27 JULY 1991, Page 27

Uley House

The flattened molehills stepping-stone the lawn Towards fresh soil-heaps near the Judas tree. Pink clematis flowers embrace a rusty cypress. The creaking wingbeats of a wood pigeon Applaud its exit from a copper beech Into a sky of Pentecostal light On a jasmine, bluebell, lilac-scented evening. Rooks argue and a dog barks at a gunshot. Among full moons of dandelion clocks Heifers are tearing grasses in the sunset. It's country life as Country Life would have it And I'm so passive or dispassionate I hear a desiccated holly leaf Detach itself and fall through leaves to earth.

Duncan Forbes