformed into an atmospheric and intimate setting with tables on the stage so you can get up close and personal to some of the very best acts on the circuit.” For more information on the regular Comedy nights and Meal Deals go to www.trinitytheatre.net. For a chance to win two tickets to the 21st June Comedy Café at the Trinity Theatre, Tunbridge Wells, please send your name and address/email address to competition@onionpublishing.co.uk. Winners will be drawn and notified after the closing date. The closing date is 23rd May 2014.

Please enter as directed above. Postal entries can also be sent to us at the address given on page three.

TERMS & CONDITIONS OF ENTRY: By entering these competitions you agree to receive periodic emails from The Onion magazine, Onion Publishing Ltd and the originator of the competition you are entering. You can opt out of receiving these at any time and your data will never be passed on for use by third parties. The prizes are non-transferable and have no cash alternative. Only one entry per person per competition and prizes will only be sent to homes with a TN postcode.

Fine Art Exhibition & Sale of Local Artworks

FREE ENTRY & DEMONSTRATIONS Sat 17th - Sun 18th May 2014, 10am-4pm The Woolpack Hotel & Restaurant Tenterden High Street, Tenterden

Presented by the Rotary Club of Tenterden, in aid of Canterbury Oast Trust and Rare Breeds Centre supporting adults with learning disability.

call 01233 861 493 email fundraising@c-o-t.org.uk visit c-o-t.org.uk, tenterdenrotary.org.uk find us COTCharity facebook.com/cotcharity