My latest article has hit the news stands, several weeks before my own copy of the March edition of Country Smallholding Magazine was delivered by our postlady in her mustard yellow Renault La Poste van. You might imagine that, even though I’d seen the proofs, I was impatient to see “The Strange World of a Broody Hen” in glossy print.
Some of the delay might be explained by the circuitous route it took to my letterbox. I’m not sure why a magazine posted in England, heading just over the channel to France, was postmarked Frankfurt! I assume that the magazine obviously wanted to enjoy a literary Grand Tour before retiring to my bookshelf. If you are inspired to delve into the mysteries of a hen’s life, race down to your local newsagent and ask them for a copy of the March issue before April’s hits the shelves. (I’m not on commission, by the way.)
If you have something decent to read, and a cosy fire in front of which to read it, you need to get yourself a comfy chair. Here are the second set of photos of the chair restoration by our holiday cottage guest and now friend, Richard. He and Leigh are booked in for mid-August, so the dramatic tension is already rising: will he get the chair ready in time? 
It’s amazing, and a real pleasure for me, to see this “rescue” chair—£5 from Brighton and Hove Wood Recycling Project—lovingly brought back to its former glory. The photos show Richard in his workshop putting the original springs back on new webbing and then the detail of the webbing from below.
