The Field

Field readers can enjoy an exclusive ticket offer to The Game Fair at Ragley Hall on 27-29 July 2018.

2018 sees The Game Fair celebrate its Diamond Anniversary and we are delighted to have secured Field readers a fantastic ticket offer. The Game Fair is being held at Ragley Hall in Warwickshire from 27-29 July.

How to claim The Field reader ticket offer

Use the code FIELD60 when purchasing your tickets in advance to The Game Fair to receive premium parking and entrance into The Game Fair for just £25. Premium parking is situated closer to the show entrances and is available at every car park.

Premium parking is worth £20 and entrance into The Game Fair on the day is £34 – that’s a huge saving of £29 when purchasing using our reader offer code. Advance saver prices are available until midnight 26 July.

Book your tickets online at www.thegamefair.org or call 0844 776 7777. Lines are open Monday – Friday between 9am and 5pm excluding bank holidays. Calls are charged at 7p per minute plus any network charges from your supplier.

The Field Kitchen Theatre

The Field Kitchen Theatre will be bigger than ever before, featuring a host of big-name chefs, game displays and wild seafood demonstrations. Unlike previous years, it is the only live cooking theatre at the event and expects to welcome a bumper crowd interested in learning new techniques and recipe ideas.

Come and say hello

The Field will of course be in attendance. You will be able renew or take out a new subscription to The Field with our special show offer which will save you up to 40% and you receive a free gift too.

Philippa Davis demonstrates the incredible versatility of trout and asparagus with this shakshuka - which can be served for brunch, lunch or light supper

Try Philippa Davis’ shakshuka with trout and asparagus for a wonderfully versatile dish than can be served for brunch, lunch or light supper. Inspired by the Arabic dish that poaches eggs in a lightly spiced tomato sauce, add trout and asparagus to make your supper seasonal.

Asparagus is one of our favourite ingredients of the season, and we have plenty more recipes for inspiration. Adding exotic flavours is an excellent way to cook British asparagus. Try plaice with ras el hanout and roasted asparagus for an unexpected African twist on the home-grown green beauties.

SHAKSHUKA WITH TROUT AND ASPARAGUS

This recipe is based on an Arabic dish that poaches eggs in a lightly spiced tomato sauce. It is one of my favourite dishes to serve for a brunch but works well for a lunch or light supper, too, You can serve it in the same dish you cook it in.

Serves 2

100g asparagus, tough ends remove then chopped in two vertically
2 tbsp olive oil
1 red pepper, deseeded and chopped into 1cm cubes
1 red onion, peeled and chopped into 1cm cubes
2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
1½ tsp whole cumin seeds
1 tsp ground coriander seeds
½ tsp hot paprika
1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes
2 fillets of skinned and deboned trout, cut in half vertically
4 eggs
2 tbsp plain yogurt
1 tbsp chopped parsley
1 tbsp toasted almond flakes

Blanch the asparagus for a couple of minutes in boiling water, strain and leave to cool.

In a shallow pan that has a lid, gently sauté the peppers, onions and garlic in the olive oil till soft, about 10 minutes.

Add the cumin, coriander and paprika, cook for a couple more minutes then add the tinned tomatoes.

Season and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring regularly.

Stir the asparagus into the sauce and lay the trout fillets on top.

Make four well-spread-out wells in the sauce and crack the eggs in.

Turn the heat down low, place the lid on and cook for about five minutes or until the eggs and trout are just cooked. If the trout fillets are quite thick, cook them for a few minutes before adding eggs.

Top with the yogurt, parsley and almond flakes. Serve straight away with piles of bread.

No one wants a travel-sick terrier or spaniel loose on the hard shoulder, so what is the best way of getting your dog to the shoot? David Tomlinson assesses the options

There are many ways to transport your dog to the shoot, but which avoids travel-sickness and muddy paws while keeping them safe and secure? David Tomlinson advises on how to transport your dog in a car.

Breaking in to shooting can be difficult, and even more so when you want to work an HPR. Read how to take an HPR shooting for more expert advice.

HOW TO TRANSPORT YOUR DOG IN A CAR

Most dogs love cars and I’ve never owned one that hasn’t relished the prospect of a car journey. The fact that they spend most of it asleep, rather than looking out of the window, suggests that they generally associate the car with going somewhere interesting. What is remarkable is that they seem to know where they are as soon as they arrive and sometimes even before that. You can sense your dog’s gloom when it discovers it is in the vet’s car park and not at a shoot.

Adult dogs that suffer from car sickness are a rarity but most puppies are ill on their first journey, greatly increasing the stress of leaving their mother and siblings for the first time. Such sickness can be avoided: the last litter of puppies I bred was taken for short daily car journeys from the age of five weeks. This soon accustomed the puppies to the motion of a moving car and none were sick when they left for their new homes, despite several having to endure long drives.

Quite the best way to transport your dog, or dogs, is debatable and does depend to a certain extent on the dog, its size and temperament. Much as I like my dogs, I don’t like mud or hairs on car seats, so they have always been trained to sit, and stay, exactly where they are put. In the case of saloon cars, this is the front-passenger footwell; in an estate car or hatchback, the rear compartment. As a former motoring correspondent, my spaniels had the chance to travel in a great variety of road-test cars, from Fords to Ferraris, while it was a matter of pride that they never left any evidence of their presence.

CAGE, CRATES AND BOXES

Undoubtedly the safest way for a dog to travel in a car is in a travelling cage or crate, the most expensive of which claim to be crash tested. However, here it’s a case of buyer beware, for an internet search will reveal that the majority of dog crates cannot withstand a 30mph crash. Top-of-the-range crates that can withstand a severe impact, such as those marketed by Safedog, are expensive: a double cage, suitable for carrying two labradors in a BMW 5-series estate, is £620.

The advantage of such a crate is that it provides an exceptionally secure place for your dog to travel. The downside is that once the crate is in place it’s not easy to move or lift out, which is why it remains secure in the case of a crash. Of course, you can always carry your shopping, or luggage, in the crate but probably not while the dog is in there.

It is arguable that any sort of crate, cage or box is better than nothing. A friend was involved in a relatively mild motorway pile-up – no one was injured – but the rear impact led to the tailgate of his estate car flying open and his terrified dogs escaping onto the carriageway. One, a labrador, was captured quickly but it was some hours before the other, a Jack Russell, was safely recovered.

If your dog is going to travel loose in the back of an estate car, then a dog guard is important, especially with big dogs. This will keep the dog in the back and stop it climbing through to join its human companions and, equally important, it prevents the animal being thrown forward into the passenger compartment in the case of a crash. Small dogs, such as cocker spaniels or terriers, will be restrained by the seat backs but big dogs can easily be thrown over the top, which is not good for the dog or other occupants.

PRACTICAL ALTERNATIVES

A soft, folding, travel crate is a practical alternative to a hard metal crate, and one that has much in its favour. Orvis’s folding travel crate, for example, is light and practical: it is made from polyester on a tubular metal frame, with prices starting at £89. Dogs usually like travelling in crates such as this, while the crate can also be used as a mobile kennel when you reach your destination. One great advantage of a crate of any sort is that it keeps your dog, or dogs, securely in the car when the tailgate is lifted.

Gundog handlers, travelling with numerous dogs, favour purpose-built dog trailers. Lintran, the Lincolnshire-based company that specialises in dog transport, imports an impressive selection of trailers from Germany, with anything from two to 10 berths. These are high-specification pieces of kit, with air vents and electric fans and numerous options, such as front store boxes. They are, I’m assured, light and easy to tow but are really aimed at professionals.

If you’re not a professional but have a pack of working dogs, then a pick-up is the answer and, arguably, the most popular gundog transporter today. A pick-up with hard top has the great advantage that the dogs travel with you but separately, so you don’t have to worry about muddy paws in your vehicle, or even the smell of wet dogs after a day’s shooting. The downside is that pick-up trucks are large, cumbersome and uneconomic, but if your dogs are happy, who cares?

James Ward’s work, whilst reminiscent of Stubbs’s, went further, addressing the possibility that animals had feelings, says Janet Menzies

James Ward lead the way for change in his work, says Janet Menzies. While reminiscent of Stubbs, his art went further and considered the animals’ lives and their feelings, as the first major exhibition of Ward since the 1990s shows.

For more sporting artists, Andrew Kay uses the scenery that surrounds him as his canvas. And it is time for us to revaluate the work of Raoul Millais.

JAMES WARD

Viewing a James Ward oil painting of a stallion can be confusing at first. Is it a Stubbs? The composition, the subject matter, that pose with exaggeratedly arched neck and flared nostrils all seem very familiar. However, Ward (1769-1859) was working a generation later, during the Regency period. Viewed in isolation, some of Ward’s work can seem derivative but this will be contested by the new exhibition at Newmarket’s Palace House National Heritage Centre for Horseracing and Sporting Art.

Palace House curator Dr Patricia Hardy feels that seeing a Ward in isolation can give a false impression of his work as a whole. She explains: “People know about George Stubbs but we feel that Ward has been rather neglected and there hasn’t been an appreciation of the versatility and the breadth of work he produced over a very long career – he was 90 years old when he died.”

Fight Between a Lion and a Tiger, which opens the exhibition.

One of the most dramatic of Ward’s works, Fight between a Lion and a Tiger (1797), which opens the exhibition, seems heavily influenced by Stubbs in its subject matter and composition but another oil in the exhibition, L’Amour de Cheval, painted 30 years later in 1827, has moved a long way from that early preoccupation with menagerie animals. Dr Hardy says: “That later painting was criticised at the time because it was felt the mare was more eager than the stallion. More importantly, both animals are depicted as older and the suggestion is that their love might be emotional rather than physical. Ward was one of the first painters to address this possibility of animals’ feelings.”

Bookended between pioneering Stubbs and the great Victorian sentimentalist Landseer, it would be easy to overlook Ward’s particular contribution. Ward, however, was a contemporary of William Blake, who wrote The Tyger just three years before Ward produced his painting. Like so many artists in his circle, Ward was responding to the Romantic movement and attempting to express the sublime. Dr Hardy comments: “He was one of several artists who were depicting the arc of an animal’s life and he was trying to encourage viewers to engage with this as comparable with the growth of the human spirit. It was a change in sensibility at the time across the arts.”

A STRONG HIERARCHY

Leading the way in this change wasn’t easy for Ward. As in Stubbs’s time, there was still a strong hierarchy in what was thought a fit subject for serious art work. Allegory, history and religious topics were considered worthy of recognition, portraits and animal studies were low down the scale. Ward had been born into a poor London background, growing up among the Thames warehouses as the son of a merchant. His instinctive love of sketching and painting animals and horses was not something to be proud of. When he was made a full member of the Royal Academy in 1811, Ward told fellow artist Joseph Farington: “I don’t wish to be admitted to the Academy as a Horse-Painter.”

Acknowledging his influences, Ward made little of Stubbs, even though his early work clearly owes inspiration to his predecessor. Instead, Ward insisted on Rubens as a hero. But his own attempts at allegorical, historical and mythological subjects, including Venus Rising from her Couch, lack the vitality and credibility of his landscape and animal work. Sadly, Ward’s great venture into the world of high art, painting the recent Battle of Waterloo in his grand-scale Allegory of Waterloo, was a flop and has since been lost – possibly not a bad thing considering the reviews it received.

View in Tabley Park (1813-18).

Ward wanted prestige, including financial recognition, but his true gifts as an animal and landscape artist must have seemed to him a hindrance. Dr Hardy agrees: “While it isn’t easy to understand what Ward’s thinking must have been at the time, my intuition is that there was inner conflict in him about where he wanted his art to go.”

Luckily for us, as his career developed Ward resolved this dilemma by being to true to his love of animals. Dr Hardy says: “The great thing about an exhibition is that you have the opportunity to show the totality of the artist’s work and put it in context. By having this first major exhibition of Ward since the 1990s, we are able to show his artistic progression and especially the great love he had for working animals.

“I think Ward is one of the first to ask the viewer to think of what animals might be feeling and thinking. Later, Landseer had a more sentimental approach of imposing human emotions on the animals he depicted, whereas Ward is trying to get to grips with what the animals’ lives were actually like.”

“James Ward: Animal Painter” will be at Palace House, Newmarket, from 4 May until 28 October 2018 (tel 01638 667314; www.palacehousenewmarket.co.uk)

Philippa Davis' elderflower and vanilla madeleines are the perfect picnic treat. Or, if the temptation gets too much, enjoy them straight from the oven

Best summer recipes — Dust with icing sugar and serve straight from the oven.

Philippa Davis’ elderflower and vanilla madeleines are the perfect pud for picnics, best packaged up and enjoyed al fresco. But if temptation proves too much, our favourite way to enjoy them is straight from the oven.

With the sun shining and picnic season certainly upon us, read how to make the ultimate point-to-point picnic for The Field’s best finger food recipes. Choose from sausage rolls, scotch eggs, soups, pies, pasties, sweet treats and a few cheeky hipflask tipples. Or for another perfectly bite-sized gift, try our gooseberry, lime and elderflower travel cakes.

ELDERFLOWER AND VANILLA MADELEINES

My favourite way to serve these is straight from the oven after dinner but they also make a great picnic treat. It is important that the batter rests and is chilled before cooking as it helps give that bump shape.

Package up in a hamper and serve at a picnic.

75g butter plus 20g extra
2 eggs
75g caster sugar
1 tbsp runny honey
2 tbsp elderflower cordial plus extra for finishing
1 tsp vanilla extract
100g plain flour plus 1 tbsp for dusting tin
½ tsp baking powder
Icing sugar to dust

Melt 75g butter then cook until it turns golden brown (beurre noisette), scrape into a small bowl and leave to cool.

Meanwhile, using an electric whisk, mix the eggs and sugar until pale and doubled in volume then whisk in the cordial, honey, vanilla and butter.

In a separate bowl, whisk the baking powder and flour together then fold into the egg mix. Lightly cover with cling film and place the batter in the fridge to rest for at least one hour and up to 12.

When ready to cook, preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4.

Melt the 20g butter and brush madeleine moulds then dust with the extra flour. Fill the moulds with batter about three-quarters full and bake on the middle shelf for 11-12 minutes. Leave to cool for a couple of minutes then take out.

Dust the madeleines with icing sugar and serve straight away or leave to cool and box up for a picnic. They are best eaten within 24 hours.

Surprising himself, Charlie Flindt finds stepping down from head-turning luxury to a bottom-of-the-range runaround highly satisfying

After a few months of gloriously excessive road tests, Charlie Flindt steps down to the bottom-of-the-range Hyundai i20 1.2S. But with a well designed dashboard, low insurance and good looking design, he finds himself highly satisfied with this fun drive.

For the opposite end of the spectrum, read Charlie Flindt’s take on the Bentley Bentayga Mulliner “Field Sports”. Could this be the perfect shoot wagon?

HYUNDAI i20 1.2S

If you were looking to explain Hyundai’s meteoric rise from South Korean obscurity to one of the most successful car manufacturers around, you would not have cited its cars’ looks. Reliability? Yes. Value? Certainly. Eye-catching design (and in a good way)? Not really.

Step forward a fellow called Peter Schreyer, who joined Hyundai a decade or so ago and has been working his design magic (he came up with the iconic Audi TT) on the complete Hyundai (and sister brand Kia) range.

We tried out the i20, Hyundai’s competitor in the Fiesta/Polo/Fabia segment, and, following a month or two of road tests that featured glorious six-figure excess, had a go in a model at the very bottom of the range for a change.

Luggage capacity is 1042 litres.

So what you’ve got is simple: a five-door supermini, with a basic 1.2, naturally aspirated, four-cylinder petrol engine (although its days are numbered and an oh-so-trendy three-cylinder turbo is on the way). Herr Schreyer has modified the bodywork with his magic pen and the old, dumpy, awkward shape of the i20 is gone. This new one is bang up to date and really very fine looking.

The simplicity continues to the interior: the “S” spec has everything you need and nothing you don’t, which makes a refreshing – if somewhat Benedictine – change. So you have good seats, a knob-free steering wheel, rotary controls for the heating (but no air conditioning) and the simplest of radios (with aux input but no CD player). All the controls are light, easy and precise. Special mention should be made of the dashboard, which is the clearest and best designed I think I’ve ever seen. Designers of many of the dashboards available should be forced to settle down in the i20’s driving seat and told, “See? That’s how you do it.”

The old-fashioned 1.2 engine is on the limit of being underpowered, and speedy overtakes uphill can prove a bit of a challenge. For 90% of modern driving, it and its delightful five-speed fingertip gearbox are just fine. It’s a bit heavy on fuel consumption – and the tax band reflects its efficiency. It’s also spookily quiet; at idling speed, you can’t hear it at all from the well-insulated cabin.

Clear, simple controls.

Open the bonnet and there’s room for a bit of DIY – and that’s a rarity. Not that DIY should be needed, of course. The i20 comes with a five-year warranty and Hyundai has a fine reputation for warranties never being called upon.

The i20 has stopped being the stunning good value that it used to be back in the days before Hyundai became fashionable, but it’s still hugely competitive and its popularity has meant that depreciation is a lot less crippling. Yes, the fuel costs may be high but insurance is low and servicing costs are reasonable. Extra bargains are available as the old 1.2 engine is phased out, too.

There was something enormously satisfying about the i20. It was basic and vernacular but, at the same time, fun to drive. The fact that it is also good looking would once have been a bonus; nowadays, it’s typical Hyundai.

HYUNDAI I20 1.2S

Engine: 1,248cc petrol
Power: 75PS
Max speed: 99 mph
Performance, 0 to 62: 13.6 seconds
Combined fuel economy: 55.4mpg
Insurance group: 4E
Price: £11,755

Philippa Davis suggests two versions of trout carpaccio with asparagus - both make impressive supper party starters

Trout carpaccio with asparagus, fennel, shallots and lemon makes a subtle starter, allowing the flavour of the trout to shine through.

Both trout and asparagus are at their very best right now. Philippa Davis’ two versions of trout carpaccio with asparagus makes delicious starters. As the main ingredients in these recipes are served raw this should only be done when they are both really fresh. The first recipe uses subtler flavours, which lets the flavour of the trout shine through. The second packs more of a punch.

For more recipes that use trout with asparagus, try our shakshuka with trout and asparagus. This Arabic dish can be served as brunch, lunch or light supper.

TROUT CARPACCIO WITH ASPARAGUS, FENNEL, SHALLOTS AND LEMON

Serves 2

1 shallot, finely sliced
3 dsp lemon juice
60g asparagus, tough ends removed then the rest finely sliced on a diagonal
20g finely shaved fennel
1 dsp roughly chopped dill, plus 1 dsp fronds if there are any
2 dsp extra virgin olive oil
60g trout fillet, skinned and deboned
Zest ½ lemon

In a small bowl, mix the shallot with a pinch of salt and 1 dessertspoon of the lemon juice and leave for 10 minutes.

In another bowl, mix the asparagus, fennel, dill (and fronds if using) with the olive oil and 1 dessertspoon lemon juice.

Strain away any liquid from the shallot and mix into the asparagus. Season.

Thinly slice the trout and lay out on your serving plate. Season.

Pile the asparagus into the middle of the trout then drizzle over the remaining dessertspoon of lemon and olive oil.

Finish with a sprinkle of lemon zest and serve.

TROUT CARPACCIO WITH ASPARAGUS, WASABI, SOY AND GINGER

Trout carpaccio with asparagus, wasabi, soy and ginger packs a flavourful punch.

Serves 2

60g raw trout, thinly sliced
30g raw asparagus, ends removed then thinly sliced
2 red radishes, finely sliced

For the dressing:

Zest and juice of ½ lime
¼ tsp wasabi
½ tsp freshly grated ginger
½ tsp soy
½ tsp sesame oil
8 coriander leaves

Spread trout onto your serving plate and season.

Whisk together the dressing ingredients then mix with the radish and asparagus.

Scatter on top of the trout and eat straight away.

A post-Brexit world calls for simple and sophisticated environmental solutions for subsidies. With CAP no longer a binding force, Tim Field explains that now is the time to set the agenda

Post-Brexit agricultural policy — Smaller holdings could see a helping hand in a post-Brexit world.

With Brexit seeing Common Agricultural Policy set sail from our shores, we have the opportunity of a lifetime, says Time Field. Now is the time to set the agenda for post-Brexit agricultural policy.

For more on farming, Tim Field marks a key moment in the farming calendar in spring turn out: put out to grass.

POST-BREXIT AGRICULTURAL POLICY

After 45 years of turgid bureaucracy, Europe’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) prepares to set sail from our shores, leaving behind a blank canvas and opportunity to redefine British farming. CAP began with wine lakes and butter mountains, put production in check with set-aside, spruced up the margins and boundaries and made a recent attempt at “greening” across farms. Yet prevailing policy trends for input-intensive farming have seldom looked at efficiency, have only ever achieved stuttering farm profits and made little impact on key environmental indicators, such as water quality and farm biodiversity.

The Government’s Command Paper, Health and Harmony: the future for food, farming and the environment in a Green Brexit, sets the scene as we conceive a new generation of agricultural policy. So how is Defra proposing to implement this and will we be any better for it? The Command Paper has little detail on the execution; however, it does show the Government’s intentions for some noticeable shifts in public spending.

Existing Basic Payments are calculated on the size of holding. In simplistic terms, you are entitled to this chunk of subsidy if you stay within the law. This mechanism is due to be phased out, primarily because of disproportionate benefit seen by the largest landholders that should be more efficient by virtue of scale (notwithstanding less favourable areas of farmland, which are another kettle of fish). However, all is not lost for the large landowners; the new policy will deliver significant subsidies where there is tangible delivery of public goods, that is, going above and beyond producing food within legislative constraints. Any initiative that motivates larger holdings into more environmentally balanced methods of production can only be a good thing as most receptors – be it water quality, biodiversity, flood management, climate change mitigation or others – require landscapes not small, isolated farms to create change.

A HELPING HAND TO SMALLER HOLDINGS

The smaller holdings, which make up the majority of UK farms (the average UK farm is around 200 acres), could see a helping hand, too. Natural England has been adopting the GWCT’s concept of Farmer Clusters, where environmental objectives are tackled with collaborating neighbouring farms, in recognition that many of our targets (from grey partridge pairs to watercourse quality) don’t acknowledge farm boundaries. This form of collaboration is nothing new to the fieldsports community and is certainly something to rally and seek funding for.

Sharing productive land with public goods, whilst losing Direct Payments, might be perceived as uncompetitive on the global stage; however, the report recognises the value of some public goods to underpin a viable harvest and business income, such as improved soils. The lack of reference to increasing yields is noticeable by its absence; something that will no doubt anger those with the 1980s policy mindset that big is beautiful. Instead, collaboration again features heavily, from agronomy to markets, and addresses efficiency, productivity and competitiveness. This is no doubt based on the success of recent initiatives, such as the Innovative Farmers research programme and concepts such as digital machinery-sharing forum, Farm-r.

REWARDING ENVIRONMENTAL OUTCOMES

The current agri-environment schemes rely on selection of actions from a list, such as sowing a “nectar flower mix”, that prescribe what’s needed, where and when. The crux of the new policy hinges on an Environmental Land Management System and this looks to reward environmental outcomes; with our example, the outcome to be rewarded would be “availability of nectar”. Natural England is trialling a results-based payment approach in four scenarios. This element is refreshing and gives scheme ownership to the farmer and hopefully greater leniency to manage the holding to the best of his or her ability to achieve the desired environmental outcomes. This needs to be a sophisticated design but simple in execution. Rather than prescribing a specific option on which to be judged (for example, “reduced flood risk from tree planting”), I’d like to see how payments can support a combination of management practices in-field and beyond the farm gate, such as tillage, rotations, compaction, take-up in neighbouring farms and other holistic practices that would have exponentially greater impact. Environmental initiatives can benefit in-field and beyond farm boundaries as well as margins and less productive areas.

The 64-page Command Paper throws up many more ideas with enough detail to provoke a consultation response. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to set our own agenda and many in the fieldsports arena have vested interests and acute understanding on how to get it right. You have until 8 May to have your say.

Follow Tim and Agricology @agricology

Mike Fairclough, head teacher at a junior school in Eastbourne, explains how including countryside management in the curriculum can have both an academic and environmental impact

West Rise Junior School has made countryside management part of their curriculum. The school, which is the highest performing in the area and in the top 5% nationally, has a small farm and the children look after beehives, learn to fire shotguns and air rifles and regularly prepare, cook and eat game. Headteacher Mike Fairclough explains why teaching countryside management is crucial, both academically and environmentally.

The future of fieldsports is in the hands of the next generation. Enthusing and encouraging youngsters is key, but when should they start shooting? Read what age should youngsters start shooting?

WEST RISE JUNIOR SCHOOL

Educating children about countryside management is not compulsory for schools but I believe it should be. Since becoming the head teacher of West Rise Junior School in Eastbourne 14 years ago, my team and I have embraced the great outdoors. We have a small farm, which is home to chickens, goats, sheep, alpacas and a herd of six water buffalo. The school is located on a council estate, where most of our children come from, and is adjacent to a 120-acre piece of marshland, which we lease from the local authority. On this land, our children are taught to light and cook over an open fire, identify the local fauna and flora and forage for food. Using knives, bow saws and hand drills, they make items out of wood, such as jewellery, wooden mallets, whittled sticks and shelters. We also have several beehives on the marsh, which the children look after.

Working with BASC and the Countryside Alliance, the children, aged seven to 11, are taught to fire shotguns and air rifles and about the law pertaining to firearms. BASC has also taught them about ferreting, using gundogs and how to shoot pigeon. Farm manager Alex Richards teaches them how to prepare game, including skinning rabbits and plucking birds, which they then cook and eat outside. These experiences would not be readily accessible to most of our children as there is high socio-economic deprivation on the estate.

Academically, it is the highest performing school in Eastbourne and in the top 5% nationally, within aspects of the core curriculum. We attribute this success to the fact that the children love coming to school and the vast majority acquire grit and resilience through being outside for long periods.

We are fully supported by our parents, the local authority, the Health and Safety Executive and Ofsted. Additionally, the mainstream media regularly celebrates the outdoor learning at the school. We have been on BBC’s Countryfile, Blue Peter, BBC TV news, GMTV and in every major British newspaper. A recent Channel 4 news item endorsing the school has had 16 million views on Facebook to date.

However, not everyone agrees with our approach. Some people believe that exposing children to hunting and shooting is wrong. These individuals also say that it is unnecessary to shoot rabbits, pigeon and grey squirrels. This is where my belief that countryside management should be part of the National Curriculum comes from. I don’t judge the people who criticise my approach because I realise that their beliefs stem from a lack of education about the countryside. There are also those who feel that children should not be exposed to death. However, the vast majority of people across the world embrace what we do.

In addition to the positive academic impact, learning outdoor skills also educates children about the lifecycle, food chain, economics of the countryside, responsible use of firearms and equips them with vital character traits, such as endurance and perseverance. Most importantly, the children grow to understand the need to manage the countryside and how this is carried out.

My two sons, who attended the school a few years ago, both shoot and provide the family with rabbits and pigeon for the pot. This is where I intend to take the project next. The pupils at the school have only shot clays and never shot a live pigeon. Given that many of them have prepared and cooked game, this seems to be a logical progression.

I will continue to promote this approach to other schools. TES [formerly the Times Educational Supplement] awarded the school “Primary School of the Year” in 2015 on account of our outdoor learning provision. TES supported the school when we first started shooting and has continued to do so. I recently became a columnist for the magazine, which will act as an additional platform for my approach. I’ve written a book, Playing With Fire: Embracing Risk and Danger in Schools, which many schools now refer to and is on the reading list of two teacher-training universities in the UK.

Finally, I will continue to work with the mainstream media. I frequently receive messages from fellow head teachers, who have developed their outdoor learning programmes as a result of seeing my school in the press or from reading my book. There is a real momentum within education for this approach; change is definitely happening.

Of course, countryside management sits within a much broader context than education alone. The billions of pounds it contributes annually to the UK economy is an under-celebrated fact. The jobs it provides and its contribution to British cultural heritage is undervalued. Again, this is why countryside management needs to be on the curriculum. Until that time, we will continue to educate the children at my school and promote the approach to others, regardless of the inevitable criticism from those who have yet to learn accurately about the countryside.

Try something a little different with the best ingredients of the season, follow Philippa Davis' recipe for cider and buckwheat crepes with asparagus and trout

Cider and buckwheat crepes with asparagus and trout — These crepes with asparagus and trout can be served as a starter or a main.

Asparagus and trout are undoubtedly best eaten simply with a squeeze of lemon. But if you are tempted to try something a little different, have a go at Philippa Davis’ cider and buckwheat crepes with asparagus and trout. Delicious as a starter and main, serve one pancake per person for a starter and two for a main.

Asparagus and trout are wonderfully versatile ingredients. Try our shakshuka with trout and asparagus, and serve for brunch, lunch or light supper.

CIDER AND BUCKWHEAT CREPES WITH ASPARAGUS AND TROUT

Serves 4/8

250ml dry cider
50ml whole milk
1 egg
1 tbsp olive oil
100g buckwheat flour
Extra oil or butter for cooking
40g butter
40g plain flour
300ml milk
100ml cider
2 level tsp Dijon mustard
70g grated mild cheese, such as gruyère
150g asparagus, tough ends removed
4 fillets of trout, cut in half lengthways

Preheat oven to 220°C/425°C/Gas Mark 7.

To make the batter for the crêpes, measure the cider and milk in a jug, lightly beat in the egg and oil.

Place the flour in a bowl and slowly whisk in the liquid ingredients until smooth.

Leave to rest for 30 minutes then cook the crêpes using a little olive oil or clarified butter to stop them sticking. They can seem more delicate then normal crêpes so you may want to turn them with a spatula.

For the cheese sauce, melt the butter in a small saucepan on a low heat then stir in the plain flour until smooth.

Slowly whisk in the cider and milk and cook until thick. Stir in the mustard and 60g of the cheese. Keep warm.

In each of the crêpes place a few spears of asparagus, 1 strip of trout and a spoonful of cheese sauce.

Roll up and place in an ovenproof dish, big enough to fit all eight pancakes in comfortably.

Repeat with the rest of the pancakes, then pour the remaining sauce over the top along with the remaining cheese.

Bake on the top shelf of the oven for about 8 minutes or until the trout is cooked and the top golden.

Serve straight away, allowing one per person as a starter and two as a main.

During the Golden Age of shooting, the flatcoated retriever was the gundog of choice. But as David Tomlinson relates, it was soon to be eclipsed by the lab

During the Golden Age of shooting, flatcoated retrievers were the gundogs of choice. David Tomlinson takes a look at how the flatcoat was supplanted in the line by today’s most popular dog the world over – the labrador.

For more on flatcoated retrievers, their susceptibility to cancer must be addressed. Read flatcoated retriever: the flatcoat’s fatal flaw.

FLATCOATED RETRIEVERS

For the Edwardian country gentleman there was little choice when it came to choosing a gundog: it had to be a flatcoated retriever, the dominant canine shooting companion of its day. His gamekeeper was likely to have a curly-coated retriever at his heel, while the beaters would have been accompanied by a variety of spaniels. It wouldn’t be long before the upstart labrador started to challenge the flatcoat’s supremacy but the labrador was only recognised as a breed in its own right in 1903.

Until the start of the 20th century, spaniels were a motley lot. Big liver-and-white or black-and-white dogs were most likely called Norfolk spaniels, probably because there were a lot of them in Norfolk, while most of the others were known, somewhat loosely, as field or cocker. Weight played a major role in determining a breed. If it was under 25lb then it was a cocker, but you could give that cocker a good dinner and turn it into a field. It wasn’t until 1893 that cockers gained their place in the stud book as a proper breed, while the springer was given official recognition by the Kennel Club in 1902.

According to Dorothy Morland Hooper, writing in her classic book The Popular Springer Spaniel (1963), “great interest in the working ability of Spaniels developed during the 1890s and the first field trial was held by the Sporting Spaniel Club on Mr William Arkwright’s estate at Sutton Scarsdale, Derbyshire, on January 3, 1899… none of the winners was a Springer.” She goes on to note that it wasn’t until 1901 that a springer, a dog called Tring, won a trial for the first time.

Today, the Clumber spaniel has enjoyed something of a renaissance as a shooting dog but its peak of popularity in the shooting field was in the later years of the 19th century, when it enjoyed royal patronage. King Edward VII was, as Prince of Wales, a passionate sportsman and well aware of the importance of good dogs to a successful day’s shooting. The kennels at Sandringham housed his pack of Clumber spaniels, a breed he was particularly fond of, believing them to be the best dogs for working the heavy cover, bracken and rhododendrons of his mother’s 30,000-acre Norfolk estate. King George V was also a Clumber enthusiast and was, arguably, the last great patron of a disappearing breed.

The first retriever trials were held in the early years of the past century. There were only a few each season and they were highly sociable affairs, with the owners typically partying at a nearby country house. Participation was by invitation only. However, despite a delightfully amateur approach, there was serious prize money at stake. The initial trial held in conjunction with the Kennel Club took place at Horstead Hall, Norwich, in November 1906. First prize was £50, with £30 for the runner-up. Allowing for inflation, £50 then is equivalent to nearly £6,000 today. Prizes in trials haven’t kept pace with inflation: the winner of the most recent IGL Retriever Championship received a cheque for £100.

EARLY RETRIEVER TRIALS

Those early retriever trials were dominated by flatcoats, and successful dogs sold for considerable sums. In 1908, H Reginald Cooke, the doyen of the flatcoat world, turned down an offer of 260 guineas (about £30,000) for one of his champion dogs. However, the days of flatcoat dominance were nearing their end. The following year saw a labrador bitch called Dungavel Phoebe win the first-ever retriever championship, held at Little Green, Havant. Owned by the Duchess of Hamilton, Phoebe was handled by J Alexander, who was no doubt a professional dog man.

Such a significant labrador victory saw the sporting gentlemen of the time reaching for their pens, firing off furious letters to The Field arguing the merits, or otherwise, of flatcoats and labradors. One correspondent, who mysteriously signed himself as M, noted that flatcoats were inclined to be “slack on a hot day in the heather”, and that the labrador was “the better dog for certain work, such as picking-up after grouse or partridge drive”. M clearly tried to be fair but his concluding remark suggests his loyalty. “Given a good scent, I notice the Labrador easily beats the Flatcoated and has birds quicker. Given a bad scent, the Flatcoated will equal the Labrador, and probably beat him.”

In 1912 a flatcoat did win the Championship, the one and only victory scored by the breed in more than 100 years of competition.

The rise of the labrador was astonishingly rapid, leading to the almost total eclipse of the flatcoat. Curiously, the Kennel Club first allowed the registration of golden retrievers in 1903, as flatcoats, yellow or golden, and it wasn’t until 1913 that they were finally recognised as a breed in their own right. They soon became popular as both companions and working dogs, but their impact on the world of trialling was minimal and it wasn’t until 1937 that a golden won the Championship for the first time.

Today, looking back to what many regard as the pivotal period in the development of the modern gundog, it’s difficult not to feel nostalgia for a world when gundogs didn’t die of inherited diseases and you couldn’t check a dog’s COI (coefficient of inbreeding) on your computer. Remove the rose-tinted spectacles and it was probably not that wonderful – but it was certainly interesting.

Little Miss Sure Shot was not only a talented athlete but an inspiration and role model for lady guns, as BASC’s Bill Harriman explains

Annie Oakley was a woman ahead of her time. An international superstar and remarkable athlete, Little Miss Sure Shot paved the way for lady guns and still inspires today. BASC’s Bill Harriman pays tribute to a sporting hero.

For more Sporting Dianas, seriously sporting ladies offering advice and encouragement, Emma Ford opened the first dedicated falconry school in the world. And Joint Master of the Bicester Lucy Holland is at home on a skeleton run or grouse moor as she is in the saddle.

ANNIE OAKLEY

Annie Oakley is my hero, her feats of marksmanship legendary. However, she was so much more than just a crack shot. She was an international superstar and a remarkable athlete. Most of all, she was a woman ahead of her time, not only virtuous and deeply feminine but someone who promoted self-determination in others. In short, she was a remarkable person.

Phoebe Ann Mosey was born of Quaker parents on 13 August 1860 in Ohio. Her folks were not well off and both her father and stepfather died when she was still a child. After a spell of domestic drudgery, Oakley ran away back to her family. Her mother had remarried and they were now reasonably comfortable. To help make ends meet, Oakley started to shoot game, which was sold to hotels in Cincinnati. In a 1914 interview, she recalled that: “When I first started shooting in the fields of Ohio my gun was a single-barrelled muzzle-loader and as well as I can remember was 16-bore. I used black powder, cut my own wads out of cardboard boxes and thought I had the best gun on earth. Anyway, I managed to kill many ruffed grouse, quail and rabbits, all of which were quite plentiful in those days.”

Oakley’s fame as a hunter attracted the attention of Cincinnati hotelier Jack Frost, who organised a live-pigeon match between Oakley and a young Irish trap shooter named Frank Butler. Oakley won by one bird; Butler fell in love with her and married her in 1876 when she was just 16. Oakley decided she needed a stage name and as she and Frank had met at the shooting grounds in Oakley, she styled herself “Annie Oakley”.
It was at this time that Oakley met the great Sioux chief, Sitting Bull. He was staggered by her abilities and believed that so sure an aim must have been supernaturally blessed. He christened her “Watanya Cicilia” or “Little Sure Shot”. The name stuck.

Little Miss Sure Shot was an avid game-shot and countrywoman.

The Butlers joined Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show. By now, the Old West was disappearing as railways connected the continent. A newspaper advertisement read: “A visit West in three hours to see scenes that have cost thousands their lives to view”. Here was a chance for city dwellers to get a taste of frontier life, complete with real Indians, cowboys, Cavalry troopers, rough-riding cowgirls, settlers in log cabins, bison and the famous stagecoach, which was the subject of a running fight with the savages.

The Wild West Show was a resounding success, inspiring Cody to take it to Europe. In 1887, they were summoned to a Royal Command Performance at Windsor. Oakley was presented to HM Queen Victoria, who remarked: “You are a very, very, clever little girl.” Oakley also gave shooting lessons for ladies at Charles Lancaster’s shooting school, conferring respectability on women’s shooting in Britain.

Oakley was an avid game-shot and countrywoman who loved to relax outdoors with rod and gun. During her stay, she was the guest of several sporting estates, including that of Richard Clark near Shrewsbury.

The Wild West Show toured Europe and Oakley once shot a cigarette from the German Kaiser’s lips without even grazing the spike on his Imperial Majesty’s helmet. Returning to the US, the Butlers were now part of an expanded Wild West Show. This was a fantastic extravaganza that dealt in nostalgia as, by this time, nothing remained of the real Wild West.

In 1922, Oakley was injured in a car accident and had to wear a leg brace for the rest of her life. That did not stop her shooting, demonstrating that disabled people are not disadvantaged in shooting sports. She died of pernicious anaemia on 3 November 1926 and her memory is honoured by a marker on Route 27, north of Greenville, Ohio.

In her professional life, Oakley used many guns by American makers, including Winchester, Stevens, Remington, Colt and Marlin. One of her Parker Bros shotguns made $143,000 when it was sold in 2012. A smooth-bored Winchester rifle designed to fire fine birdshot made £84,000 in 1993. She also favoured English guns and had examples from Charles Lancaster, Pryse & Cashmore and WC Scott.

Today, free tickets to events are still known as “Annie Oakleys”, from the small hole punched in them. This is said to remind people of the bullet holes she shot in the original freebies to the Wild West Show.

ANNIE OAKLEY’S TOP TIP: “Aim at a high mark and you’ll hit it. No, not the first time, nor the second time. Maybe not the third. But keep on aiming and keep on shooting for only practice will make you perfect.” Sound advice, which I have always found inspirational.

Bring back the savoury course with Philippa Davis' dried fig, pigeon breast and smoked bacon skewers on toast. A simple recipe that can be made ahead of a supper party

During the Golden Era of fieldsports, dinners wouldn’t end with a pudding or cheeseboard. Instead, a savoury course was brought out – to aid digestion and invigorate the diner’s palate for more drink. Bring back this forgotten course with Philippa Davis’ modern alternative. Try dried fig, pigeon breast and smoked bacon skewers on toast, an easy recipe to make ahead of a supper party.

Today the savoury course is usually served as canapes. For more moreish morsels try one of our favourite recipes, pheasant samosas.

DRIED FIG, PIGEON BREAST AND SMOKED BACON SKEWERS ON TOAST

The idea of serving a savoury course was probably more appealing when you had a house full of staff, as it is not much fun dashing back to the kitchen at that stage of the evening to do yet more cooking.

All these recipes are designed to be made ahead and easily finished at the last minute. For this recipe, make sure you use fresh, plump pigeon breasts.

4 pigeon breasts, each cut into 4 strips
2 tsp finely chopped thyme
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
½ tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp olive oil
8 dried figs, cut in half
3 tbsp cognac or brandy
8 rashers smoked streaky bacon, cut in half vertically
3-4 tsp wholegrain mustard
16 tooth picks

To serve

4 pieces of toast, crusts off, each cut into 4 small squares
16 small sprigs watercress

Season the pigeon slices then marinate in the thyme, balsamic, Worcestershire sauce and olive oil for 1 hour.

Soak the figs in cognac for 1 hour.

Lay the bacon strips out and spread them with a thin layer of mustard.

Place a slice of pigeon inside the fig and wrap the bacon around it.

Secure with a tooth pick and place on a baking sheet. Repeat with the rest then store in the fridge.

To cook, Preheat the grill to high. Grill for about 8 minutes, turning once.

Place on a warm piece of toast with a few leaves of watercress.

Sharing gallery space alongside Archibald Thorburn is an enormous honour, contemporary bird artist Jim Starr tells Janet Menzies

In an unprecedented departure from the previous generation, Archibald Thorburn neglected scientific accuracy in favour of breathing life into his paintings’ subjects. Today there are more prints of Thorburn paintings in circulation than any other artist in the genre. Jim Starr tell Janet Menzies that sharing gallery space with the iconic sporting artist is an honour.

For more sporting artist, James Ward led the way for change with his work. And for more on Jim Starr, read Jim Starr, sporting artist.

ARCHIBALD THORBURN

Few of us have actually seen a polar bear, a condor or even a golden eagle for that matter. But thanks to the efforts of Sir David Attenborough and the BBC Natural History Unit, we feel as if we have. Imagine a time when there weren’t even photographs to feed our curiosity about a world of unseen wildlife. Archibald Thorburn (1860-1935) was the first wildlife artist to have his work reproduced photographically and, today, there are more prints of Thorburn paintings in circulation than those of any other painter in the genre. Even quite keen wildlife fans are more likely to have seen a Thorburn black grouse than a real black grouse.

A Frosty Dawn.

This was certainly the case when contemporary bird artist Jim Starr – whose work has just been exhibited alongside Thorburn at the Rountree Tryon Galleries at Petworth – was a boy. “Thorburn’s Birds, by James Fisher, was the first bird book given me by Mum and Dad when I was eight or nine years old, and I couldn’t believe what I was seeing on the page,” Starr remembers. “It has been on my shelf for 30 years and I keep going back to it. It is difficult to separate the nostalgia from Thorburn’s art. It takes me back to being a young child looking at a painting of a golden eagle and this is my first experience of it, through Thorburn. Thorburn’s bird paintings have left an indelible mark on me. As a child they were my experience of birds because I hadn’t seen them in the wild.”

Thorburn’s work was not only the first to be so accessibly reproduced but it was a departure from the previous generation of bird paintings by John Gould, Edward Lear and John James Audubon.

A Fox in a Winter Landscape.

Contemporary bird artist Rodger McPhail, considered by many to be the present-day successor to Thorburn, explains the new elements Thorburn brought to the genre: “None could render the softness of a bird’s plumage or breathe life into his subjects as he did. His mastery of watercolour and body colour technique was stunning. I have admired Thorburn’s work since I was a small boy. In my personal view, Thorburn’s most pleasing works are his field sketches. Not just birds but small mammals, flowers, fungi and insects. These sketches are beautifully executed with great accuracy and economy of brushwork.”

The previous generation of ornithological artists had been particularly concerned to depict a bird with near-scientific precision, and this was only appropriate. Gould, for example, was working alongside Charles Darwin – especially in depicting the species variation of finches that played a vital role in Darwin’s evolution theories. Thorburn, however, took a more narrative approach to his work, showing habitat, weather and the birds’ interaction with each other. Looking at his covey of ptarmigan huddled together on a snowy scree slope, you can almost hear the hushed tones of an Attenborough voiceover. It is a fuller experience than simply admiring the brilliant plumage of one of Audubon’s colourful birds.

A SCOTTISH UPBRINGING

Thorburn’s ability to empathise with birds in their natural surroundings probably comes from his upbringing in Scotland. He was born in Dumfries and his father, Robert Thorburn, was miniaturist to Queen Victoria.
He was sent down to England to study at the newly founded St John’s Wood School of Art in London but left as soon as he could.

Hungry and Homeless.

Thorburn’s breakthrough came in 1887 when he was commissioned to illustrate Lord Lilford’s Coloured Figures of the Birds of the British Isles. His nearly 300 watercolours for the book were met with general delight and from there he went on to illustrate his own and many other wildlife and natural history books. The first of his famous RSPB Christmas cards was produced in 1899 and became an annual tradition throughout his life.

Though so widely recognised, not every Christmas card painting could be a masterpiece, given how many he painted, and McPhail points out: “Though beautifully painted, the endless pictures of partridges, pheasants, woodcock and grouse tend to be rather repetitive. Many of these potboilers are rather mannered and the proportions of the birds questionable. Nor was he at his best when painting flying birds but he did not have the advantage of high-speed photography that is such an aid to contemporary wildlife painters.”

Taking Flight

“I think he is arguably one of the best bird painters there is and I know because I have tried copying some of his illustrations,” says Starr. “He has a red grouse on the same page as black grouse and pheasants, and I tried copying these plates line by line and I don’t think there is anyone who can match him for feather details and habitat in the background. His use of white paint is just amazing, because he was working in watercolour with highlights of white. I have spent hours just looking at the backgrounds and at the pheasants. They are iconic images. It is just such an incredible honour to realise my work is hanging alongside his.”

Works illustrated by Thorburn include Thorburn’s Birds; Coloured Figures of the Birds of the British Isles; British Birds; The Birds of the British Isles and Their Eggs; The Complete Illustrated Thorburn’s Birds. Paintings are often exhibited at the Rountree Tryon Galleries, www.rountreetryon.com

Surprising himself, Charlie Flindt finds stepping down from head-turning luxury to a bottom-of-the-range runaround highly satisfying

For the opposite end of the spectrum, read Charlie Flindt’s take on the Bentley Bentayga Mulliner “Field Sports”. Could this be the perfect shoot wagon?

HYUNDAI i20 1.2S

Luggage capacity is 1042 litres.

Clear, simple controls.

HYUNDAI I20 1.2S

Engine: 1,248cc petrol
Power: 75PS
Max speed: 99 mph
Performance, 0 to 62: 13.6 seconds
Combined fuel economy: 55.4mpg
Insurance group: 4E
Price: £11,755

Philippa Davis suggests two versions of trout carpaccio with asparagus - both make impressive supper party starters

For more recipes that use trout with asparagus, try our shakshuka with trout and asparagus. This Arabic dish can be served as brunch, lunch or light supper.

TROUT CARPACCIO WITH ASPARAGUS, FENNEL, SHALLOTS AND LEMON

Serves 2

1 shallot, finely sliced
3 dsp lemon juice
60g asparagus, tough ends removed then the rest finely sliced on a diagonal
20g finely shaved fennel
1 dsp roughly chopped dill, plus 1 dsp fronds if there are any
2 dsp extra virgin olive oil
60g trout fillet, skinned and deboned
Zest ½ lemon

In a small bowl, mix the shallot with a pinch of salt and 1 dessertspoon of the lemon juice and leave for 10 minutes.

In another bowl, mix the asparagus, fennel, dill (and fronds if using) with the olive oil and 1 dessertspoon lemon juice.

Strain away any liquid from the shallot and mix into the asparagus. Season.

Thinly slice the trout and lay out on your serving plate. Season.

Pile the asparagus into the middle of the trout then drizzle over the remaining dessertspoon of lemon and olive oil.

Finish with a sprinkle of lemon zest and serve.

TROUT CARPACCIO WITH ASPARAGUS, WASABI, SOY AND GINGER

Trout carpaccio with asparagus, wasabi, soy and ginger packs a flavourful punch.

Serves 2

60g raw trout, thinly sliced
30g raw asparagus, ends removed then thinly sliced
2 red radishes, finely sliced

For the dressing:

Zest and juice of ½ lime
¼ tsp wasabi
½ tsp freshly grated ginger
½ tsp soy
½ tsp sesame oil
8 coriander leaves

Spread trout onto your serving plate and season.

Whisk together the dressing ingredients then mix with the radish and asparagus.

Scatter on top of the trout and eat straight away.

A post-Brexit world calls for simple and sophisticated environmental solutions for subsidies. With CAP no longer a binding force, Tim Field explains that now is the time to set the agenda

With Brexit seeing Common Agricultural Policy set sail from our shores, we have the opportunity of a lifetime, says Time Field. Now is the time to set the agenda for post-Brexit agricultural policy.

For more on farming, Tim Field marks a key moment in the farming calendar in spring turn out: put out to grass.

POST-BREXIT AGRICULTURAL POLICY

A HELPING HAND TO SMALLER HOLDINGS

REWARDING ENVIRONMENTAL OUTCOMES

Follow Tim and Agricology @agricology

Mike Fairclough, head teacher at a junior school in Eastbourne, explains how including countryside management in the curriculum can have both an academic and environmental impact

The future of fieldsports is in the hands of the next generation. Enthusing and encouraging youngsters is key, but when should they start shooting? Read what age should youngsters start shooting?

WEST RISE JUNIOR SCHOOL

Try something a little different with the best ingredients of the season, follow Philippa Davis' recipe for cider and buckwheat crepes with asparagus and trout

Asparagus and trout are wonderfully versatile ingredients. Try our shakshuka with trout and asparagus, and serve for brunch, lunch or light supper.

CIDER AND BUCKWHEAT CREPES WITH ASPARAGUS AND TROUT

Serves 4/8

250ml dry cider
50ml whole milk
1 egg
1 tbsp olive oil
100g buckwheat flour
Extra oil or butter for cooking
40g butter
40g plain flour
300ml milk
100ml cider
2 level tsp Dijon mustard
70g grated mild cheese, such as gruyère
150g asparagus, tough ends removed
4 fillets of trout, cut in half lengthways