As we take shade (we can but hope) from the late June sun to enjoy a bowl of strawberries and cream and watch a match or two at Wimbledon, spare a passing thought for the late Victorian tennis fan who had no means of access to the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club, or their own tennis court.
Luckily for our late-19th Century forebears, a canny inventor had created a device to ensure a form of tennis for all. Designed to only require a space of 15ft, Spiropole — apologies to any child of the 1970s now having flashbacks to black eyes incurred during a game of Swingball with an overly-aggressive sibling — consisted of a vertical pole with a long piece of cord attached to the top. Tied to the end of the said cord was a tennis ball that was to be struck by opposing players with small racquets until the cord had spiralled itself completely around the pole. It was, at least, advertised as a game for not just men, but also women, which was a rarity in its time.
Other than a gentle game of quoits or croquet, women were deemed too delicate for the rough and tumble of anything more strenuous. Apparently known unfathomably as Bumblepuppy, the garden game, and a — truly terrifying for any crystal glass lovers or porcelain collectors — table top version, appear to have been advertised in the pages of Country Life from 1897 to around 1906, when they vanished as quickly from the public zeitgeist as they had appeared.
The Country Life Image Archive contains more than 150,000 images documenting British culture and heritage, from 1897 to the present day. An additional 50,000 assets from the historic archive are scheduled to be added this year — with completion expected in Summer 2025. To search and purchase images directly from the Image Archive, please register here
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'Knoll offers a masterclass in the adaptability of grass': The Dorset garden that went from tourist attraction to specialist nurseryTilly Ware visits Knoll Gardens in Dorset, which offers a masterclass in grasses and how to make your garden stay beautiful for longer.
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This converted mill is the epitome of bucolic beauty and its grounds were masterminded by one of the finest garden designers alive todayHunworth Mill is the very picture of bucolic bliss, with exquisite gardens created by Arne Maynard.
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Reading al fresco: The best places in London to get lost in the written word, according to the Country Life teamIn London, north, east, south and west, there's a public place suitable for all performative acts of reading.
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Marsh Harriers: The wetland-loving bird that defied the odds to reconquer British skiesMark Cocker's first ever sighting of the bird was at Minsmere, Suffolk, in 1976 — and he's never forgotten it.
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Louis Wain: The Edwardian artist who was 'perhaps the best PR cats have ever had'The artist's fascination with cats is the subject of a show at Chris Beetles Gallery which will feature 25 previously unseen works by Wain.
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Killer whales: The perilously rare and super-smart predator we risk loosing from British waters foreverThey’ve recently made headlines for interfering with boats, but intelligent, family-focused and remarkably long-lived orcas–better known as killer whales–contain multitudes.
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‘Though she be but little, she is fierce’: Everything you didn't know about sparrowhawksScourge of the bird feeder and a master of ‘shock and awe’ assassinations, the sparrowhawk pursues its quarry with such tenacity and unpredictability that it often blindsides its prey.
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An ode to Britain's wildflowers, from the London bloom which grew in the craters of the Blitz, to the weather-predicting scarlet pimpernelDecorating the land with their brilliant and varied hues, our native flora which operate as clocks, calendars and Nature’s medicine cabinet are blooming brilliant, says John Lewis-Stempel.
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Sophia Money-Coutts: If I’m sending a thank you card to a friend, do I really have to address it to ‘Mrs W Butler’ as if it’s 1928?Sophia Money-Coutts is the new Debrett's and she's here every Wednesday to set some modern etiquette wrongs, right.
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'F1 on water': SailGP makes a splash in PortsmouthSix years after it was founded, SailGP has got the wind behind its sails. What makes this sport, dubbed 'F1 on water', so compelling?
