Farming on the edge

Adapt or give up? Defra’s new post-Brexit payment schemes for farmers seem to offer both hope and dismay. Julie Harding talks to farming leaders about their concerns for the future

In search of desirable residences

New housing is one of the great issues of the present moment. Roger White looks at the example of Dorset, where he lives, and tries to draw some lessons from recent development there

The Chiswick House Camellias by William Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire

CHISWICK HOUSE holds a significant place in British architectural history as the former home of Richard Boyle, the 3rd Earl of Burlington, 18th-century Palladianism's chief advocate.

State of the Arts

London and the South of England have long been the primary beneficiaries of Arts funding, but is the Government’s latest plan to level up’ actually doing the opposite? Claire Jackson investigates

On the market

London's markets—selling all manner of goods from livestock in the east to lavender in the south-west—used to be ubiquitous. Patrick Galbraith visits the ones still soldiering on

Another brick in the wall

In the first of a new monthly series looking back at the people who helped shape London, Carla Passino discovers that despite his unruffled serenity, not all of Sir Giles Gilbert Scott's designs were met with rapt enthusiasm

LONDON LIFE

Your indispensable guide to the capital

Your zest friend

It may look a little dull compared with other fruit, but the zingy orange was once the preserve of kings and nothing beats its sweet and sharp magic when it comes to brightening up a dreary winter day, says Tom Parker Bowles

In search of sacred places

'Farming as the root of all environmental evil is an increasingly adamantine trope'

Will the real Donatello please stand up?

Sometimes obstreperous, coarse and tricky, Donatello-or Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi-was so outrageously talented he could create ingenious figures in marble, bronze, terracotta or wood, observes Susan Jenkins

Cut and come again

Easily identified by their gnarled silhouettes, pollarded trees can be found all over the country. Charles Quest-Ritson looks into the history and origins of this ancient method of tree management

Bright-bulb moments

Sweeps of spring bulbs scatter the lawns in what appears to be an entirely natural show, but is, in fact, a carefully curated selection that flowers in three distinct phases, says Tilly Ware

Newsman makes the news

The collection of a veteran newspaper man comes to auction, as do a Constable sketch and a newly attributed Palma Vecchio

Rose gold

TWENTY years ago, I wrote two rather hefty books - about roses.

A good investment

Any home will benefit from a beautiful antique rug that has been well restored and is regularly cleaned

Flowers of Scotland

Properties north of the Border offer terrific value, tremendous scenery and a taste of the wilderness. What more could you want?

The winner takes it all

Three properties in East Anglia are fine examples of the wealth and beauty that have characterised the region for centuries

Beam me up

At last, help is at hand for anyone blinded by the byzantine complexity of architectural lighting

Lights fantastic

Amelia Thorpe shines a light on the latest designs

What's in a puppy's name?

It may be time to park Rover and consider something more imaginative, says Jonathan Young

How do I measure up?

Arms, feet, local stones and even barleycorn have all played a part in our bid to quantify the world, discovers Ben Lerwill, as he weighs up the stories behind how units of measurement were standardised

Love on the wing

Their plumage might be breathtaking and their calls haunting, but birds behave much like us when it comes to romance, with some looking for stable relationships and others for casual encounters, finds Stephen Moss

Let's stick together

It shouldn't be a case of farming or the environment

Native breeds: Bagot goat

THE striking Bagot goat has a romantic history, possibly the longest of all British goats.

Romans and reivers

A house built on the site of a Roman fort evokes two periods of the distant past. John Martin Robinson reports on the recent revival of the building, including the award-winning restoration of its stables

New Grub Street

'There are no cheery verbal pen pictures to soften issues arising from the poverty of the protagonists'

This is England

May Hill, with its spectacular views lit by winter sun, has a promise of the spring to come, as in Edward Thomas's account of an epic walk

Spring Moon (Reflected In A Pool) by Ivon Hitchens

Charlotte Mullins comments on Spring Moon

Town & Country

In March 2021, photographer and farmer Amy Bateman began a journey to record the stories of 40 farms in the Lake District and Cumbria. Her travels took her from the Lake District commons to the Solway marshes; seeing isolated farmsteads, unchanged for generations, as well as businesses at the cutting edge of innovation. At a time of profound change in the farming industry, these images and conversations present a visual record of farming in a hostile environment, physically, mentally and financially. An exhibition of the images will begin at the Windermere Jetty Museum, Cumbria, on March 4 and the book can be purchased for £29.90 at www.amybatemanphotography.com

'I was entirely comfortable with risk' – Dame Kate Bingham

The former Vaccine Taskforce chair on pandemic preparedness, dementia and jamming