Within its borders can be found such varied delights as the on-the-sea resorts of Clacton Frinton and Southend the Anglo-Saxon wooden

Within its borders can be found such varied delights as the "on-the-sea" resorts of Clacton, Frinton and Southend, the Anglo-Saxon wooden church at Greensted and the picturesque beauties of Thaxted and Castle Hedingham. Travelling through the northern sections of the county will introduce you to a local feature which dates back hundreds of years, namely the art of "pargeting". Or, in plain terms, the moulded patterns once applied to wet plasterwork. Pargeting flourished in the 17th century and perhaps the best place to admire these traditional skills is in Saffron Walden.Stroll around the Market Place and note the names of the neighbouring passages which tell you who once did what and where: "Butcher Row", "Cheesehil", "The Cockpit", "Piggeshil". Walk up Market Hill and there on the left is the old medieval Sun Inn where Oliver Cromwell himself stayed in 1647 when dealing with mutinous troops unwilling to journey to Ireland.

It is now home to antiques and second-hand books.Look up and admire the decorative pargeting which offers a riot of birds, plants, fruit and fish. My favourite section is to be found over the carriageway entrance in Church Street. In the right-hand corner is the Wisbech Giant, armed with a massive club. In the left-hand corner is the local figure of Tom Hickathrift, a carter, preparing to do 17th-century battle. In a classic David and Goliath confrontation, Tom is supposed to have won the day by improvising and unexpectedly using his wagon axle as a sword and a cartwheel as a shield. The wheel can be glimpsed between them, even if it is now without its spokes.Not only did the Wisbech Giant lose this fight but by 1966 his legs were in serious disrepair. They had to be amputated, but fortunately he was given a new pair.

That you can't even see the join demonstrates how some local skills happily live on in the modern world.The Sun Inn is on the corner of Market Hill and Church Street, in Saffron Walden, Essex. Sailing STUART ALEXANDER Piece by piece the British Admiral's Cup team is being put together, yesterday seeing the appointment of David Bedford, a former European J24 champion, as helmsman for the big boat Rubin/Seahorse.He will be joined by Peter Schofield, an army officer who has also developed navigational computer programmes, as navigator, but discussions are still taking place over who will be tactician and the principal sail trimmers.Robin Aisher, to whom the boat has been lent by Germany's Hans-Otto Schumann, who is also a former rear commodore of the Royal Ocean Racing Club, organisers of the event, picks up the boat today and will be sailing during the competition. Five of the German crew will also be available.But many people who would have been important players in the British team are committed either to other teams or to other campaigns as the search for British boats dragged on for so long.The second German boat to sail for Britain is the 40-foot Seahorse Astro, where Harold Cudmore has Andy Beadsworth and Adrian Stead lined up but a question mark lingers over Andy Hemmings. As well as the charter cost being underwritten by a group of RORC members, they need to find enough money to pay for new sails.In the Solent yesterday, the International Six Metres continued to enjoy some cracking race conditions. The first race started with the nine-knot wind in the east, shifting towards the south. The second started with the wind fully in the south before swinging into the south-west and picking up to more than 20 knots.In charge in both races, and overall, was Bruce Owen's Scoundrel with the following three the same in each race - Tony Canning and Robert Leigh- Wood in Lion, Peter Bateman in Thisbe, and Tom Richardson in Georgia..

Rugby Union New Zealand's tour of France later this year came under renewed threat yesterday as a political row over French plans to resume testing nuclear weapons gathered momentum. Jim Bolger, New Zealand's Prime Minister, pledged to discuss the matter with rugby administrators. He said: "No responsibility rests with the All Blacks or rugby management, but I will talk with them We're talking about a tour in October, November I think it's too early to tell. I don't want to jump to any conclusions."Bolger's comments were the latest in an escalating debate over whether the All Black tour should be cancelled in protest at the decision to resume nuclear testing at Mururoa atoll in the South Pacific from September. The row flared again after French commandos used tear gas to storm the Greenpeace ship, Rainbow Warrior, off Mururoa.Laurie Mains, the All Black coach, said: "Let me make quite clear that not only myself but also the majority of the All Blacks are very anti-nuclear testing, just as much so as any other citizen probably in this country, but why just take a small group of 30 people and make them pay the price, make them make the sacrifice. If we're committed to it as a nation, let's stop all political relations with France and let's stop trading with them.". Susan Piggott is to retire from training at the end of the season after eight years at the helm in Newmarket.

Reduced to a stable strength of 10, she plans to assist her son-in-law and daughter William and Maureen Haggas after sending out her final runners, probably in the autumn. Mrs Piggott, who was assistant to her father, Sam Armstrong, before becoming a bloodstock agent, took over the training licence from her husband, Lester, on his imprisonment. Her biggest win was with Nicholas in a German Group Two race.. Racing GREG WOOD In an age when we like our sporting heroes brash and flamboyant, Saeed bin Suroor is an unlikely addition alongside Cantona, Agassi and Gazza.