1 – Is Dorset Blue Vinny a) Sparkling wine made with the water of the Blue Pool b) Traditional Dorset recipe for blueberry compote c) Veined cheese made from an ancient and secret recipe
2 – What is Wasabi? a) William Barnes’ question about the provenance of a dumbledore b) Japanese horseradish, exclusively grown in the UK in Dorset c) The ancient Japanese art of folding the roots of plants
3 – What is a Poll Dorset? a) The county’s traditional version of a Maypole, originally made from wooden spars from the wrecked boats of the Spanish Armada (1588) b) A native breed sheep c) The confusion that locally surrounds a General Election, where Dorset residents question why we vote for people whose bosses don’t care about the area outside the M25
4 – Who coined the phrase ‘The Vale of the Little Dairies’? a) Recent environment minister George Eustice b) Thomas Hardy c) The manufacturers of face coverings made from milk and calf hide
5 – Where is the Guild of Fine Food based? a) Gillingham in Dorset b) Jamie Oliver’s HQ c) Lyon in France
6 – What was the Roman name for Dorchester? a) Drome b) Wessixii c) Durnovaria
7 – What is a farmer’s market? a) A place where farmers go to find new staff b) A place to buy livestock c) A chance for local producers to meet potential customers and sell their wares
8 – Where are Dorset Cereals made? a) At Poundbury b) In Poole c) In Poland
9 – What is a Dorset Naga? a) Dorset farmer’s wife when he comes in without taking his boots off. Again. b) Once the world’s hottest chilli pepper, developed in Dorset at 1.5 million Scovilles c) Famous racehorse bred in the Piddle Valley
10 – What are Dorset Knobs? a) The famously tough local rugby team b) Sari Smith on a day trip south c) Small round high-baked biscuits for eating with cheese
11 – Who were the Dorset Clubmen? a) The county’s first Mini appreciation society b) The original name for Dorset County Cricket Club c) Local civil war militia protecting the rural communities from both Cavaliers and Roundheads
12 – How is Black Cow Vodka sourced? a) By painstakingly following every black Dorset cow as it goes about its business b) From the left ears of Russian cattle of a dusky disposition c) From pure Dorset milk
13 – Where was that Hovis advert actually filmed? a) Haworth, Yorkshire b) Gold Hill, Shaftesbury c) Pinewood Studios, London
14 – What is Slack Ma Gurdle? a) An instruction from a wealthy Alabama heiress to her servant. b) A Dorset apple c) A dance step discovered by Tim Laycock in a sheaf of musical memorabilia, hidden under the stag on the roadside arch at the Charborough home of MP Richard Grosvenor Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax.
15 – What is Ironed Maiden? a) The best domestic services company in Sherborne b) The best Iron Maiden tribute band in Europe, with lead guitar from Luke Rake, the principal of Kingston Maurward College. c) A Dorset witch, having undergone the local medieval method of hot torture.
16 – What is a baking bird? a) Upwey baker Lizzie Crow b) A ceramic blackbird used to stop soggy pastry descending into the depths of a pie. c) The Dorset version of a Stargazy Pie, in which murmurations of starlings are netted and baked to prevent further disturbances in the pristine skies over Portland (in other areas, their place in the pie is taken by rabbits, often accompanied by a popular song from Flanagan and Allen).
17 – What is Hod Hill? a) Where Dorset bricklayers are said to go when they retire b) The largest hillfort in Dorset c) Victorian slang for the pile of coal when the coal man’s been.
18 – What was Durdle Door originally called? a) Duddledoor b) Durdle-rock Door c) Dirdale Door
ANSWERS
1C | 2B | 3B | 4B | 5A | 6C | 7C | 8C | 9B | 10 C | 11C | 12C | 13B | 14B | 15B | 16A | 17B | 18 all of the above!
Jane Adams delves into the peculiar world of lichen, revealing a vibrant, year-round splash of colour in the UK’s landscapes, even on the darkest days
Sprouting from the rotten wood of the gatepost were tiny cups on stalks, like miniature golf tees All images: Jane Adams
This week, nature reminded me that even its tiniest wonders still have the capacity to surprise and amaze. I had been leaning on an old gate, watching a mother roe deer and her two youngsters. Since June, her fawn’s coats have morphed from camouflaged caramel swirls to the soft beige that now matches her own. Turning to leave, something caught my eye. Sprouting from the rotten wood of the gatepost were tiny cups on stalks, like miniature golf tees. For a while, I lost myself in this Lilliputian ecosystem raised four-feet above the ground, a place so intricate and delicate, yet completely beyond my comprehension – like peering into an alien world. Back home, and having taken lots of photographs, I identified the stalks as apothecia, the reproductive hubs of lichens, ready to release their spores.
Some are like green coral growing on bark
Lichens are weird These strange organisms aren’t plants. Instead they’re a mashup of fungus and alga and/or cyanobacterium. And with more than 1,800 recorded species in the UK – 710 of which grow in Dorset – it’s surprising we don’t notice lichens more. Not only do they grow on pretty much any undisturbed natural substance including stone, wood and bark, but they’ll also happily wander across metal, glass and even plastics. The fungus bit makes up roughly 95 per cent of the lichen and provides the structure, and the alga and/or cyanobacterium provide the nourishment, through photosynthesis. Since then, of course, I’ve been noticing lichens everywhere. White blotchy ones, like paint splatters on walls. Bright orange ones creeping over gravestones. Some like green and yellow coral growing on bark, while other species hang like verdant tinsel from twigs. Our trees may have lost their autumn leaves, but lichens keep their glowing colours year round. So if you’re looking for something a little bit different, something that glows on the bleakest of winter days, keep an eye out for lichens – and lose yourself in their other-worldly magic.
Even nature’s tiniest wonders still have the capacity to surprise
Lichen information The British Lichen Society britishlichensociety.org.uk Some fantastic photographs of Dorset lichens (and other local wildlife) on Jenny Seawright’s website dorsetnature.co.uk Mike Sutcliffe’s photos and help with identification of British Lichens: britishlichens.co.uk
It’s a lovely cross-country drive from north Dorset to Moonfleet Manor, on the Fleet lagoon between Abbotsbury and Weymouth – but is the hour-long journey worth it for dinner?
Moonfleet manor All images: Courtenay Hitchcock
Fleet House was built more than 400 years ago, and the current Georgian structure was immortalised in J Meade Falkner’s classic smugglers tale Moonfleet. It became a hotel after the Second World War, and in 1987 Luxury Family Hotels took over, restoring it, and renaming it in honour of the famous book. A multi-million transformation was completed last year. The drive was glorious but we arrived at the last minute – to a warm, unhurried welcome and we were invited to relax by the fire with a cocktail before dinner. It would have been nice if my Moonfleet French on the ‘local cocktails’ menu had contained Dorset gin and wine, but it was delicious anyway. The mocktail menu was excellent too – Courtenay’s non-alcoholic Moonfleet Sunset was as tasty as it was pretty! Eventually we dragged ourselves away from the comfy sofas and moved into the restaurant – I’m sure there is a spectacular sea view during the day, but in winter it’s too dark to see. The long narrow restaurant with its big windows feels rather like being on a cruise ship.
The restaurant felt rather like being on a cruise ship
Schneaky schnitzel The evening menu was reassuringly small, with just five or six seasonal choices for each course. I opted to start with the pan-seared prawns in garlic and herb butter on sourdough from the specials menu , while C picked cured chalk stream trout on sourdough with capers and lemon. The prawns were perfect – tender, flavourful and not drowned by the garlic. C’s trout was beautifully smooth and similarly delicately balanced. We both had a glass of Argentinian malbec (Don David El Esteco), which was excellent.
For the main course, I chose the Creedy Carver chicken schnitzel, served with a Burford Brown fried egg, capers, anchovies and fries. This is not for the faint-hearted – the schnitzel was ENORMOUS. The chicken was beautifully cooked and incredibly tasty, and the combination with the capers and anchovies was heavenly. The crumb was a little hefty for me, and sadly, as it cooled it inevitably became a little greasy. For presentation the schnitzel was served on a square of paper, which looked pretty but started to disintegrate under the chicken halfway through. However, I was eating slowly because the very good schnitzel was so big – who’s complaining?! C chose the Huntsham Court Farm 8oz Longhorn sirloin with chips and a peppercorn sauce.
Cured chalk stream trout
The steak was very thick – but skilfully cooked to perfection, meltingly tender and so full of flavour he closed his eyes for the first mouthful. Our brilliant waiter James, funny., attentive, but not too present, full of knowledge about the food on the menu and clearly a very bad influence, talked us into dessert. C opted for the sticky toffee pudding with butterscotch sauce and ice cream, while I made the only error of the night. I ordered the Paris-Brest. It arrived … and I heaved a sigh of despair. The luscious concoction of pastry and cream and almonds was gigantic. On the other hand – it turned out to be giddy-makingly delicious. The ring of choux pastry was filled to bursting with the lightest, most delicate praline crème mousseline. I couldn’t finish, and in the end had to bribe C into ‘sharing’ some of it – once he had slowly devoured ‘possibly the best sticky toffee pudding I’ve ever had.’
That Paris-Brest, with the perfect sticky toffee pudding in the background
After we managed to find our feet and actually walk again, we wound our way back to the roaring fire in the lounge to enjoy coffee on the deep sofas. The benefit of being a hotel restaurant is that there was no sense that staff were itching for us to finish up so that they could go home – there was no rush at all, and we relaxed gently and chatted until very late, genuinely reluctant to leave. And as much as the delicious food, that’s the joy of Moonfleet. The welcome was warm, the mood was relaxed and easy – we can’t wait to return.
Dinner for two including cocktails and wine came to £149
Kate Chidley didn’t want “a proper job” … so she followed in the family tradition and became an artist. By Fanny Charles
Artist Kate Chidley with this year’s Christmas card, featuring the West Front of Bath Abbey Image: Fanny Charles
When you arrive at Kate Chidley’s Old Chapel studio in West Coker, the first thing that you notice is the big colourful “Egg box” by the red door. And the first thing you see inside, once you have taken in the height and scale of the 1839 former Wesleyan Methodist chapel, is the elegant mannequin stretching her legs from one of the high window sills.
There are other mannequins around the big space, which Kate describes as ‘chaos’ but which looks like the busy studio of a prolific artist, with piles of prints and paintings, books, sculptures and general ‘stuff’. She found some of the life-size figures at a car-boot sale and she bought others on Facebook – a few were originally costume models from the V&A in London. She bought The Old Chapel in 2015, and had a mezzanine constructed, which is reached by a metal spiral staircase that she found at an old blacksmiths at Frome.
Home Gallop
Cows jumping over the moon Kate’s art fits comfortably into this eclectic setting – she has an eye for the quirky and the unusual, with hints of folklore and magic, country tales and curious characters, ancient sites and historic buildings, cows in fields or jumping over the moon … In fact her farmer father encouraged her artistic inclinations, suggesting she would be better off painting cows than milking them. Kate is Somerset and Dorset born and bred – literally … Higher Halstock, where the men in her family have farmed for generations, has farmland in Dorset and woods in Somerset. Her mother and grandmother were both artists and her great-grandmother, sculptor Maggie Mitchell Richardson, studied at the Royal Academy of Arts – a rare woman student in the early 20th century. ‘I never wanted to have a proper job,’ Kate says. Her mother supported her plan to do an art foundation course at Yeovil College followed by a degree in illustration at the University of the West of England at Bristol.
Moojitos by Kate Chidley
‘Mum was always supportive but she also insisted that I got a job. She said: “You have to know what work is.” So I worked as a cleaner for a year.’ Over the years, Kate has produced colourful pictures that range from rural scenes to cows jumping over the moon, but increasingly she has focussed on her unique maps, which range in theme from Glastonbury Festival to whole counties. She is currently working on Hampshire. It all started when she made a map to show visitors where she was exhibiting and found she loved the process. She also made a map which was on the back cover of the Scotts of Merriott horticultural catalogue – her grandfather, Michael Wallis, owned the famous and historic nursery, which sadly closed in 2009.
In Kate’s former Wesleyan Methodist chapel, an elegant mannequin stretches her legs from a high window Image: Fanny Charles
She spends weeks researching each county, and asks for suggestions via social media and from anyone who has particular knowledge of her chosen area. Hampshire is full of amazing stories – from the murder of King William Rufus in the New Forest to Henry VIII’s Mary Rose and Nelson’s Victory at Portsmouth, to the glories of Winchester Cathedral or Highclere House (television’s Downton Abbey). The actual painting takes an intense three weeks – an amazingly short time when you look at the detail in the large and colourful maps.
Festival souvenirs One of Kate’s most popular designs is her annual map of Glastonbury Festival, where she has two stands every year. Over the last decade these have developed from what was initially just a colourful guide to the sprawling site of the world’s greatest music festival into a unique festival souvenir. She loves to hear from people who have a particular connection with the festival – where a couple got engaged, for example – and will include a little image to record these special personal stories. She also paints colourful little flags which represent people who have got in touch with her about the festival during the year. She loves the way they search for their own little picture or flag!
Glastonbury 2014
With the county maps, Kate begins with relatively conventional map-making – towns, villages, famous landmarks or historic buildings. But she also includes more unusual items, folklore and little-known stories about places that are perhaps less known or visited. In her map of Wiltshire, for example, there is a small picture of an extraordinary stone building which is a unique sheep shelter. Clients who buy a map can also ask to have their house or farm included, or some other detail to personalise it. ‘It’s often these little things that people love,’ she says. ‘I love to make someone happy. If people laugh or cry because they love my pictures, it makes me so happy. I feel I am illustrating memories for people.’ Kate has a stall at the Bath Christmas Market, which runs daily to 10th December. She is in the Abbey Yard – appropriate as her Christmas card this year depicts the beautiful West Front of Bath Abbey. You can see some of her work and read about her various projects on katechidley.com and you can visit her studio by appointment – contact her via the website.
It’s December, but there’s always something to be done. And now’s the perfect time to finally work out composting, says gardener Pete Harcom
This month we need to continue winter digging as we prepare the borders for next spring. To feed the soil and improve its structure, the best thing to use is garden compost, well rotted manure and leaf mould. Do you make your own compost? Homemade compost saves money and resources, it will improve your soil structure and it can reduce your own impact on the environment. There are lots of types of compost bins available at the garden centre or via your local council, but it’s also easy to make your own, using wooden pallets for example – there are many guides for making wooden compost bins online. Dorset Council currently has a home composting offer – you can buy a 220 litre plastic compost bin for just £6 AND if you order two, the second one is half price! There will be a delivery charge (£7) and you may also need to buy a base for the bin, but it is still at a reasonable cost. I have experience of these black plastic bins and they can work really well, providing good compost in just 12 months!
How to start composting Find the right site – ideally site your bin in a reasonably sunny place on bare soil. Be sure to choose somewhere you can easily add ingredients to the bin – and get the compost out! Gather the right ingredients – save everything from vegetable and fruit peelings to teabags, toilet roll tubes, cereal boxes and eggshells to go in your compost bin. Never put cooked food, meat, fish or dog or cat mess in a compost bin – this will attract vermin. You can put in limited amounts of paper or thin cardboard, but no glossy printed paper. Fill it up! Place all these items, along with all of your garden waste into your compost bin. A 50/50 mix of greens (nitrogen rich) and browns (carbon rich) is the perfect recipe for good compost. You need to ensure the contents are cut into small pieces, and mixed well – a garden shredder will help with this – or try to cut up or break any woody twigs etc down by hand, as this will aid decomposition. And now you wait … It takes between nine and 12 months for your compost to become ready for use. Keep on adding greens and browns to top up your compost. Once your compost has turned into a crumbly, dark material with just an earthy smell, it is ready. Use it to enrich borders and vegetable patches, plant up patio containers or feed the lawn. Anyone with a smaller garden might want to consider setting up a wormery instead – check out theurbanworm.co.uk
She chose the harp over the recorder when she was five – Gwyneth talks about her life with her giant instrument as she chooses the discs she can’t live without
Gwyneth Wentink at home in North Dorset
Gwyneth Wentink is an internationally acclaimed harpist and arts advocate working across many genres and roles. As both a classical and experimental harpist, Gwyneth has performed on the world’s most prestigious stages – Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in New York, the Royal Albert Hall and Royal Opera House in London, and the Konzerthaus in Berlin, among others. Many of today’s leading composer, including Theo Loevendie, Marius Flothuis and Terry Riley, have written works for Gwyneth. She is solo harpist of both the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique and the English Baroque Soloists under Sir John Eliot Gardiner. Now aged 42, Gwyneth decided she would be a harpist when she was four.
Gwyneth Wentink, aged 5, playing a Celtic harp
‘My father is Dutch, and my mother is Hungarian – they met at a music festival in Hungary. The story goes that my mum saw my father when he stepped out of his car. And she thought: “That’s the man I’m going to marry.” Just like that. They had known each other for about six weeks, when he proposed to her! He had to go back to the Netherlands; they didn’t see each other for a while until he came back with his mother, and they promptly married. My mother returned with him to Holland – she was a very talented piano player and my father was a trombone player and a conductor. I have two older brothers – and no, they’re not in music! They are very musical, and love music, but they decided not to go into the profession. ‘Funnily enough, we’re here talking about my favourite music and what I listen to, but relatively I listen to very little music. I would say my brothers listen to much more music than I do!’ Up close, Gwyneth’s beautiful harps are not only far larger than one expects, but also strikingly complex. What had appealed to Gwyneth as a child, to make her want to start playing one? ‘It’s funny, because even now, when I look at them, how they’re standing there, I can remember clearly being four and seeing and hearing them above an orchestra for the very first time. And I just remember falling in love, asking my mum, “I want to play that instrument that you hold between your legs.” And she said: “Oh, great, the cello!” It was her second love, after the piano. But I said, “No, no, no, the BIG instrument.” They realised it was the harp – and they were a little bit disappointed! ‘They waited for a while because they knew it’s not easy to play, and finding a teacher could be hard, and if it’s successful, the traveling involved … But when I was five, they took me to a music school, where the teacher said: “She can start with a recorder for two years. And then, if that’s going well, then she can choose to play the harp.” ‘No no no NO! I did not want to play different instruments! And I really knew – yes, I want to play music, but I really wanted to play the harp. So my parents were really sweet; they got me a private tutor and we rented a little harp, a Celtic one. I loved it and things went really fast. I had my first TV performance when I was six – in a dress that my neighbour made! – and I just knew. This is what I want to do the rest of my life.’ Gwyneth lives on top of a rather wild and windy hill in North Dorset, surrounded by forest; it’s a very rural setting and a far cry from a busy Dutch city. ‘Silence is something I always long for. I really need my own time – before a concert, after a concert, or just in general – I need time to recharge. I used to travel in my teens and in my 20s, and I went a lot to India to go on a mountain to find the silence.
Gwyneth Wentink Image: Loulex
‘I think the nature is quite rough here in Dorset. I wake up always early, I get the dog first, I’ll go to the chickens … this morning there was quite a harsh wind, snow had started flying, and the elements are really in your face here. And I think that’s super creative. ‘It makes me also very grounded, when you really are confronted with the elements, and you really see the seasons change. I remember perhaps ten years ago, I was driving in Germany – it was almost winter, and I realised I had travelled so much I had completely missed autumn. I was so much in cities and so much traveling and not paying a lot of attention. ‘And now I’m in the opposite environment, I’m feeling really grateful for it. ‘I’m new to Dorset, and I absolutely love it. I feel very blessed to be here and proud to tell people when they ask where I live. I’ve been here for perhaps four years? But it feels a lifetime already! Maybe because of the COVID years. ‘I think especially it’s that element of the silence, the power of the nature here and the tradition that is still here. And I would say the balance between how human life collaborates with nature is, I think, in such a beautiful balance here.’
A life in music And so to Gwyneth’s eight music choices, in no particular order, along with how and why they have stuck in her life:
Canto Ostinato Simeon ten Holt My first choice is the piece I mentioned about the repetition that goes on. And it’s a piece by a Dutch composer Simeon ten Holt, called Canto Ostinato. It is basically Holland’s most popular classical music piece. It was written in the late 70s, and he was a surrealist composer at the time. But secretly, he was being inspired by the minimal musicians in the states – Philip Glass, Terry Riley. So he started working on this piece, which is very harmonic and very beautiful. And he felt that he couldn’t come out with it. But eventually he brought it out. Originally it was for one to four pianos, with a certain element of freedom for players. It’s made out of little cells or bars. And as a performer, you can choose how many times you want to repeat that. It can take a couple of hours if you want to – or days if you really stretch it out! And when I heard this piece, I was just mesmerised; I thought “I absolutely have to transcribe this for harp!” So I have made an arrangement for harp and electronics and visuals, and I have toured with that in the past, but I’ve always wanted a version for acoustic harp – and that one is coming out next May. I’m really excited about it! I recorded that in Forde Abbey in Dorset. But this version I’m sharing is a beautiful recording for two pianos and a marimba. It’s a piece that just plays an important role. I’ve played at the most funky occasions, you know – like underground techno festivals in Japan to weird places in Russia, and in India, and then went on a state visit with the king. It’s got a wide audience – young people, people who didn’t really know anything about classical music, and it’s kind of a ritual, this whole music. I’m always mesmerised with how the audience responds to it and how they embrace it.
L’Orfeo Claudio Monteverdi This is something that is important to me, that has an important part in my musical career. It’s the first opera written by Claudio Monteverdi, and I played it on the Baroque harp. It’s such a powerful piece, the human expressions were so poignantly brought out in music, and the way he writes for harp … there is a moment about two thirds down the opera, where the harp has a solo of a couple of minutes where everything is silent, and this small, solo comes in. It’s such powerful music and a moment also in the opera. I’ve played that a couple of times, and it’s definitely one piece that I wanted to put in the list.
Symphony No. 3 in F Major, Op. 90: III. Poco allegretto Johannes Brahms This one means a lot to me. It’s actually a piece when my partner and I got together – Brahms Symphony Number three. It’s a piece that John Eliot was conducting, at the time when we got together. I’ve known the piece for a long time, and I always thought it was such a moving and just utterly beautiful piece, but now it has extra meaning.
Raag Patdeep Hariprasad Chaurasia We’ve got some Indian things coming up! So this is a recording by an Indian bansuri flute player, Hariprasad Chaurasia, and he is an absolute legend on the Indian flute. At one point in my career, I got a scholarship from the Dutch government, and they said I should do anything I wanted, to explore anything I chose. And I said, “Well, I want to do something with Indian music.” So they connected me to Chaurasia. We played a little bit together, and I had no idea what I was doing, this was classical Indian music! He said, “Well, just play something in E!”. And then he invited me to a concert in New York, which was just an incredible experience. And he is such a legend; even being in the presence of him playing was a life-changing experience. I have played with him a couple of times over the years, and he’s a huge musical inspiration and example to me.
To the Light Elements Trio This is linked to my previous recording of Chaurasia. At that first performance with him in New York there was a saxophone player from California, George Brooks. He is a composer and saxophone player of jazz and Indian music – I didn’t know him at the time, but he has become a collaborator and good friend and we perform quite a lot together. We set up a trio with Kala Ramnath on the North Indian violin, George on saxophone and me on harp. We’re kind of creating a new genre, with the influence of classical music, the improvised northern Indian world and then the jazz. It’s complex and challenging but it’s one of the most fruitful and meaningful things that I’ve done.
Image: Loulex
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan Staying in the Asian realm, it’s a recording of a qawwali singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan from Pakistan. I’ve travelled to India quite a lot since I was 19. Either just to travel – I love the country – or to meditate and stay there for a while. I was in Delhi, which was usually my base, and I would always go to qawwali, which is what they sing when the sun sets on a Friday. It’s a form of Sufi Islamic devotional singing. There is a shrine where the poet Kabir is buried and also Hazrat Inayat Khan, the musician who brought Sufism to the west, and who was a teacher of Debussy and Scriabin. At that shrine they have this qawwali and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan is one of the most known Pakistani qawwali singers. And I’ve always listened to it. I find it super-charges the soul.
Harp Concerto Alberto Ginastera We go to South America now! This is my favourite – I wanted to have a harp piece in here, and this is the harp concerto. It’s a fantastic piece. For me, it’s my favourite harp piece. I’ve done it through my career many times. It really showcases the harp, what it can do. It’s very melodic, it’s very expressive. It has quite wild moments. And the orchestra is really big, with a very big percussion on the back. Super exciting. And just a great piece.
Brothers in Arms Dire Straits This one’s slightly out of the norm of the other ones! I was thinking, what means something to us when I was growing up. We used to go to Hungary a lot, and we had these long car journeys, and we would either listen to Pink Floyd or to Dire Straits. And I think if there is one band that I really grew up with, and listened to a lot with my brother, it’s Dire Straits, so I chose Brothers in Arms.
Book I’m such a reader, it was very difficult to make a choice! I thought that it would be good to have something light and funny on my island, and I love, love, love David Sedaris as a writer. Any of his books would be good, basically I think they’re all great, but maybe Naked. I think that’s a fantastic book. Luxury Well, I thought this was easy – that’s going to be my harp, obviously! And then, okay, if I have to choose which harp, I would probably take my pedal harp. Although … I’m thinking now … the sand and the damp won’t be good for the mechanics … should I choose another? … no, they will last for a while. Yes, it will be my pedal harp. It’s wood, it’ll float, I’ll use it as a boat!
We start the month, as always, with the Letters to the Editor, before listening to a Brecon Cathedral bellringer at Hazelbury Bryan Primary School. Jane Adams chats to Jenny about the fascinating (no, really!) world of lichen, and lastly we hear from International harpist Gwyneth Wentink.
In her letter this month, editor Laura is looking back to a specific shopping list she once saw on Twitter which has stayed in her head ever since. Following the letters to the editor, we move on to this episode’s features:
Hazelbury Bryan Primary School’s call to ‘make a noise’ against bullying was answered by a cathedral bellringer’s visit last month
Jane Adams delves into the peculiar world of lichen, revealing a vibrant, year-round splash of colour in the UK’s landscapes, even on the darkest days. She and Jenny take a fascinating walk through the secret world hiding in plain sight, used for centuries for firelighting, perfumes, clothes dye … and growing on slow-moving sloths.
She chose the harp over the recorder when she was five – and she talks about her life with her giant instrument as she chooses the discs she can’t live without. Gwyneth Wentink, internationally acclaimed harpist, selects her Dorset Island Discs
Mid-life career changes have led Martin and Jenna Lee to sweeping success – he’s a Master sweep and she is Dorset’s first female Guild-qualified sweep
Legend has it that King William the Conqueror declared (not decreed() chimney sweeps to be a symbol of good luck after he was saved by a plucky sweep from a runaway carriage. Another legend says it was George III , and he was saved by a brave sweep after dogs spooked his horses. My personal favourite is the tale of the chimney sweep who lost his footing and was left dangling precariously from a gutter. The woman in the house pulled him to safety and it was love at first sooty sight. Since then, it’s been lucky to have a chimney sweep at weddings or to shake a sweep’s hand – Prince Philip reportedly dashed out of Kensington Palace to do just that before his wedding to the then Princess Elizabeth. That good luck – along with a lot of hard work – seems to have followed Wimborne husband-and-wife Martin and Jenna Lee. They both made career changes, Martin six years ago and Jenna just this year, to start their own chimney sweeping businesses There are only 15 female Guild sweeps in the whole country and Jenna (43) is proud to be the first in Dorset to qualify with HETAS (Heating Equipment Testing and Approvals Scheme).
Martin Lee, master chimney sweep
It’s not all Chim Chim Cher-ee There’s certainly a lot more to this profession than Bert from Mary Poppins would have you believe. An intense mix of classroom training, practical sessions and shadowing master sweeps is demanded for sweeping inglenooks, wood burners, open fireplaces and even pizza ovens. Martin explains a particular challenge: ‘Everyone in the industry knows that Aga Wenlock stoves are incredibly tricky to take part. At the training centre there’s one we strip and put back together against the clock. Some sweeps have even got one in their shed so they can practice. I’ll admit I’m a bit of sweep geek but even I wouldn’t go that far!’ The classic chimney sweep’s bristle brush is still in use – but now it works alongside high-tech kit including CCTV equipment. There are the challenges of removing birds’ nests as well as occasional birds, bats and squirrels – dead and alive! Martin says rain is the bugbear of a professional sweep: ‘Fluffy dry soot is replaced by congealed soggy goo that clogs up equipment.’ Martin and Jenna are meticulous in their approach to work. ‘The secret of being a good sweep is all about the set-up,’ says Martin. ’You need to assess the property and gauge what rods and equipment you’ll need, to minimise trips in and out of the house. It’s not just about dirty boots, you might also be surrounded by valuable ornaments, so taking extreme care is very important.’
Spot the classic chimney sweep bristle brush
His expertise means he is also called on for renovation projects. ‘In one old house, the builders were opening the blocked-up fireplaces. I spent a fortnight clearing 17 chimneys. I cleared huge nests that had been there more than 50 years – in one grate I found a newspaper dated 1954. The old adverts for tobacco were wonderful!’
A matching set for the master and lady sweeps
Enter the lady sweep The run-up to Christmas is the busiest time, with the couple each racking up 100-hour working weeks. Their customer base stretches across Dorset and into the New Forest, ranging from celebrity mansions with 14 chimneys to a small bungalow with just one. Jenna says: ‘Martin was getting busier, so I started doing some of his paperwork. When I did the numbers I realised there was enough work for us both. I’d been working for an asphalt company for nineteen years, getting up before dawn, and it was taking its toll. As a couple, we were just passing each other in the evening. Martin would be ready to chill out and I’d be going to bed!’
Jenna Lee is the first female Guild sweep in Dorset – and one of only 15 in the UK
Jenna cut her working hours so that she could help Martin – and then she was made redundant. For six months, Jenna spent two days a week shadowing Martin and in June this year she qualified and launched her own business, Dorset Lady Sweep, complete with a distinctive, pink-flashed van and Mary Poppins-style branding. She says: ‘Some customers are surprised to see a lady sweep but by the time I’m finished, they’re impressed. A lady in Swanage told me she’d never had any issues with male workmen but felt more relaxed with another woman working in the house. ‘It’s certainly not a way to make a living if you’re worried about breaking a nail, but I love it!’ And do the couple have a watershed, when talk of rods and flues is banned? ‘Not really. We’re a good team. The only time we fall out is over radio station choice and air-con temperature in the works van if we’re on a job together!’
It’s a dirty job but someone has got to do it – more than four bags of soot came out of this chimney!
