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In this edition of ‘Countryside’, our focus is particularly on nature and the environment. On page 111, Rutland farmer Sarah Bell speaks powerfully of how she looks to encourage wildlife in what’s often, rather disparagingly, called the ‘dead space’ on farms. The bit of land by the yard, the strip along the track, the patch of field at the back of the barn – the forgotten places that aren’t cropped or grazed where, with a bit of encouragement or intentful neglect, wildlife can thrive. “Nettles, for example, get a bad reputation,” she says. “Nobody wants to fall into them: they sting, they spread and they look messy. But they are vital. Those scruffy patches of nettles are nurseries for butterflies, like small tortoiseshells, peacocks, red admirals. Their caterpillars depend on nettles to survive.”

Her words are a timely reminder of the work tens of thousands of farmers do to produce our food and maintain our beautiful countryside. Continuing this theme, the NFU’s assistant environment adviser Jana McWhirter explains some of the lesser-known things that farmers are doing to look after the countryside – from providing seeds for birds to looking after the soils.

In a similar vein, on pages 105-8, countryman Richard Negus explains his passion for the craft of hedgelaying. Hedges, he says, are vital boundary markers, livestock barriers and wildlife corridors, and his new book ‘Words from the hedge’ is described as a love letter to the hedge. It’s worth reflecting that hedges may seem like an inimitable part of the British countryside, but each one was planted with a purpose and their maintenance is all part of the landscape that we love.