Town mice migrate
The return to town has been somewhat marred by the loss of all the keys for the car, admits Clive


Transhumance is usually taken to describe the seasonal movement of people with their animals between summer and winter pastures. I feel that we have just gone through a version of it, the family and livestock (one tortoise) having just completed their annual migration from Ramsgate back to town. It has been made more difficult this year by the absence of the car. Or, more strictly, the absence of the car keys, lost-I won't say by whom-in the act of packing our middle son off to Italy.
They've simply vanished, along with the spares. My wife ordered, at huge expense, another set from Mercedes, only to be told that she can't collect them without also producing the car. As this would mean our paying to have the car winched onto a lorry, there is, at present, something of a stand-off, as negotiations continue. Mercedes may be German and rule-bound, but in this battle of attrition, I wouldn't bet it'll win.
We need the car to collect the vivarium. My memory of childhood tortoises is that they roamed through the borders of the garden, so that you mightn't see them for weeks (or ever, if they'd hibernated in the bonfire). These days, they are deemed to require UV lamps and controlled heating-only slightly cheaper than a car key.
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.
Country Life is unlike any other magazine: the only glossy weekly on the newsstand and the only magazine that has been guest-edited by HRH The King not once, but twice. It is a celebration of modern rural life and all its diverse joys and pleasures — that was first published in Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee year. Our eclectic mixture of witty and informative content — from the most up-to-date property news and commentary and a coveted glimpse inside some of the UK's best houses and gardens, to gardening, the arts and interior design, written by experts in their field — still cannot be found in print or online, anywhere else.
-
You've almost certainly been making cups of tea wrong for years
We drink tea every day, but are we doing it correctly? Who decided on the rules and do they really matter? Jonathon Jones reveals all.
-
Myddleton House: The place that 'will help you learn what true gardening is' is open to everyone, and just 30 minutes from central London
E. A. Bowles created a horticultural playground in the gardens of Myddleton House that was years ahead of its time, and continues to influence even today. Isabel Bannerman takes a look.