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I was watching this old-ish (well, 2001) time-travelling film called ‘Kate and Leopold’ and something struck me. The attire the Duke wore for a dinner party is exactly like what we equestrians wear for our shows – black jacket, white shirt, cravat, breeches and riding boots! So nothing has changed in that respect.

Except the cravat morphed into the tie, as it did for businessmen…

We all have been there, nervously approaching a pub, restaurant or bar in the hope that our first date is successful. Many of us have been scrolling dating profiles and making one up for ourselves (with the help or friends or not). One thing I realised is a common theme is the countryside. As well as Cupid’s…

While reading an article in ‘Countryside Voices’ on dark skies’ initiatives, I wondered what they had to do with protecting our countryside and supporting its future, but now I understand why they are such powerful campaigning tools. Basically, they attract…

by Lizzie Bannister

I care about many things – cats, the state of our wildlife, access to Netflix, the welfare of horses and the continuation of equine sports, our farmers, celebrities and magazines such as Harper’s Bazaar, our local businesses, and so on. And I like to try to use my money to support the things I care about. For example, I bought torches from our local DIY…

I now go to the pub every month and meet up with a group of three to eight people; I never used to go to the pub with anyone outside my family or boyfriends but now I do, and that is a nice change. People have come to my home too, even once to see and ride my pony. One of the people I meet in the pub now regularly comes round to collect my pony’s poo for his garden, and he brought his lovely wife…

by Lizzie Bannister

Lizzie and Ted the Dog

We need to ask ourselves: does the countryside get the same attention as the need to build houses, new shopping outlets and other forms of urbanisation? Yes, there is a need to build more houses but there…

Alongside the obvious ones such as food production and recreation, history itself is a brilliant reason why the countryside is important and deserves protection.

There were fewer building in our countryside in the past, and we didn’t have the sprawling urban areas and infilled spaces we have now. It is important to keep planning laws respectful of our countryside if we want the economic…

By Lizzie Bannister

Gordon's Mere, Woodwalton Fen NNR - geograph.org.uk - 163958.jpg" by Terry McKenna is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

After many years of campaigning…

Local horse riders are doing their bit for hedgerows! A long, new, field-edge hedge-line is being established in Ramsey Mereside to replace an old fence, whilst in Wimblington, the gaps in an old hedge where conifer trees were removed are being re-filled.

This thought paper looks at and promotes the countryside as a valuable and recognised economic asset - especially in light of “developing” it for the economy. It questions whether the proposed Ox-Cam Arc, where so much greenbelt would be displaced, would actually benefit our economy or damage it. A healthy economy does…