With hundreds of sheep about to lamb and a major new countryside show to organise, Dorset shepherdess Bonnie Cradock is in for a busy spring! Tracie Beardsley reports in this month’s A Country Living.
Bonnie Cradock (26) from Ludwell never wanted to work in agriculture, and fast- tracked a promising military career before being invalided out. – image Courtenay Hitchcock
Bonnie Cradock has been up since silly o’clock. The 26-year old shepherdess from Ludwell near Shaftesbury has nearly a thousand sheep to look after. Add to that her second job of helping to organise two of Dorset’s major country shows. And even though she grew up on a dairy farm, she never even wanted to work in agriculture!
A soldier, but for a sheep When her elder sister, Laura, came home from a careers fair with an army keyring, Bonnie decided to find out more. At 16, she passed the officer selection process with flying colours, and at 17 gained an army bursary to do A-levels at Welbeck Sixth Form Defence College. Bonnie went on to Southampton University to study geography through the Defence Technical Undergraduate Scheme (DTUS), with a view to joining the Logistics Core. A keen sportswoman, she also played rugby and polo for the army. Ironically, it was the animals she now tends that put paid to her military career. “I broke my collar-bone when I was five, helping to move sheep with my brother Matt. The old injury played havoc with my shoulder and resulted in me being discharged.” For three years now, Bonnie has been learning the skills of sheep farming, guided by her knowledgeable big brother. Her parents are also involved in the administrative side of the business. She says: “Matt and I were never that close growing up. Being the youngest of three, I was always either picked on or left out. We get on so well now – working together has brought us much closer. We’ve got different strengths and weaknesses, so we pick up where the other one falls down.”
Bonnie now runs a flock of almost a thousand sheep with her brother Matt across three plots of rented land in Lydlynch, Motcombe and Farrington. – image Courtenay Hitchcoc
The glam life of a shepherdess Lambing season kicks in this month, the “hardest part of this job, but the most rewarding,” explains Bonnie. “My days will start at 4.30am and I arm myself with a Thermos of coffee. We rent our land so our flocks are spread around – ewe lambs at Lydlynch, a breeding group at Motcombe and more ewe lambs on turnips at Farrington. It can take four hours to check on them all.
In addition to her flock, Bonnie is also Assistant Organiser and Event Secretary for the Gillingham and Shaftesbury Show image Courtenay Hitchcock
‘’Our sheep will lamb outside, usually and most inconveniently in the muddiest parts of the field. So we have to set up pens for the mums and their newborns. There we can monitor them more easily and make sure they’re suckling and getting enough milk. Just like newborn babies, that first hit of colostrum is essential.” Every year it’s all hands on deck to cope with the surge of births. In traditional style, there’s a four-year old collie sheepdog, Brock, working alongside a more modern herder – a quad bike that Bonnie refers to as their ‘gamechanger’. Her mum gets roped in as well, bottle-feeding any lambs who are struggling to feed naturally. She adds: “Dad gets involved too – fixing everything my brother breaks!”
Bonnie’s lambing season begins the day after the Spring Countryside Show at the Turnpike Showground in Motcombe – and will be immediately followed by an intensive sheep-shearing course image Courtenay Hitchcock
The lambing season starts at the end of April, just one day after Bonnie finishes helping to run the first ever Spring Countryside Show at Turnpike Showground in Motcombe. “I’ve been working a few days a week for the past couple of years for the Gillingham and Shaftesbury Show as assistant event organiser and assistant event secretary. I could never work in an office full time – I would miss the outdoors. But I love this job; I can work it around tending to the sheep and my boss actually believes me when I turn up late for work because of a ‘sheep situation!’ The spring show means April is going to be a crazy month for me – working flat out on the show then straight into 10-hour lambing days, followed by an intensive sheep-shearing course. And I thought a career in the army would be hard work!”
“Matt and I were never that close growing up. Being the youngest of three, I was always either picked on or left out. We get on so well now – working together has brought us much closer.” (pictured with 4yr old Brock the sheepdog) image Courtenay Hitchcock
Quick-fire questions with Bonnie:
A-list dinner party guests? Winston Churchill and Jeremy Clarkson. I want to know what Jeremy Clarkson is really like and if he is as clueless a farmer as he seems on TV. I’ve always been fascinated by history and meeting the man who called the shots in WWII would be incredible.
Books on your bedside? Eclectic choices. My mum themes my Christmas presents and last year it was sheep! Sheep tote bag, sheep headband, mittens and a book – ‘A Short History of the World According to Sheep.’ That’s next to read after I finish my chick-lit and a history book about Nazi Germany.
This month’s news from the unofficial capital of the Blackmore Vale Sturminster Newton …
If a defibrillator is ever needed, it must be used fast, says Pauline Batstone – so we should all know where our nearest one is kept.
Local photographer Adie Ray has been creating beautiful still lifes with the products found in the Emporium
It has been a very good month for the Sturminster Newton Community Benefit Society (CBS) both in terms of income but also in achieving more of the Societies initial aims. The two CBS shops are attracting an ever-increasing number of happy customers which helps to make Sturminster a real ‘destination’ for those who want good value from their purchases. Whether it be collectables, essential buys, or just a bit of retail therapy shoppers report great satisfaction, and donors too are pleased as they find it a very gratifying way of recycling their unwanted goods.
• Please make yourselves aware of the locations of the town’s various defibrillators. The one in the Market Place, which was bought and is maintained by the CBS, has recently had its first use. Unfortunately, there was a significant delay in accessing the defibrillator – if we all take the responsibility of knowing where the defibrillators are, we stand the best chance of saving a life. They are not all registered on one database, but ones I am currently aware of in the town are located at Harts, Sturfit, The Market Place, and the old phone box by the high school.
• Working with several local businesses and Sturminster’s schools the CBS and SturBiz finally had a sunny day to put on the delayed pancake races on the Rec. There were teams from William Barnes and Yewstock Schools, Harts of Stur, plus a few brave parents, all fighting for the glory of crossing the line with a pancake in their pan.
Jacqui Wragg (right) organised the pancake races which finally went ahead on the Rec!
Huge thanks to: the schools, Harts of Stur, those mad parents for taking part, the council groundstaff, Farnfields Solicitors, the Co-op, the Market Place Cleaners for supplying prizes and the White Hart for the pancakes themselves. And finally, the helpers from the CBS – in particular our very own organiser Jacqui Wragg.
Another still life with a collection of paperweights, pottery and an old dictionary image: Adie Ray
• I am also pleased to report that along with various local companies and the Sturminster Schools, the CBS and SturBiz were able to put on a second Careers Fair. This time the fair took place at the High School, along with able assistance from Yewstock school. The overall aim was to give our young people an idea of the range of professions which they may be able to follow locally.
Spring activities
Easter is coming and there are some great spring events planned; put them in your diary:
9th to 24th April Children’s Spring Quiz around the various shops in the town.
11th to 22nd April Crafts at the library with many thanks to the library staff and volunteers.
Good Friday, 15th April at 12.00 noon A short Service at the Cross erected by the churches in the Market Place, followed by Hot Cross Buns (from Oxfords of course).
Easter Saturday 16th April • Children’s Easter Bonnet Making workshop 10.30 a.m. at The Exchange, with thanks to the WI. • This is followed by an Easter Bonnet Parade at noon – leaving from the Exchange, heading round the town and back to the Railway Gardens for some prize giving. • The town shops will be open as usual on the Saturday including The Emporium and The Boutique which will be open until 4.00 p.m. • Milling at The Mill
Easter Sunday 17th April • Easter Egg Hunt around the town centre, starting at 12.00 noon – look for egg tokens to bring to the Market Place to exchange for real Easter Eggs. • Milling at The Mill
While the fuel bills are taking the headlines, the 20 year high in food bills and food poverty requires immediate action, argues the Green Party’s Ken Huggins.
Energy prices have risen dramatically recently, but food prices have also been rising and are now at a 20-year high. As with energy costs, this disproportionately affects the households whose income falls below their needs. For us here in the sixth richest nation in the world it is a national disgrace that food poverty means there are over 2,600 food banks operating across the UK, with almost six million adults and two million children struggling to get enough to eat. This is why the Green Party is calling for a Universal Basic Income, so that citizens have a guaranteed income to support their essential needs. The relentless rise in the use of food banks in the UK began long before the Covid pandemic. It is 22 years since the Russell Trust opened its first food bank in their home town of Salisbury, and it now supports over 1200 food banks across the UK. In North Dorset we have food banks in Sherborne and Blandford and the Vale Pantry community food store in Sturminster Newton. No doubt there are others. While energy is essential for our society, food is essential for our survival. For good health we need good food, and we need to grow more of it ourselves. Here in the UK we rely on imports for a staggering 45% of our food overall, including 84% of our fruit. This means we are extremely vulnerable to external events such as climate change and conflict. Food produced sustainably and consumed locally helps protect us from global shocks. So we have to change what we eat, what we grow, how we grow it … and reduce the appalling wastage. One-third of food production is never eaten! Farmers are THE key workers, and we must support them to transition to more sustainable agriculture.
Many in business could learn from the ‘can do’ attitude of the British public and do better, argues Lib Dems’ Mike Chapman.
Against a backdrop of some glorious Dorset spring weather, the gold of daffodils along verges, the beginnings of blossom and the return of the dawn chorus, we have had some grim stories with which to come to terms. The line on Ukraine that struck me most forcefully came in a conversation with a now very elderly soldier. Echoing Kennedy, he said “Ich bin ein Kyiver”. It is so much to be hoped that the active diplomatic, financial, humanitarian and material support being given to which those words allude will help enable democratic values to prevail. Some of that high ground was lost, though, with the shocking announcement of the mass redundancy at P&O. Thoughts are with those who have lost a livelihood – but also with the agency staff who will do a tough and responsible job on much poorer terms. The phalanx of security men escorting employees from the ships was a sorry sight. They might as well have had a Z on their uniforms for all the moral authority they conveyed. There hasn’t been such instant damage to a well- known brand since the infamous comments of Gerald Ratner! Since we are comparing and contrasting … as a people we seem to embrace the need for a ‘Can Do’ attitude. We are seeing it in the heart-warming stories of the support being mustered for the Ukranian refugees across the nation. We saw it in the Covid vaccination programme and annually in the response to Children In Need. The contrast is with the inertia of government (and its centralisation and secrecy), with the stories coming out of the DVLA about a culture that seems to be at odds with the ethos of public service, and with the light now being thrown on the prosecution, nay, persecution of so many postmasters and postmistresses. A dishonourable mention must also go to high-rise cladding businesses, profiteering energy companies and sewage- discharging water companies. We need to seize the day, hang on to the ‘Can Do’ and turn it into ‘Can Do Better’.
It is the power imbalance which allows giant brands to mistreat their staff, says Labour’s Pat Osborne.
P&O Ferries sacked 800 staff without notice by video this month, replacing them with agency workers on worse pay and conditions. As a subsidiary of Dubai-based DP World, a firm owned by the Dubai royal family, P&O aren’t exactly short of a bob or two. In fact, over the last two years DP World has paid out more than $376 million in dividends to their royal shareholders, at the same time as reportedly receiving more than £30 million in emergency funding from the UK government (including benefitting from the taxpayer funded furlough scheme) while sitting on the kind of bank balance that has Scrooge McDuck reaching for his swimming trunks. P&O aren’t alone in engineering a deliberate race to the bottom for pay and conditions. Household names like British Gas, BA, Weetabix, TESCO, ASDA and Clarks have all used ‘fire and rehire’ tactics to bully and intimidate their staff into accepting cuts to pay and conditions in recent times. It seems that the Tories have created an environment where bad bosses think they have license to tear up staff contracts, leaving many working people leaning into the cost-of-living crisis feeling more insecure about their jobs and income than at any time since WWII. We need to reverse this race to the bottom for pay and conditions by ending the power imbalance that allows bad employers to treat their staff in this way. That’s why Labour’s ‘New Deal for Working People’ and Keir Starmer’s promise that a Labour government will write it into law within 100 days of taking office are so important. Under Labour, work will be more secure and better-paid because unions and individuals will be given stronger rights to redress power imbalances in the workplace.
As we watch the atrocities being committed in Ukraine, Simon Hoare MP praises the communities who have risen up in swift action to provide help – and urges us all to continue to ‘do our bit’ where we can.
While Spring creeps into life the situation in and around Ukraine resembles deepest winter. Our Ukrainian brothers and sisters are living through the hell of war, amid scenes and images which we had all hoped were consigned to the European history books.
The best of us While Russia is showing us the worst of mankind, and of man’s inhumanity to man, across North Dorset we are seeing the best. Our DNA-embedded spirit of wanting to do all we can to help has risen to the fore. I cannot tell you how genuinely moved and inspired I was by the veritable army of volunteers I was privileged to go and help (albeit for a few hours) at The Exchange at Sturminster, and to see similar hives of activity at Shaftesbury’s Guildhall and Blandford’s Ginger Viking. A continuous stream of members of the public, motivated not by instruction but by a spontaneous desire to ‘do something’, bringing literally tonnes of food, clothing, blankets, toiletries and toys. Some came with a car full, others a carrier bag; it was clear that all were doing everything they could to help. Then there were the rooms of people sorting, packing and boxing up. Still others in a human crocodile loading vans for dispatch to Southampton and the port. Each and every one is a hero. They were and are the best of us.
A magnificent spirit Local businesses too have been marvellous. I don’t know all of those who helped but a shout out to Dikes of Stalbridge, Johnsons of Gillingham, Virginia Heywood at Shaftesbury and Gillingham’s South West Packing for either donating goods or that elusive and much-needed commodity, the cardboard box. Thank you too to Dorset Council for allowing the use of the chapel at St Mary’s School for storage purposes, and of course thank you to Ginger Viking and the Exchange for allowing their premises to be used as donation hubs. You’ve all been magnificent.
So – what can be done now? As your MP I continue to press Ministers to be swift and flexible with the refugee resettlement process, and for the Home Office to be far more fleet of foot than it has demonstrated hitherto. We are dealing with a wartime situation and our processes and policies, designed for peacetime, need to reflect that dynamic shift. Whatever can be afforded – be it £1 or £100 – I would urge you to make a donation to the DEC fund www.dec.org.uk.
Can you offer housing? Also, please consider registering on this website for the housing scheme www.homesforukraine.campaign. gov.uk. You might have a spare room, granny flat or a holiday-let. Please do register your interest on this site. If we can do our bit then we should. If we all try to ask ourselves the question ‘if we were in their position, what would we want others to do for us?’ I don’t think we will go far wrong.
Easter has come around again and our social media feeds are full of all kinds of creme egg infusions… the latest trend seems to be rolling a whole creme egg in pre-made croissant pastry and baking in the oven! I can’t decide if that is amazing or an abomination? If you are looking for a chocolatey delight this Easter then our recipe in February’s BV Magazine of decadent chocolate brownies also includes a cheeky twist to bake creme eggs into the top. We also had a delicious recipe for leftover hot cross buns last Easter, turning them into a bread and butter pudding, should you happen to panic buy hot cross buns this Easter. This month’s recipe is a lighter and zestier alternative to all that chocolate. These Lemon Friands are essentially the French version of a cupcake. Made with egg whites and icing sugar, they are deliciously light and the addition of some fresh raspberries and blueberries really work alongside the ground almonds. They are a lovely bake to make to serve with coffee, or as a light little dessert after your full Easter Sunday Roast with loved ones. Perhaps with some clotted cream … Heather x
Delicious lemon friands are the French cupcake – image: Heather Brown
• Pre-heat the oven to gas 5/fan 180º. If you have a friand tin, then by all means use that, but I simply use a standard muffin tin. Grease the base and edges of each cup (mould?) of your muffin tin. Then cut strips of greaseproof paper long enough to go down one side, across the bottom and up the other side of each cup and pop them inside each one. This helps to release the friands from their tins once cooked – they can be super-tricky to get out otherwise. • Mix together in a large bowl the icing sugar, plain flour and ground almonds. Then grate in your lemon zest and stir to combine. • Whip the egg whites until they form stiff peaks. • Add the melted butter to the dry ingredients and mix, then add the egg whites and gently fold to combine. • Divide the batter mixture into the muffin tins, and sprinkle a couple of blueberries or raspberries into the top of each cake. • Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes until the top is firm to the touch and golden brown. • Leave to cool. • Once cool, remove from the tins and sprinkle with a little extra icing sugar.
By Heather Brown
Heather Brown is on the committee of the Guild of Food Writers; a home economist with a passion for Dorset’s brilliant foodie scene. Heather runs Dorset Foodie Feed, championing Dorset’s food and drink businesses, as well as working with her food industry clients.
Moving crowds to tears is all in a day’s work for Jonathan Marshall, the horseback falconer starring at the new Spring Countryside Show.
Talking to Jonathan Marshall is unexpected. From a look at his website, my impression was of the ultimate showman persona; shinily clichéd, with a confidence bordering just on this side of arrogance. I did not expect a quiet, unassuming northerner on the phone – with an irrepressible sense of humour, the deepest love for his horses and falcons threading through every word, and entirely dismissive of his own importance: “the fella in the middle of the arena telling the story is irrelevant”
An accidental career Jonathan Marshall’s love affair with horses began in early childhood – at 78, his mother still has horses, one of whom is 38 years old. At the age of eight, Jonathan discovered falconry and the birds soon took over his attention. Eventually he realised that he could combine his two passions – falconry was traditionally a horseback method of hunting. “I never set out to be a horseback falconer – I mean, who does? – but in ’86 I made it my professional career. Though I quickly realised if I was going to make it a show, I needed the right horses. It’s not quite so spectacular if I’m on a donkey!” So Jonathan chose to work with the most beautiful – Andalusian, Lusitano, Friesian and Arabs. “We work on dressage lines – high school moves such as Piaffe, Passage, Passo Espanol, Reverencia and Levade. But I’m well aware I’m not a dressage rider, I’m a showman. “We carefully rehearse every second of the shows – the falcons are trained to the lure, flying through the horses legs. It’s all timed to music, and the horses and the birds know exactly what they’re doing. It’s taken a long time to get the show to where it is now – our first season was a steep learning curve, and it was … well, let’s say it wasn’t the most polished performance at first! “And it’s evolved over time – it’s such a natural pairing between the horses and the birds, and it always resonates at an instinctive level with the audience. I’ve noticed it especially since we came back from the lockdowns – last year’s shows were far more emotive. “I think it has to do with our collective lived experience over the pandemic. At the end of each performance I allow the horses and birds to run and fly, entirely uncontrolled and unrestrained, and I simply run with them – it’s the ultimate expression of freedom, and for the first time I found audiences were crying, reacting on a deeply emotional level. It’s spontaneous, the only part of the show that’s not carefully scripted; it’s not a stunt… and I think there’s a part of everyone who longs to be as free as those animals in that moment.”
Jonathan breeds peregrine lanners – or ‘perilanner’ , a hybrid between a peregrine falcon and a lanner falcon. It is larger and faster than a lanner, but does not fly as far as a peregrine.
Books too During lockdown Jonathan began writing “I’m in my 50s now. I’ve got to think forwards – I’m not so young anymore, and it hurts when I fall off!”. His first book ‘Spirit, the fastest bird in the world’ is a story about acceptance, and that no one is more important than anyone else. His second book, ‘A Falcon’s Love’ which he has illustrated himself, is out shortly.
Jonathan will be appearing at the Spring Countryside Show with his 2022 ‘A’ team:
Amadeus In 2018 Jonathan got a call about an unbroken 10-year old Friesian stallion. Kept purely for breeding, when his owner died no one knew what to do with him; his sheer size was intimidating. Within a week of bringing him home, however, Jonathan was riding Amadeus on Bude beach. “He was a bit of a bully, and was used to simply getting his own way. The first time I approached him in the stable, he started to push himself forwards at me, but instead of retreating I kicked the stable door loudly, and he backed off. He came at me again, so I kicked the door again, and in a gesture I’ve come to know and love, he lifted one hoof gently – it was like a sorry, an ‘OK, I’ll be a good lad’. He is honestly the kindest, gentlest, most beautiful horse I’ve ever worked with. Everyone loves him. And he still lifts his hoof to ask permission or apologise, even now.”
The Falcons Jonathan will be bringing Duchess, Sonnet and Aria, his peregrine lanners, to the Spring Countryside Show – the trio are full sisters, though hatched in different years, and bred by Jonathan himself. “I’ve had falcons since I was eight, and these birds are the best I’ve ever had. Anyone who breeds any animal knows that sometimes you get a pairing that just produces magic. The parents are good birds, but their offspring are something else. They have the speed and agility you’d expect, of course, but they’ll spin as they dive, just for fun, they twist like nothing else … they’re amazing birds, spectacular to watch.”
Giles Henschel, the award-winning ‘oliveer’, who came to his national artisan brand by way of school expulsion, the Army, being deported from Libya with his wife (twice), and Take That …
Giles Henschel
From a youth spent rebelling against the expectations of a world which insisted on comparing him to his disciplinarian headmaster father, Giles Henschel followed a circuitous route to become The Olive People with his wife Annie. “I was eventually expelled by my own father at the age of 16 – and kicked out of home too. I joined the Royal Engineers (who are known for building things then blowing them back up again. Which was exactly what I wanted to do). I was told I wasn’t bright enough to operate a giant digger, but perhaps I should apply to Sandhurst? I did, and then joined One Squadron, 30 Signal Regiment in Blandford – the very best posting. We flew all over the world; Hong Kong, Belize, Namibia, Bahamas, Beirut… “
Out on Civvy Street “I left the army as a Captain, expecting simply to walk straight into another job. I obviously started to apply for £150k a year jobs… and didn’t get them. So I reduced my expectations a little and applied for more… down to £80k, £60k, £35k… the last job I was rejected from was a second hand car salesman in Clapham for £11k a year. I didn’t ever get an interview. Not one single interview. “I was 30, and living in a bedsit in Walthamstow. My landlady Judy Walker worked for Renata John (Elton John’s wife), who owned a music management business, and Judy sat me down one night ‘I want to start my own business. I know the music. But I don’t know the administration – which you do.’ And so we started; we had some opera singers and jingle singers on the books, and then a guy called Nigel from Manchester called: ‘I’m putting a band together, and I need you to run the auditions, and then get them working together’. “Judy did the first auditions, brought me a demo tape to which I said ‘yeah, they’re alright’. She spent some time grooming the band, took them all over the place, and eventually got them onto a kids Saturday morning TV show, and then on Terry Wogan the same evening. “On the Sunday morning Nigel called ‘Yes, I’ll take them from here, thanks’, and they were gone. We had no contract, we were never paid – and that was it with the music industry for me. “Oh, the band? They were called Take That. The only thing I still have is the original demo tape, the first time they ever sung together, labelled ‘March 1991’.
Giles and Annie travelled extensively on their two BMW R100 GSs which they still own to this day.
And then there was Annie “I was working for a charity in Covent Garden when I met Annie who was flying for Japan Airlines. We got married on 4th July in 1992, living in a dilapidated houseboat. Annie was from Stur originally, and neither of us wanted to continue what we were doing. We both wanted to take a gap year out. So we sold what we could, and bought two motorbikes (we still have them; two BMW R100 GSs), and we travelled the Mediterranean. Down through Spain, up the coast to France, Italy, Greece… It was during the Yugoslav war, so we had to adjust our route to go through Turkey, Syria – an utterly amazing country to be in in 1993. Back into Israel, Jordan, Egypt, all the way down the Nile into Sudan, through the Western Desert into Libya – where we got arrested and deported twice – and then bumped back to the UK and ended in a bedsit, flat broke, in Southampton. “The one thing we’d found throughout that trip, every meal of the day, was an olive. Everywhere you went, bar, restaurant, roadside shack, there was always an olive of some description. On the trip we learned to use food as a social lubricant – we were an anomaly, these two people on two motorbikes in winter, but we found a ‘wow, this is delicious, how have you made that?’ got people chatting. We kept journals, noted recipes, but arrived back in the UK not thinking about food at all.
And eventually, the olive “Our bedsit landlord was an old army colleague, and he was an ardent nudist. We were stuck at home, no money, deep in post- travelling blues, and this guy wandering around naked while we tried to set up a training business. Annie and I were so depressed. Eventually Annie said “Why don’t we just go into town, buy some good bread, wine, some nice olives, we’ll put the tent up in the back garden and we’ll pretend we’re travelling again”. And so we did. Up went the tent, we drank the wine, ate the bread, and spat out the olives because they were so awful. We started to make them for ourselves, with a bucket of olives fermenting in the corner of the bedsit. “All our guests refused to eat them ‘no, no, we don’t like olives’, but after a glass or two they couldn’t stop eating them ‘these are amazing! Really good, they don’t even taste like olives! You should SELL them!’ “We resisted – after all, ‘no one likes olives’ – but eventually we put our last £500 into enough jars and enough olives. On the 28th October 1993 we took ourselves to the Rural Living Show in Bath, and came back with £1,875.80p (we have no idea who gave us the 80p). So we did it again the following week, and the week after that, and eventually we found ourselves doing the Country Living Show in London the following March.
Where it actually began “A very pregnant lady wandered past the stand, and stuck her fingers in a bowl, ate one olive and moved on. I hate that, I was about to call out ‘do NOT use your fingers!’, but she’d already gone. Then she came back ten minutes later and did the exact same thing with a different olive – again I couldn’t catch her. “She circled back for a third go, and this time I was armed with a cocktail stick… I was ready to stab her in the back of the wrist, when she said ‘Do you supply the trade?’ “why yes of course” I said, suddenly feeling very friendly to this nice lady. “She pulled her card out and she turned out to be Food Development Director of Fortnum & Mason: ‘I have been looking for someone to supply F&M with olives. I have tasted olives all over the place, and I have never tasted anything as good as these. These are what I want on my shelves. Will you supply us?’ Up until then, it had just been for pin money. It was suddenly a serious business. That was 1994, and we’re still supplying Fortnum & Mason to this day. “We started in Southampton in that bedsit, but circumstances meant we moved into a house owned by Annie’s parents back here in Stur – doing the olives in the shower room. We moved to Stapleford, to Wilton, to Mere, and we were going to go to Wincanton, but the deal fell through on signing day, and we had just six weeks to find new premises. I’d been driving past this place at Rolls Mill, which was just walls. No windows, no heat, light or power; we bought it on the condition it could be finished in the six weeks. We moved in on the Queen’s Jubilee in 2002 – 20 years this year.
And so to Giles’ eight music choices, along with how and why they stuck in his life:
Bakerman by Laid Back First heard when serving in Harrogate with the Royal Signals running the External Leadership troop. I was spending a lot of time in the hills and it brings me back to those days. The lyrics do have meaning – the line Sagabona Kunjane Weni is Swahili for ‘Hello, how are you’ which is basically how we’d greet people in the hills (in English – not Swahili).
Sensitive Kind by JJ Cale I’ve loved JJ Cale since the time I first discovered his laid-back style of blues played with such a casual ease and musicality. He always shunned the big time and his wife used to say if you want to hear the real JJ just come around to the Airstream one evening and listen to him on the porch. This particular track has special meaning to me as it just reminds me so much of Annie – original oliveer and my rock for the last 30 plus years.
Sodade by Cesaria Evoria I came across this wandering through the streets of Cordoba; I was drawn to a café where this was playing one sunny Sunday morning while we were out there for the olive harvest. Her voice is so plaintive and speaks to the heart and was just perfect to let wash over us as we sat and watched the world go by. We discovered later that the song is sung in her native Cape Verde Kriolu – a blend of Portuguese and West African languages and speaks of loss and sorrow at leaving the islands.
Into the Night by Santana I have always liked Santana and this collaboration with Chad Kroeger really makes the most of his voice and Carlos Santana’s amazing guitar skills. It makes me think of family holidays – driving with the windows down in a beaten up rental, hot air and sandy beaches with the kids singing along in the back.
Go! by Public Service Broadcasting I was seven when the first moon landing happened and I was fascinated and begged to be allowed to stay up and watch as Neil Armstrong first stepped onto the surface. My favourite film is Apollo 13 – the story of the greatest space rescue. To hear the original radio transmissions from those on board and at Mission Control stitched together in this track still gives me goose bumps. Such an original and timeless piece and yes, as an avid Blue Peter watcher I did make the rocket from Fairy Liquid bottles …
Mul Mantra by Snatum Kaur My mother, Norah Forbes Stewart, was a deeply spiritual and widely-read lady for whom no one religion, creed or faith was enough – this was one of her favourite pieces of music which we played at her funeral last year. She is sorely missed by so many and I’ll be forever grateful for all she opened my eyes to – from the occult to different faiths, poetry and forever seeing the beauty in everyone who was lucky enough to meet her and life itself.
Refugee by Oi Va Voi Oi Va Voi is a British collective of musicians, celebrating many different genres but with a distinctly Yiddish flavour. The name is Yiddish for “Oh Dear”, and being of Jewish descent, this sings to roots I never really knew I had. Especially poignant given the current unjust war in Ukraine, and while this is not a political statement or choice – we are all refugees in some way, some more than others and there but for the grace of god go all of us – this song is a reminder of both where I’m from and where so many are headed.
Senegal Fast Food by Amadou & Mariam I came across Amadou & Mariam while working at the Larmer Tree Music Festival as MC on one of the fringe stages. I loved the feel and warmth of their music, and this song from their fourth album Dimanche à Bamako is produced by and featuring another favourite artist, Manu Chao. This song combines them both and takes us back to a five-week road trip in an old Land Rover down to Morocco and the edge of the Sahara we took as a family for my 50th Birthday. This was on a playlist called Sahara Songs and we played it endlessly as we reached the very edge of the road in a town called M’Hamid El Ghizlane about 20km from the Algerian border. Amazing Chicken Tagine followed, by the most miraculous night spent camping under the full moon and stars way out in the dunes …
And if the waves were to wash all your records away but you had time to save just one, which would it be? I’d save the JJ Cale track, Sensitive Kind – it’s probably the only one I can sing along to and keep in tune, as well as being a reminder of Annie!
My luxury item Would be an acoustic guitar with unlimited string replacements. And before you ask, my book would be the best primer of how to play the damned thing properly as I’ve been playing for 45 years and still can’t do it any justice.
Click here to listen to Gile’s entire playlist on YouTube
