Country mouse reflects on his favourite hats
Country mouse reflects on his favourite hats, from heirloom top hats to sporting flat caps.

The hatbox that contains my top hat has a set of stamps on it with Edward VII’s image on them. It was my great-grandfather’s. His son’s bowler hat came to me via the husband of my godmother. They are the heirlooms— together with a watch and a penknife—that I have inherited from my mother’s side of the family and, although the hats don’t get many outings, I’m enormously proud of them. I like hats.
I like them because I associate them with events. I was very fond of a Tilley hat that journeyed with me to Africa and under which I caught my first salmon and many trout. But then I lost it and was bereft. I searched for it for weeks, cursing myself. A few years later, I lost a flat cap that I used for shooting, but that didn’t really matter, as it hadn’t been part of anything truly special. I bought another and it vied with a soft canvas hat for supremacy in my superstitious mind. The new flat cap got off to a poor start: two blank weeks of salmon fishing, but then some success fishing for sea trout, where the canvas hat had failed, nudged it ahead in my affection. Under its brim, last weekend, I managed to connect with the highest pheasant I had ever hit. The hat has reached heirloom status, which means I’ll probably lose it.
* Subscribe to Country Life and save
Sign up for the Country Life Newsletter
Exquisite houses, the beauty of Nature, and how to get the most from your life, straight to your inbox.
-
Dawn Chorus: How to bag a Vacheron Constantin watch like Brad Pitt’s 222 and why London’s Sloane Street is looking better than ever
Everything you need to know today, including a new version of the watch Brad Pitt made headlines with at Wimbledon, the Harvey Nichols pasta pop-up and Sloane Street’s £40million face lift.
By Rosie Paterson Published
-
Name that dog, England's highest mountain and eight more questions: Country Life Quiz of the Day 18 February 2025
Test your skills, knowledge, and ability to take wild guesses based on scant evidence in Tuesday's Quiz of the Day.
By Toby Keel Published