
Julie Harding
Julie Harding is Country Life’s News and Property Editor. She is a former editor of Your Horse, Country Smallholding and Eventing, a sister title to Horse & Hound, which she ran for 11 years. Julie has a master’s degree in English and she grew up on a working Somerset dairy farm and in a Grade II*-listed farmhouse, both of which imbued her with a love of farming, the countryside and historic buildings. She returned to her Somerset roots 18 years ago after a stint in the ‘big smoke’ (ie, the south east) and she now keeps a raft of animals, which her long-suffering (and heroic) husband, Andrew, and four children, help to look after to varying degrees.
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Farmers of Britain, go forth and grow prawnsA new study has proposed that farmers could start growing king prawns to diversify income streams.
By Julie Harding Published
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A 14-bedroom 'miniature Downton Abbey' to call your own — and there's not a penny of Mansion Tax to be paidNorton Manor is an incredible period home that's on the market for £1.3 million.
By Toby Keel Published
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The Budget: What do we need to fix a broken countryside, and what will we get?With the Autumn Budget looming, countryside and heritage organisations reveal what they are hoping to hear to fix the turmoil — and what they are dreading
By Julie Harding Published
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A simply perfect thatched cottage in Devon, with charm, walled gardens and all the space you need for family lifeThatched cottages are often pretty, but pretty small — but Julie Harding finds one brings which blends cottage charm with the space of a country manor.
By Julie Harding Published
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Items from the collection of Lady Glenconner are going under the hammer, including a nine-carat gold Cartier box gifted to her by Elizabeth II‘I have had such great pleasure living with these wonderful objects, each telling their own fascinating story.’
By Julie Harding Published
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Five home offices so good that every work day will feel like a holiday (well, probably)Five years on from the Pandemic, millions of us are still working from home much of the time — and thus the appeal of a home office is as strong as ever. They don't much nicer than these.
By Julie Harding Published
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Retro rubbish: Waste from the 90s unearthed in 97-mile-long beach cleanThe 6,482 volunteers unearthed waste discarded decades ago among the 232,229 pieces of litter recorded during the initiative.
By Julie Harding Published
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'Never has there been a more important time to publicise great Victorian and Edwardian buildings in peril': The importance of saving our historic buildingsFor the 16th year, the Victorian Society is calling on the public to nominate Victorian or Edwardian buildings in England and Wales that are in need of saving.
By Julie Harding Published
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'My family wore wool at a time when everyone else had cast it off in favour of manmade fabrics': The knitwear pioneer who is one of David Beckham's countryside championsJulie Harding speaks to Rachel Carvell-Spedding the founder of British knitwear brand Navygrey, and one of David Beckham's countryside champions.
By Julie Harding Published
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Barbecue it like Beckham: The 'lamb man' who taught David Beckham about fire cookingTom Bray, is co-founder and director of Fire Made, a Somerset-based company specialising in outdoor cookery accessories and barbecues. He's also one of the countryside champions nominated by Sir David Beckham in his guest edit. Tom spoke to Julie Harding.
By Julie Harding Published
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'Seeing the work that people are doing all around the world has given me hope for the future': The young naturalist who is one of David Beckham's countryside championsJulie Harding speaks to Ramandeep Nijjar, a young naturalist who has made an impact on the world even before finishing university, and one of David Beckham's countryside champions.
By Julie Harding Published
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This Suffolk home is a perfect escape from the world and it comes with its own stretch of river and 20 acresThis idyllic home in Suffolk is the perfect village home.
By Julie Harding Published
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The rapid decline of our local abattoirs means we can no longer claim to be a country with leading animal welfare standardsOnce the backbone of ethical, small-scale meat production, these essential processors are disappearing fast.
By Julie Harding Published
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Poppy Okotcha, the model turned gardener who is one of David Beckham's countryside championsPoppy Okotcha, the 29-year-old ecological community grower, garden content creator, author — and also one of David Beckham's countryside champions — speaks to Julie Harding.
By Julie Harding Published
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Meet David Beckham's milliner, the man who's created hats using everything from flora and fauna, to car parts and bucketsBarnaby Horn, an award-winning hat-maker and visual artist who learned much of his craft at Highgrove in Gloucestershire, is one of Sir David Beckham's countryside champions. He spoke to Julie Harding.
By Julie Harding Published
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'One of the truly great gardens of the world' is at risk of having its vistas and tranquility blighted foreverThe views from Rousham, the birthplace of the English landscape-garden movement, are at risk of development if plans for the nearby former RAF Upper Heyford Air Force base get the go-ahead.
By Julie Harding Published
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'Sir David Beckham came to see our cattle a couple of years ago. He was fascinated': The stockman at the Glympton EstateTrevor Kirk, a Scottish stockman who now tends the Aberdeen Angus herd on the Glympton Estate in Oxfordshire, is one of Sir David Beckham's rural heroes in the special guest-edited issue of the magazine. He spoke to Julie Harding.
By Julie Harding Published
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The truth about rewilding, by seven of Britain's most influential farmers, landowners and conservationistsAlthough the term 'rewilding' is contentious, most agree that our countryside could be better managed for wildlife. Yet what should we actually be doing to improve it?
By Julie Harding Published
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The wicker weavers who can make a picnic hamper with such skill that you can choose whether it's silent or squeakyLifting the lid on a sturdy hamper to find cold ham and ginger beer is a summer joy. Here are some of the wicker weavers who make the dream come true.
By Julie Harding Published
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175 years of London Waterloo: 'The gateway to everything that’s wonderful'As commuters dash to catch their train home from south London and lovers meet under its giant clock, Julie Harding explores Waterloo — Britain’s busiest railway station — on the eve of its 175th anniversary.
By Julie Harding Published
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Shire horses: Bring in the heavyweightsEngland’s past might have been ‘borne on his back’, but now, thanks to a rediscovered appreciation of his delightful temperament and eco credentials, the future of the Shire horse looks brighter than it has for decades, says Julie Harding
By Julie Harding Published
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In Focus: T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land, the poem of broken modern civilisation that seems more apt than everOn the 100th anniversary of its publication, Julie Harding asks why T. S. Eliot’s great poem The Waste Land, with its devastating vision of a broken modern civilisation, still resonates so strongly today.
By Julie Harding Published
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Nature's winners and losers of the summer of 2022Blazing heat and — belatedly — thundering rains caused havoc with Nature this summer, but there are always those who thrive and those who struggle in unusual times. Julie Harding takes a look at who came off best in the past few turbulent months.
By Julie Harding Published
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The Duchess of Cornwall's country champions, from a bee master and an equine therapist to The Prince of Wales and Jeremy ClarksonThe Duchess of Cornwall names her countryside champions in the 13 July 2022 issue, which she has guest edited. Among them are her husband The Prince of Wales — whom she describes as ‘a countryman to the core’— as well as a wine producer, a bee master and TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson.
By Julie Harding Published
