The stork cometh

A visiting stork causes great excitement, but no babies, and a cold spring holds the farm back

My favourite painting Lady Caroline Percy

Ancient Rome: Agrippina Landing with the Ashes of Germanicus by Turner

If music be the food of love

The summer opera season of picnics and Puccini is upon us. Henrietta Bredin advises how best to enjoy this year’s offerings

When it all goes pear-shaped

Not to be confused with cider, the art of perry-making is more than a craft–it’s an English passion. Ben Lerwill meets some of our best producers of fermented pear juice

I vow to thee, my 'very stinking herb'

Having trodden the fine line between love and hate, Tom Parker Bowles finds that what once tasted vile is now sweetly seductive: yes, he has fallen in lust with coriander

Slowly does it

Oxleaze Farm, near Lechlade, Gloucestershire The home of Mr and Mrs Charles Mann | The making of this Cotswold garden has taken place bit by bit, as time and circumstances have allowed, and the results are immensely satisfying, says Kendra Wilson

Turning fantasy into reality

What do hotels have to teach us about designing a bedroom?

Putting the house in order

Having vowed to ‘commit more fishing’ this year, our correspondent plunges into his gallimaufry of flies and collection of good-luck charms in an attempt to restore a semblance of order to his tackle room

Quintessential Cotswolds

The market in this delightful corner of England is as robust as ever

Get set

From Daylesford Organic to the Soho Farmhouse, western England’s AONB still seems like the place to be

For whom the fairy bells toll

Sometimes unfairly dismissed as ugly, edible wood sorrel, once known as fairy bells, is not only blessed with pretty white flowers, it’s also capable of predicting rain, says John Wright

The world's my oyster

On the 150th anniversary of the death of British explorer David Livingstone, Ben Lerwill asks why intrepid British men and women have long been–and still are–fond of venturing to the farthest corners of the globe

Tell me when the whistle blows

As Elton John’s Rocket Records celebrates its 50th anniversary, Steve Sutherland remembers the very boozy launch party, held in the unlikely, but charming Cotswolds setting of Moreton-in-Marsh

A nursery of inventions

7, Park Street, Cirencester, Gloucestershire | A Cotswold townhouse echoes the remarkable career of its restorer and creator, Rory Young. Alan Powers reflects on his influence and enthusiasms as embodied here

'What makes me happy is a project'

The nonagenarian writer on a brush with the Almighty and Harold Pinter as critic

All's wool that ends wool

From warm cloaks for the Roman army to many handsome churches, much of England’s might and wealth once rested on the back of the Cotswold sheep’s ‘golden fleece’, says Charles Harris

My heart is in the Highlands

Edwin Landseer’s visit to the Duchess of Bedford’s retreat in Badenoch sparked a passion for the Highlands that led to his best work and created a romantic vision of Scotland, finds Mary Miers

Unexpected baggage

THE definition of a guilt trip, courtesy of that great knower-of-all-things, Mr Google, is intentionally to manipulate another person to feel guilty about something they may (or may not) have done. But what about the guilt trip that is 100% your own fault and involves overseas travel?

Best of British

From Scotland to Cornwall, Britain’s bounds are bursting with new hotel openings. Friends of COUNTRY LIFE wax lyrical about some of their favourites

Ready when you are

WE gardeners are used to taking every measure available to us when sowing seeds. We study the back of seed packets, listen to the weather forecast, check a phone app, stare at the sky; tea leaves may even be read in the search for optimal sowing.

Who will wear the Badminton crown?

Badminton Horse Trials, which takes place on the weekend of the coronation, has long been associated with the Royal Family. Kate Green previews this year’s special event

Conquering the goddess of the sky

Seventy years ago, on the eve of the Queen’s coronation, Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reached the summit of Everest. Octavia Pollock considers the legacy of their achievement and what it meant for British mountaineering

New farmers on the medieval block

The ancient strip-farming methods pioneered in the Middle Ages are alive and kicking–and as effective as ever–in the north Nottinghamshire village of Laxton, as Ivo Dawnay discovers

Toast with a corona

Bolivar thinks the perfect way to celebrate a coronation is with a fine cigar

Fit for a king

Short of acquiring a royal palace, there is ‘nothing of this grandeur or provenance so close to central London’

Marks of distinction

The garden at Tichborne House, Tichborne, Hampshire The home of Mrs Anthony Loudon | Contemporary hedging and naturalistic planting echo the ancient field patterns and hedgerows in the brilliant remaking of this historic garden, says Tiffany Daneff

A lake for all seasons

Lake Como has been a popular summer-holiday destination since antiquity, but it’s increasingly worth holding off for autumn, when the crowds disappear and foraging begins, says Rosie Paterson

The king of collections

The Royal Collection, a record of our monarchs’ personal tastes over 500 years, is one of the last great European assemblages to remain intact, says Huon Mallalieu

A weekend to remember

You’ve already seen Big Ben and the Natural History Museum–so what next? Jo Rodgers describes her dream long weekend in London

The Regency reinvented

Great House, Dedham, Essex The home of Michael and Lucy Archer | In the first major work of his career, the architect Raymond Erith subtly transformed the Regency idiom to create a design poised between past and present, as Alan Powers explains