The Countryman Magazine January 2018 Back Issue

The past is a foreign country : they do things differently there,” wrote the novelist L P Hartley in The Go-Between. In this issue we celebrate the photographic genius of James R avilious, who took as his subjects the people and places of rural North Devon during the 1970s and 1980s; though this is a period well within living memory, James still captured a traditional way of life on the brink of sweeping changes – see page 40.
Also in this issue, we explore the natural history of the Scottish wildcat and the conservation initiatives to save Britain’s most
endangered mammal – page 20; we examine what the future might hold for Britain’s small family farms – page 29; and we enjoy the remarkable spectacle of the Allendale Tar Barrel Festival, one of the country's most unusual New Year customs – page 32.