Last edited by Horace (2007-09-27 14:24:29)

What about murders in charming albeit stuffy villages?

http://www.countryattire.com/categories/Barbour-Quilted-Jackets-And-Coats.html

This is THE one:

http://www.countryattire.com/products/barbour-liddesdale-jacket--rustic-d360.html

Navy for the Ladies, Goose Sh*t Green for the Chaps.

Wellington boots

there are 4 categories of wellington boots in the country.

1. honest to goodness- protective against- mud -water sludge and animal dung - generally worn by farmers and farm labourers the two most common manufacturers of these wellingtons are Dunlop ( generally availlable in green) and Argyll ( black) who are part of the hunter of scotland group www.wellie-boots.com these boots have no pretention to be anything but workwear- but farmers love `em

2. the serious wellie- these are manufactured by the big three - hunters www.wellie-boots.com ( royal warrant)  -  www.aigle.com ( french)  -   www.lechameau.com (french)

The flag ship wellington of the hunter range is the hunter soverign - bench made - zipped for a secure fit - leather lined to absorb sweat - and a choice of a metal studded sole or commando sole- ( both soles are replaceable)

The flagship boot of le chameaus range is also zipped and leather lined but no replacable sole- although for long distance walks across moorland and the like they are much more comfortable in my opinion.

the 2 wellingtons above are generally purchased by the serious wellington wearer who has a desire to keep his feet warm and dry for a full day on the moor- or standing around at horse trials or following the hunt  he will wear wellingtons most days in the wetter winter months

3. the weekend wellie wearer -the above three companies provide for this type of consumer . neoprene or cotton lined- some with a bellow gusset and strap -some with strap only- some with nothing.

these are worn by people who only occasionally wear wellingtons but want some form of comfort. whilst wearing ( no slap slapping on the back of the calf - warm feet etc)

hunter in the last few years brought out diffrent- brightly coloured boots - that fall into this cattegory- some proceeds of the sales of which go to charity- but only girls where these ( angelina jolie - wore a red pair in Mr. And Mrs. Smith)

Ideal for attending bonfires - brief walks in the countryside sledging in snow - mucking out horses.

there is a new company called muck boots who now provide a wellington rubber bottom with a neoprene upper - I have no experience and as such am unable to comment.

4. The poseurs wellington- these are not honest wellingtons but are a leather derrivative. www.dubbaryboots.com
musto also do a pair- as do le chameau ( the vatna)- hunters used to do leather wellingtons and they ended up nearly bankrupt as a result- musto also do a leather wellington.

to be honest these are not a badly made boot - I have the vatna - but my gripe with them is you mostly see them at game and country fairs where people from the town who only occasionally set foot in the countryside are wearing them -they wish to portray an image that simply doesnt exist and do so with their boots and to some extent their clothing- where`s the marks and snags from barbed wire -wheres the mud- wheres the shit, vomit and dog hair etc etc (hmm image over honesty - what does that remind me of-easy tiger)

so there it is- a brief run down of the wellington boot named after our own Dear Duke of wellington for his choice of knee length cavalry boots- over the traditional thigh length.

from the humblest wellington - to a bench made wellington.

live in the country -your going to need a pair- to view a good range of wellingtons in all their guises www.wellieboots.com ( different fom the link posted above)

coming soon: 101 things you can do in wellington boots- are you shearing that sheep - no get your fucking own.

a word to the wise - allways go for the ones with the prettiest faces .

Last edited by Cheeky Monkey (2007-09-28 08:58:33)

Chums,

I'd be grateful if anyone had any leads on a Barbour model that appears to have been discontinued.  I'm looking for a Navy Blue (with cord collar) quilted jacket, somewhat short (but not the freakishly short style) for women.  The one that was made in England and sized in numbers, no S, M, L, etc.  I need whatever the smallest size that Barbour makes.  I think a UK4 or something?  Anyway, I noticed that 2-3 years ago, the styles changes from properly sized to S, M, L, etc. and Barbour started putting their logo on the pocket.  So I'd like to avoid that style.  The few actual Barbour shops I dropped into in Europe at the time had depleted stock (twas in November or Decemeber I believe) and had sold off their "classic" stock in favor of off-shore, logo'd versions of this jacket.

Leads appreciated.  There's got to be some tack store or over-priced country shop somewhere in England sitting on a few of these.

Cheers,

H.

Good morning Horace- how are things with you? - good I hope

give ebay uk a go -www.ebay.co.uk put in a search for bookster - he may have something that fits the bill- contact him direct- he seems to be the one who specialises in this type of thing. ( goodness me that is such an Andy trad answer- I shouldn`t have drank so much sloe gin yesterday)

Good morning Uncle.

clothes yesterday were a bit of a mish mash.

plenty of wellingtons and high leather boots on show as you would imagine - although the weather remained dry and the ground was firm so no real need.

lots of tweed jackets-tattersalls and - country silk ties plenty of cords and quite a lot of yellowy/tan cotton trousers.

I wore my RM william arnhem boots- pair of jeans - pink spread collar shirt with a muted green cashmere sweater along with an old tattered tweed hacking jacket in a light brown with red and gold checks.

there were quite a lot of Rm williams boots on display actually- they have obviously become the footwear of choice with the younger set.

I will have to make the effort to do a bit of commentry on the elasticated chukka - when my poor aching head is better.

Horse came 3rd out of 60 some by the way so - not a bad result -had a reasonable amount of beer- a not inconsiderable amount of red wine and a fucking obscene amount of sloe gin - so am feeling a little shabby and delicate this morning.

The warm pork pies that were availlable and home cooked by one of the hunt members were exceptional also-I`m affraid I did make a little bit of a pig of myself in that respect also.

I must now go and check with my good lady to establish if any - appologetic phone calls are necessary- God forbid I  have to put pen to paper and write a humbling letter of appology like last time. I will keep you chaps informed.

Mr.Horace allways happy to try and help - here are links to 2 small independant cloth manufacturers in the Yorkshire area.

www.hfw-huddersfield.co.uk

www.taylorsdirect.co.uk

a rather intresting company www.gumleaf.com

this retailer does some nice gear also. www.alexander-james.co.uk

for rm williams boots and trousers in the UK www.denewear.co.uk

Last edited by Cheeky Monkey (2007-10-01 11:14:23)

Remember, barbed wire can rip corduroy at ten paces. Never seen on anyone who needs to cross fences.

I don`t have a copy of the photograph but I do remember the Daily mail making quite a fuss about it at the time.

Didn`t the original have to be airbrushed, before it could be hung in pride of place in the officers mess?