In this Best of Britain issue, I can't neglect to mention literary festivals-what a phenomenon they've become! On Wednesday, I was guest of the Sherborne Literary Society, not actually at a festival (that's in October), but at a luncheon. Thrillingly, it had bought all the copies of my soon-appearing novel that the publisher had managed to supply and I left bearing a handcrafted mug. Thence to Hay-on-Wye, festival of festivals.
The last time I was there, the sun smote down and we ate in the garden. That was, however, about seven years ago and the sun probably hasn't blessed the festival since then. Fortunately, I had wellies to wear over my suit. I hurried back for the Bloxham Festival of Faith and Literature in Oxfordshire. Tantalisingly, as my theme was war memorials, Bloxham has a museum. The display now in it includes some soldiers' letters: one shows a detailed plan of accommodation in the trenches. Alas, the museum was closed by the time I'd delivered my talk.
What surprised me, in this odyssey, was how easy it was by train. The Great Silver Beast that would, in other years, have driven me between these engagements has gone for scrap. Our railways may not qualify as the best, but moans can be overdone.
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Luke Edward Hall’s consuming passions: ‘I like listening to ambient electronic music, particularly dungeon synth’The artist, designer and author reveals why Cecil Beaton is his aesthetic hero and his plans for a new Cornish home (theme: ‘pirate baroque’).
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Hampnett House: A Gloucestershire garden where an empty, squelchy lawn has been replaced by 'gorgeous flowery generosity'What to do if you inherit a garden that isn’t your style? Tiffany Daneff visits the garden at Hampnett House, Gloucestershire — home of Mr Sanjeev Shah and Ms Mansi Amin — and finds a space that has undergone a major transformation, from high-concept minimalism to flower-filled paradise. Photographs by Britt Willoughby Dyer.
