The sands of time past, present and future

From the reed marsh of the south to the machair of the north, dunes are the UK’s most dynamic landscapes, continually, magically, evolving. They’re also, says Mark Griffiths, much misunderstood and in need of urgent help

Full of broad beans

Once believed to be vessels for the souls of the recently departed, a freshly picked pod with broad beans nestling in their velvety white casing is a seasonal obsession for Tom Parker Bowles

Breath of fresh air

Laura Gascoigne celebrates the neglected genius of Richard Parkes Bonington (1802–28), an English painter of French seascapes who fell between two schools

Beautiful Britain

Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty

Any Fort in a storm

Interesting coastal houses for sale include a formerly piratical home on the Helford, a hidden, creekside recording studio and three Napoleonic-era forts

An Englishman's hut is his castle

From preservers of British modesty to kitsch and unloved relics, our nation’s beach huts are back in vogue.

Malvern Hills

Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty

With your head in the clouds

From cirrus to cumulonimbus, there’s never been a better time to study the clouds skudding across the sky, says Richard Webber, as he discovers more about the man who named them With your head in the clouds

THE CAPITAL ACCORDING TO ... Marine Tanguy

Rosie Paterson talks to the founder of MTArt–an award winning agency for visual artists–and Marylebone resident

Sit back and re-flax

Once a familiar sight throughout Britain, delicate blue flax flowers are once again gracing the fields of the Cotswolds. Jane Wheatley discovers more about the production and many uses of linen

Interiors: The designer's room

Papering the walls and eaves of this guest room with a lively botanical wallpaper has lent it a summery feel

HOME AND HARBOUR

The huge expanse of the London Docklands has become a fashionable residential area. John Goodall considers the history of this area in the natural flood plain of the Thames

Racing sunshine on Cotswold walls

Freda Lewis-Stempel takes to the road to explore one of the most alluring and ancient attributes of the Cotswolds–its 4,000 miles of mellow, dry-stone walls

Fruit sours

WHEN I was at school, there was little worse than being a gooseberry.

Head for the hill

One of London’s most desirable boroughs started life as a small hilltop settlement. Carla Passino delves into the archives of Islington’s past

From source to seniority

The mighty River Thames is a surprisingly gentle affair in its infancy

The Island Of Adventure

With pristine beaches, plenty of wildlife and an Enid Blyton atmosphere, the Benmore estate, on the island of Mull, is the perfect place for a great British holiday

Where the wych elm grows

Fifty years after his death, Jenny Bardwell reflects on the life of Howards End author and King’s College Honorary Fellow E. M. Forster

The chicken and the eggs

Lockdown has made the idea of keeping hens–and harvesting their eggs–even more appealing, but the populations of a surprising number of delightful native breeds are dwindling. Kate Green canvasses expert opinion on rewarding poultry to consider

Rhythms of the Baroque

Le Jardin du Bâtiment, La Vendée, France John Hoyland visits a garden conjured from the imagination of the celebrated conductor and keen gardener William Christie

The designer's room

Interior designer Guy Goodfellow has created an elegant apartment above his Chelsea premises

The Ripple effect

The arrival on the market of three much-loved family houses in the Home Counties bodes well

Hitting the hay

Early one June morning, when the dew has condensed on the grass, John Lewis-Stempel sets off to mow a mini-meadow with the aid of his trusty ‘grim-reaper’ scythe

I compare you to a kiss from a rose

Now that the dog rose is in full bloom, Ian Morton celebrates the climbing briar–embodied by Madame Eglantine in The Canterbury Tales–whose delicate flowers and cherry-red hips have charmed and cured us for centuries

Hot under the collar

In a laundry in Bournemouth, an aged piece of machinery has spun back into action thanks to Downton Abbey and the Edwardian stiff collar’s phoenix-like resurgence. Matthew Dennison discovers the secrets of starching

An escape from politics

Arundells, 59, The Close, Salisbury, Wiltshire Property of the Sir Edward Heath Charitable Foundation An ancient house in the magical setting of Salisbury Cathedral became the home of a former Prime Minister. John Goodall looks at its remarkable story

Music In A Time Of Covid

Music in a time of Covid It’s a case of innovate or go under. From drive-in opera to face-masked players, musical bodies must find a way to keep going during the pandemic, says Claire Jackson

What price perfection?

Cecil Beaton’s cherished Chalke Valley country home and an award-winning Dutch-style house near the West Sussex coast come to the market

The great survivor

Burghley House, Lincolnshire, part II The home of Miranda and Orlando Rock In the second of two articles celebrating the 500th anniversary of the birth of William Cecil, Lord Burghley, Jeremy Musson looks at the 20th- and 21st-century story of the seat he created

Objects of lustre

Mary Miers considers the contribution made to English art by William Nicholson (1872–1949), master of the ‘unassuming sublime’