Country Life

Seeing is believing

THE wildflower meadow in front of me is a colourful tangle of daisies, poppies, harebells and creeping thistle. A honeybee forages happily among the petals of a greater knapweed and a buff-tailed bumblebee hones in on a plump red clover flower. Looking more closely, I spot the flamenco wings of a cinnabar moth and, close by, its handsomely ringed gold-and-black caterpillar wriggling up some ragwort, of which it would, no doubt, make short work—if only it could.

Because what I’m looking at is not, in fact, real, but the exquisite handiwork of milliner-turned-flower-maker Anne Tomlin. Working from her garden studio in West Sussex, just

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from Country Life

Country Life2 min read
The Legacy Sir John Soane And His Museum
EXASPERATED and despairing at the provocative behaviour of his sons, Sir John Soane (1753–1837) decided towards the end of his life to make the British public his heir. His eldest son, John—whom he had hoped would follow him as an architect, but who
Country Life2 min read
Up Where The Air Is Clear
Graffiti is not normally a selling point, but, in the case of Great Tangley Manor, where George V and Queen Mary signed the dining-room window with a diamond ring, we’ll make an exception. Later, George VI and Edward VIII followed suit and signed the
Country Life2 min read
Sauce For The Goose
Future Publishing Ltd, 121–141 Westbourne Terrace, Paddington, London W2 6JR 0330 390 6591; www.countrylife.co.uk IT has been a tale of floods and pestilence for the British countryside over the past 18 months. Now comes the inevitable news that the

Related Books & Audiobooks