Recent Articles

(Pictured Above: A 1957 Chevrolet, full restoration and converted into a Hot Rod) I was born in London in 1956 and lived in Putney for most of my childhood. When I was young my family didn’t have a car and my dad never had one either so we were restricted to push bikes. I really hadn’t travelled ...

(Pictured Above: Major Eric Bonham of Knowle on ‘Grey Lady’, painted by Alfred Munnings (Royal Scots Dragoon Guards Museum) After two years’ service in the Royal Army Medical Corps in Gallipoli, Egypt and France, Cranleigh man Rennie Crick was allowed his first leave – ten days’ – in July 1917. ...

Prep: 5 mins (plus freezing) Difficulty: Easy Serves: 4   Ingredients 200g ripe strawberries, hulled and chopped 1 avocado, stoned, peeled and roughly chopped 2 tsp balsamic vinegar ½ tsp vanilla extract 1-2 tsp maple syrup (optional)   Method Put the strawberries (save ...

Common Crane Grus grus Birding brings elation when you see the unexpected but inevitably it comes with frustrations too when you miss out (or ‘dip’) completely. Last winter a really rare visitor to Britain, a Blue Rock Thrush, spent many weeks entertaining people from far and wide as it swapped ...

Digging   Whatever state your plot or garden is in, at some point you will need to do some digging. Digging will open up compacted soil and aerate it, allowing you to remove weeds and giving you the opportunity to mix some organic matter that will best enrich the soil.   Double ...

The theme this month is “war time recipes”. I was in Italy when WWII was going on, and I remember the meals we had at home when bread was not available and the fresh pasta my mother used to make was made with cake flour (not from durum wheat) - which was always grossly overcooked. However, we also ...