Ancient Coat

Prince Charles has the right idea, and I fully understand his reasons for continuing to use a clapped-out, torn jacket for purposes such as hedging.

I missed the latest episode of Countryfile on the BBC, though I gather that HRH showed off an old coat, patched up with so many different pieces of leather he confided he could “hardly move”.

The jacket, donned while he built hedges on his estate, is now made up of an array of green and brown shades, with rough holes and hanging threads.

“Well of course the trouble is it gets torn up. I got somebody to patch it up with leather and now I can hardly move”. 

I POSSESS a forty year-old Barbour jacket. It has been gathering a modicum of dust in the garage for a few winters, so methinks I shall put it to good use.

I occasionally burn gorse and old bramble in the woods and, as anybody who has performed this task will know, fleece jackets are particularly vulnerable to cinders and sparks.

The ancient Barbour should do the trick famously.

That's my jacket at the top, by the way.