Living National Treasure
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The 21st century sword maker: 'There’s something appealing about getting metal hot and smacking it with a hammer'
Practising ancient techniques to craft modern heirlooms, bladesmith Owen Bush handmakes both decorative and practical knives or weaponry, each with their own personalities, says Claire Jackson — with some of his swords celebrities in their own right. Photographs by Richard Cannon for Country Life.
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The secrets of the basket-maker: 'With a basket, you watch it grow before your very eyes'
Anna Stickland has woven a new career as a basket-maker; she spoke to Nick Hammond.
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Where I Work: Huw Edwards-Jones, master craftsman and canoe maker
The ups and downs of 2020 didn't see Huw Edwards-Jones change where he worked, but it did change what he did: he's used the time to switch from creating beautiful hand-made furniture to spectacularly beautiful canoes. He spoke to Toby Keel.
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In Focus — The Cotswolds silversmith: 'We make beautiful works of art to last for hundreds of years'
Tucked away in an old Cotswolds silk mill, expert craftsmen harness a century of expertise to raise, planish and finish fine gold and silverware. Jeremy Flint visits Hart’s of Chipping Campden.
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The photographer walking 7,000 miles around the coast of Britain: 'After 450 days of walking I've not been bored once'
Quintin Lake has always loved walking, ever since trekking from Lands End to John O'Groats as a teenager. But his five-year epic journey around the coast of Britain has taken his love for getting out and about to a new level — as well as his love for our beautiful island.
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Medwyn Williams, king of giant vegetables: 'A living monument... the greatest of our show growers, a king of long carrots and immaculate cauliflowers'
Steven Desmond meets Medwyn Williams, the man who knows more than anyone about growing and showing giant vegetables.
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The master shoemakers who shod Churchill: 'Demand is through the roof, but it takes six to eight months to make a pair'
The co-owners of bespoke shoe shop George Cleverley, father and son George Glasgow Snr and George Glasgow Jnr, talk to Hetty Lintell.
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The dolls' house-maker: 'This is a place to capture the dreams of children and adults alike'
Dragons of Walton Street have been making beautiful dolls' houses for four decades, and the company is still run by Lucinda Croft, the daughter of the founder. She spoke to Hetty Lintell.
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Meet the Beadles: The centuries-old private police force at Burlington Arcade, the world's swishest shopping mall
This week marked the 200th birthday of London’s Burlington Arcade. Adam Hay-Nicholls goes undercover with the Beadles, its private police force. With photographs by Richard Cannon.
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The flower growers of the Scilly Isles: 'There’s a bit of good fortune and a lot of hard work'
The Isles of Scilly have spectacularly good conditions for growing flowers – particularly the daffodils and other narcissi which we're now seeing everywhere.
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The bagpipe-maker: 'The older customers want me to make their pipes sharpish; they want to be sure they’re not dead before they get to play them!'
Hours of intricate work are needed to craft a set of bagpipes. Kate Lovell spoke to bagpipe-maker Dave Shaw to find out how it's done.
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The willow weaver: 'I like to let the host structure feed the form'
With such romantic names as Dicky Meadows, Flanders Red and Noir de Verlaine, willow is one of Nature’s most versatile materials. Jane Wheatley meet Laura Ellen Bacon, who crafts works of art from twisted stems of Salix.
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The Pietra dura maker: 'Everyone else in Florence was looking at the paintings, but I was looking at the pietra-dura floor'
Pietra dura – the art of creating images by cutting stones and fitting them into a jigsaw of shapes – flowered under the Florentine Medicis, but there’s only one man in Britain creating these precious-stone mosaics today: Thomas Greenaway.
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Country Life’s best Living National Treasures of 2018: Stained glass to neon signs, via sculpture, baskets and fishermen
Our hugely popular series tells fascinating tales about extraordinary people keeping traditional skills alive across Britain, illustrated by the wonderful portrait photographs taken by Richard Cannon for Country Life. Our picture editor Lucy Ford makes her selection of her favourites of 2018.
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The fairy-maker: ‘There are fairies in royal circles, Australia, New York – everywhere'
Dinah Nicholson's meticulously-recorded magical creations range from doppelgangers of real women to the whimsical Gin & Tonic fairy and have been created at home, on the move or even in the queue at the bank.
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The ice sculptor: 'People get very uptight about being cold but, if you relax about it, the cold is all right'
Mr Hamilton was a chef working at London's crème de la crème when he discovered a talent that would shape the rest of his life: the all but extinct world of ice sculpting.
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The stained-glass maker: 'It's powerful, volatile... too overwhelming for domestic settings'
Thomas Denny is one of the few people left in Britain making stained glass for churches. He spoke to Mary Miers.
