Review: Eurovision Song Contest

4:38pm Friday 24th May 2013

AND so one of the great annual highlights on the TV calendar has been and gone.

Finest Colchagua Valley Carmenere 2012, £9.49, Tesco

5:56pm Monday 20th May 2013

Carmenere is the Chile’s very own grape and its grown in the Colchagua valley in the Rapel region.

Ventisquero Reserva Sauvignon Blanc 2012

5:55pm Monday 20th May 2013

This white is dry and has juicy lime, grapefruit, pineapple and pear flavours.

Pretty orchids flirt with bees

The beautiful bee orchid

4:50pm Monday 20th May 2013

Between now and the end of August the North of England is an ideal place to study orchids.

Review: The Apprentice, BBC1

5:39pm Friday 17th May 2013

I’D thought I was doing well, but three weeks in my resolve failed and I fell into the trap of watching The Apprentice.

Review: The Voice, BBC1

11:52am Friday 10th May 2013

THE coolest furniture on TV has revolved for the final time, the teams have been sorted, the battle lines are drawn and — let’s face it — The Voice goes downhill from now on.

Poggio del Sasso Sangiovese di Toscana 2011, £6.95, The Wine Society

4:31pm Monday 6th May 2013

The name is quite a mouthful but don't be deterred because the wine is well worth tasting.

Adega de Moncao Vinho Verde 2011, £5.95, The Wine Society

4:31pm Monday 6th May 2013

The Wine Society buy a lot from local co-ops and this lovely crisp Portuguese white is a good example.

Spiky problems for all wildlife

4:10pm Monday 6th May 2013

The winter of 2013 has seemed perpetual. As Easter fell, swathes of the UK were buried under a compacted blanket of snow, bringing scenes more akin to January than springtime.

Review: The Listening Station Malbec 2008, £7.49, Booths

5:29pm Monday 29th April 2013

Our region’s own supermarket has some fascinating wines you'd be hard pressed to find on other high streets.

Review: Somos Gewurztraminer 2011, £8.99, Booths

5:28pm Monday 29th April 2013

Here’s a wine made with this cooler-climate grape — in the foothills of the Pyrenees in Spain.

Blog: A struggle for our butterflies?

A tortoiseshell butterfly

5:11pm Monday 29th April 2013

I try not to be too pessimistic when writing about our local wildlife but all who love science have to tell the truth.

Blog: Our birds have a bullish nature

The bullfinch

4:24pm Monday 22nd April 2013

How have bullfinches fared this spring snowtime?Those who cultivate fruits for a living hate the bullfinch because this lovely looking bird feeds on the buds of fruit trees during the spring.

Review: Coquille d’Oc 2011, £7.49, Waitrose, Waitrose.com

3:49pm Friday 19th April 2013

The shell on the label makes this white easy to see and the ‘Brit Pack’ sticker tells you its French wine made by British winemakers.

La Paz Tempranillo Syrah 2011, £7.99, Waitrose, Waitrose.com

3:48pm Friday 19th April 2013

An award-winning mix of the Rioja grape Tempranillo and Syrah

Review: Broadchurch, ITV1

2:13pm Friday 19th April 2013

COME on, admit it... Who’s counting down the minutes and seconds until 9pm on Monday when the severely frayed ends of ITV’s fantastic murder mystery drama Broadchurch will – hopefully – be drawn together?

Dark depths of the 'earth throwers'

Cold weather means the mole has to dig deep

4:51pm Monday 15th April 2013

THE colder the weather the deeper moles have to dig and so the spring of 2013 must have been a real problem for them.

Paul Mas Vermentino 2011, £7.59, Booths

10:14am Monday 15th April 2013

This is from the southern Languedoc-Roussillon region but the Vermentino grape is really a native of Sardinia and Italy’s Liguria area.

La Reine de l’Arenite Fleurie 2011, £8.99, Booths

10:14am Monday 15th April 2013

Arenite is the name given to the soil that dominates the 2,000 acres of French vines that make up Fleurie, one of the 10 types of Beaujolais.

Review: Wheeler Dealer

11:00am Friday 12th April 2013

TIME to delve into the world of ‘guilty pleasures’ again — most of my viewing seems to fall into this category these days.

Thumping way to attract a mate

A female and male hare in a mating ritual

5:10pm Monday 8th April 2013

HAS spring sprung? I doubt it. I have heard it said that rabbits and hares look alike but once you have seen a hare you will never again confuse the two.

Review: Great British Sewing Bee, BBC2

TAKING THE LEAD: Claudia Winkleman, the host of The Great British Sewing Bee

12:06pm Friday 5th April 2013

FIRST we had soggy bottoms, now we’ve got saggy pockets!

Les Pierres Bordes Marsanne Viognier 2012, £5.50, The Wine Society

3:03pm Tuesday 2nd April 2013

The grapes are the apricot-flavoured Viognier and Marsanne, originally from the Rhone area with an almost honeysuckle perfume.

Cuvee Chasseur Rouge 2012, £4.79, Waitrose

3:03pm Tuesday 2nd April 2013

Workaday red that will go with almost anything.

Red squirrels helped out by a rare friend

ADOPT: The native red squirrel – one can be ‘adopted’ in a scheme which is being supported by the John Lewis Partnership

3:13pm Monday 25th March 2013

The red squirrel has long attracted headlines of doom. Bullied out of house and home by its American grey cousins, it has become the UK's equivalent of the panda - a creature seemingly doomed to extinction despite its power to pull at our collective heart strings.

Review: Bread, BBC2

4:58pm Friday 22nd March 2013

THE collective hearts of WI members around the country must be all a-flutter with the latest foodie fantasy on the Beeb.

Review: McWilliams Silverwood Pinot Noir 2011, £8.99, Waitrose

3:00pm Saturday 16th March 2013

Thirty-five years ago when I was an Australian resident McWilliams

Review: Librandi Asylia 2011, £8.99, Waitrose

1:00pm Saturday 16th March 2013

In the south of the Italian mainland below Naples is Calabria

Review: Shetland, BBC 1

1:30pm Friday 15th March 2013

JUST because a drama looks spectacular, it doesn’t necessarily mean it will be enthralling viewing.

Review: Mayu Pedro Ximenez 2012, £9.99, Sainsbury’s

5:41pm Monday 11th March 2013

Lime and lemony white made with the Pedro Ximenez grape which comes from the Andalucia region of southern Spain.









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