The joy of socks

RARELY a day went by, back in the heady days of office working, when either the Editor of this supplement or the Editor of COUNTRY LIFE as a whole wouldn’t make some comment on my socks. This was usually because they hailed from a palette of colours you would tend to find more readily in the borders of the UK’s more prestigious gardens. What is good enough for the rose is good enough for the ankle, I have always thought.

I feel a great sense of pride in my socks, more so perhaps than other items in my wardrobe, and that’s because I’ve always thought that a brightly coloured sock is