LandScape magazine May June 2015 by LandScapeprod

LandScape - Life at nature’s pace

www.landscapemagazine.co.uk

Life at nature’s pace

£4.25

May / June 2015

sweet taste of suMMER

The garden bumblebee Mackerel fresh from the sea May’s clouds of foaming blossom

May / June 2015

Issue 23 | May / June 2015 | £4.25

Rose ‘Bleu Magenta’ and clusters of pink ‘Laure Davoust’ clamber over an archway, with, to the left of the path, yellow ‘Crocus Rose’ growing above pink ‘Jacques Cartier’. On the right of the path sits pink ‘Celestial’.

a Radiant tapestry More than 200 roses fill an island garden with a profusion of colour and scent

Deep pink English rose ‘Alan Titchmarsh’ has a soft, warm fragrance with a hint of citrus.

‘Gentle Hermione’ is a hardy, medium-sized English rose with a suggestion of myrrh to its scent.

Copper yellow ‘Pat Austin’ grows as either a medium shrub or a small climber.

SWEET PEA symphony Fragrant pastel petals create gentle displays of beauty

Baked mackerel with apple and mustard Serves 4 8 mackerel fillets 4 tbsp wholegrain mustard 1 red-skinned eating apple 4 sage leaves cold-pressed rapeseed oil for greasing

Smoked mackerel pâté Serves 4 280g smoked mackerel fillets 200g full-fat cream cheese finely grated zest of ½ lemon, plus lemon juice 2 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley salt and black pepper brown bread, to serve

Flake the mackerel into a bowl, discarding the skin and any bones. Mash well with a fork. Add the cream cheese, lemon zest, parsley, salt and a grind of black pepper. Beat in lemon juice to taste. Spoon into a dish, cover and chill until required. Serve spread on freshly toasted brown bread.

Place four of the mackerel fillets skin-side down in a shallow, oiled roasting dish and spread with the mustard. Core the apple, cut into thin slices and arrange on top of the mustard. Shred the sage leaves and sprinkle on top of the apple. Cover with the remaining fillets, flesh-side down. Bake in a preheated oven at 190°C/gas mark 5 for 20 mins until the fish is cooked through and beginning to brown at the edges. Serve with sautéed courgettes and tomatoes.

rich and robust The firm flesh of seasonal mackerel brings an intense flavour to simple dishes 51

THE HUMBLE bumblebee The large, furry bumblebee encapsulates the sights and sounds of a British summer as it buzzes from flower to flower 66

low-pitched, thrumming buzz fills the air as a large, furry yellow and black striped bumblebee makes its way from flower to flower. This is the Garden Bumblebee, Bombus hortorum, one of 24 British species. At this time of year it is the female worker bees that are seen in the open. They are collecting nectar and pollen, to take back to their underground nest. Bumblebees are social insects, living in colonies containing a single queen. A typical Garden Bumblebee nest is home to between 50-100 individuals. These are divided into one queen and the workers – always female – and males. The workers collect the nectar and pollen, and tend to the larvae laid by the queen. The males do not develop until later in the summer. Their sole role is to mate with a queen. Worker and male bumblebees weigh approximately half a gram, the larger

queens almost twice that. Both male and workers are approximately ½in (1-2cm) long, while queens measure approximately ¾in (2cm) long. Buzzing from flower to flower, their progress appears slow and steady. They fly generally at speeds of approximately 7-19mph (3-4.5 metres a second). However 34mph (15 metres per second) has been recorded. There is a misconception that the bumblebee’s two pairs of wings are too small and weak to get the insect airborne. This has come from a misunderstanding of the way bees fly. They neither flap their wings up and down, nor use stiff wings to gain lift. Instead the wings move in a complex figure-of-eight pattern. This generates tiny air currents and vortices. It is these that allow the bee to take to the air and stay there. Unusually for an insect, bumblebees are warm-blooded. They are able to maintain a constant body temperature of

Each wing is hinged at the base facilitating up, down, forward and backward flight. The two pairs of wings act as one, held together in flight by a series of hooks.

between 30 and 40⁰C. Their plump bodies give them a relatively smaller surface area to their volume. These two facts together mean they are better able to retain heat. This allows the queens to emerge from hibernation far earlier in the year than other pollinating insects. Bumblebees may be seen on sunny days in January or February, when the air temperature is still below 10⁰C. These adaptations enable some species to live at higher latitudes and altitudes, and in colder climates, than other bees. They are found in the northern archipelagos of Orkney and even Shetland, six degrees south of the Arctic Circle. Finding food Bumblebees feed on nectar, gathering it from flowers with a hairy tongue, or proboscis. The Garden Bumblebee has the longest tongue of any British bumblebee. It measures between ½-¾in (1.5-2cm) in ›

The bumblebee has an exoskeleton – a skeleton on the outside – made of chitin, a fibrous, structural protein similar to keratin. It breathes through spiracles, paired holes down the side of its body. Air is drawn in as the bee moves.

Interwoven chains of frothy cow parsley and buttercups wind round a tree branch.

but tercups and daisies Isabella creates simple floral artworks from wildflowers growing in a meadow

A triangle of colour created by grass stalks, buttercups and dandelions floats on top of a water-filled metal bucket.

plant-dyed string Natural pigments from petals and leaves infuse balls of cotton string with the soft tones of summer

H The plant pigment anthocyanin is responsible for the purple dye produced from poppies.

The yellow dye produced by weld comes from luteolin, a naturally occurring pigment.

edgerow and meadow plants flowering now are used to dye string in gentle shades. The dye is not permanent and fades, leading to delicate hues and patterns. Once dyed, the string is kept away from water, as the colour will run. The scarlet petals of Papaver rhoeas, the common poppy, create a strong maroon shade. These bright flowers grow in abundance on roadside verges and the edges of crop-filled fields. Dye from poppies is not used for fabrics as its colour is non-permanent. Reseda luteola, or weld, is a common plant across most parts of Britain, often found on waste ground and roadside verges. Growing up to 5ft (1.5m), it has pale yellow flower spikes blooming from early June. It yields a strong, long-lasting yellow dye, used to colour fabrics since the first millennium BC. Lincoln green cloth, said to have been worn by Robin Hood’s men, was produced by combining weld’s yellow dye with a blue dye from the woad plant. Urtica dioica, or the common nettle, produces a subtle green dye. For a stronger green colour, the nettle leaves are finely chopped. Leaving it overnight to steep in boiling water helps develop the tone. The colour can be strengthened with the addition of stems of weld. ›

materials • Pan • Sieve • Heatproof bowl • Metal spoon • 50 poppy stems • 10 nettle stems • 10 weld stems • 3 balls of white cotton string • Water

Note: the utensils used for dyeing should not be used for food preparation, in case of toxins present in some plants. They may also be stained by the dye. Chlorophyll produces the green dye from nettles.

back on the road

Carefully restored, a wooden-framed Morris Traveller has been returned to its former glory, nearly 45 years after it was made

The Aqua colour of Terry’s Morris Traveller was only used on cars constructed during the final six months of production.

ith a polished wooden frame surrounding gleaming paintwork, a 44-year-old car bowls merrily towards the seaside, its happy owner at the wheel. Dating from 1971, this is one of the last Morris Travellers to roll off the production line. Five years ago, it was a forlorn-looking vehicle past its prime. Now lovingly restored, it may not be fast or glamorous, but owner Terry Johnson finds driving it immense fun. Its simple dashboard, noises and smells are all evocative of a time long past. And the affection these miniature estate cars are held in shows when passers-by wave and smile. It has proven itself to be a reliable form of transport, taking Terry and his wife Ellen on holiday to France and the Isle of Wight. It regularly transports Terry and his golf clubs on the 40-mile round trip to and from his golf course. “It happily bowls along A-roads at 60mph in fourth gear,” says Terry. “The brakes have no power assistance but drivers get used to leaving more room behind the car in front. Leaving extra space to brake is good for the heart rate.” Birth of an iconic car The first Traveller appeared in October 1953. With the addition of a primitive-looking wooden frame, British firm Morris transformed its existing Minor saloon into an estate car. Using a wood-framed rear body to turn a large saloon into an individually-built estate car was not unknown in the 1930s and ’40s. However, a small estate car, mass-produced in a factory, was a new venture. The reason so few UK manufacturers included an estate in their range was because these types of mass-built car were classified as commercial vehicles. Such dual-purpose vehicles, as they came to be known, needed a black disc marked with a ‘C’ – indicating a commercial licence – next to the tax disc in the windscreen. Use for the smallest amount of business travel – a cobbler delivering a pair of shoes, for example – meant the journey had to be noted in a logbook for the Ministry of Transport. The commercial vehicle speed limit of 30mph applied throughout the trip. The removal of these regulations in 1954 contributed to the Traveller’s success. The car rapidly developed a loyal following. Its £599 13s 4d price put it within reach for many. It attracted those who needed more space than a two-door saloon could provide, yet were previously unable to afford it. Buyers were also charmed by its image. Those rustic looks imitated the larger wood-framed cars used before the Second World War for collecting country house guests from rural railway stations. It harked back to an earlier age. ›

The wood for the frame is ash, chosen for its strength and lightness (left). The round mirrors give a good rear view but their position on the front wings makes them difficult to adjust (right). 91

the sign of the painter A Cornish artist is keeping alive the tradition of hand painting wooden pub signs

rich smell of paint fills the air of a brightly painted two-storey converted garage in St Breward, a small village on the western side of Bodmin Moor in rural Cornwall. The surfaces, walls and all of the ceiling space are covered in old painted signs, advertising billboards, posters and mirrors. On the shelves and tables sit sculptures, plants, pottery, books, baskets, paint pots and brushes. This is the studio of Andrew Grundon, one of a small handful of dedicated pub sign painters working today in Britain. Andrew started as an artist working in oils, watercolours and pen and ink. He painted portraits, landscapes and traditional farming scenes. Then a position as a sign painter with a local brewery became available. “I was very attracted to the idea. It was a draw to know that my work would be viewed by thousands of people,” he says. “The company, St Austell Brewery, has approximately 180 pubs. Their signs need to be refurbished or replaced on a five- to seven-year cycle.” Along with repairing hand-painted signs, Andrew also creates new ones. Although he now works for himself, the majority of his work still comes from the brewery. A rising number of signs also arrive from independent pub owners. He believes the reasons for this are part nostalgia and a taste for the traditional. There is also a growing realisation that wooden signs age well and offer value for money. “When a wooden sign ages it takes on a new type of charm. In fact, I think they look better a little weathered,” he says. ›

A lakeside haven At the heart of Englandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s smallest county sits a peaceful lake surrounded by picturesque villages, historic towns and gently rolling hills

Coming next issue

July / August issue on sale 3 June

Photography: Abigail Rex; Shutterstock; Stockfood

beauty of a cot tage garden

velvet apricots Fascinating llangollen A message to new

readers from the Editor

Dear reader... Taking out a subscription will ensure you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t miss future issues of LandScape. Or perhaps you know someone who might like a subscription as a gift? Either way, we are offering you a special price if you visit www.greatmagazines.co.uk/landscape or call +44 (0)1858 438884 (UK and overseas).

June Smith-Sheppard Editorial Director