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The top 10

From grande dames to brand-new boltholes and everything in between, COUNTRY LIFE rounds up the hotels and villas that should be top of your wishlist in 2021

The big picture

THE world’s largest island (home to the world’s largest national park) hit the headlines in 2019 when the 45th US President announced he wanted to buy it. Unfortunately for Donald Trump, the sale didn’t go through (not that the place was ever up for grabs anyway). Fortunately for Greenland, there’s no such thing as bad press.

Through the lens

Wildlife cameraman Bertie Gregory has travelled all over the world in pursuit of the perfect shot. He talks to Rosie Paterson about a few of his favourite moments

Parental guidance

Gap years no longer mean saying goodbye to your offspring for months at a time. Giles Kime jumps on the bandwagon and joins his daughter on her long-haul travels

Murder in the cathedral

Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury, was famously murdered in Canterbury Cathedral exactly 850 years ago. John Goodall revisits this brutal event and considers its consequences

Climbing to new heights

If you don’t want to spend the winter perched up a ladder, consider planting a modern climbing rose, which gives you more flowers for longer from less ground space, advises Charles Quest-Ritson

Go with the tide

Nigel Tisdall falls for northern India aboard a luxury river cruise on the country’s greatest sacred river

An Irish inferno

Between 1919 and 1923, in the War of Independence and the subsequent civil war, nearly 300 country houses were burned in Ireland. To mark the centenary of the events, Terence Dooley re-appraises the motives behind this destruction

Who killed cock robin?

Referred to by Chaucer as ‘Robert redbreast’ and long a cheerful symbol of Christmas, the sweet-songed robin is so combative it will attack its own reflection, reveals Ian Morton

Because You're Mine, I Walk The Line

Crunching across winter stubble on a frosty December morning, John Lewis-Stempel gives thanks for the wildlife sustained by the old millet stalks and endeavors to train his labrador to walk to heel, aided by a handful of cheese

A High Road To Clean Energy

THE path to ending fossil-fuel emissions by 2050 is ‘ambitious and affordable’, according to a report published last week.

Remembrance through rose-tinted glass

Hauntingly beautiful, stained-glass scenes keep the memory of our Fallen alive in glorious technicolour. Andrew Green visits country churches to seek them out

Let's talk turkey

They’re easy to rear, they’re friendly and they needn’t only be for Christmas. Kate Green talks to turkey experts, who explain why we should be eating the heritage breeds

Oh sing, choirs of angels

Loosely translated as ‘when the cock crows at dawn’, Plygain carol services have been held in Welsh churches on Christmas Day since the 13th century, as Aeneas Dennison reports

Riches not measured in coin

The Cathedral of St Mary and St Ethelbert, Hereford This year marks the 700th anniversary of the canonization of Thomas Cantilupe, Bishop of Hereford. John Goodall looks at the story of this building and the way it was shaped by a remarkable figure

Rockin' around the Christmas tree

Bombarded as we are in the preceding weeks, for many, it is the ritual choosing and dressing of the tree that marks the start of Christmas, says Jack Watkins

Born to be wild

Once widespread across the British Isles, there are now fewer than 100 pure Scottish wildcats left. Joe Gibbs considers whether curiosity or interbreeding killed the ‘Highland tiger’

Christmas comes but once a year

And when it does, it (mostly) brings good cheer, although some professions certainly enjoy it more than others

Grace And Flavour: The Best Herbs To Grow

I Recently moved to a new garden; thankfully, it came with a house attached.

The two faces of Magdalene

An assistant emerges from Leonardo’s shadow, a pastel portrait defies its years and potters receive deserved accolades

Our flowers of Scotland

Two substantial estates demonstrate Scotland’s sporting and environmental potential

Remembering the New World

Carolside, The Borders The home of Mr and Mrs Anthony Foyle An enigmatic house on the Scottish Borders yields up unexpected connections with America and shines a light on 18th-century architectural practice, as Roger White explains

Give me one moment in time

Award-winning wildlife photographer Stephen Dalton explains his lifelong love of Nature and why, when it comes to capturing creatures on film, persistence and experimentation pay off

Flights of fantasy

The dodos, parrots and pelicans that grace the pages of our favourite books might seem comical, but they usually have some moral wisdom to share, believes Madeleine Silver

Future proof

The latest materials and technology can create homes of outstanding beauty and comfort

Freeze frame

Bryan’s Ground, Stapleton, Herefordshire Helena Attlee recalls how a fresh fall of snow helped the then new owners of this famous Arts-and-Crafts garden to understand the underlying geometry of the land and so begin the property’s restoration

Crowning glory

Matthew Dennison explores the life of the Dancing Marquess of Anglesey, whose penchant for sparkle led to him owning one of the most magnificent tiaras of all time

All dried out

Already dead and lauded for being so, dried flowers are enjoying a stylish resurgence, discovers Hetty Lintell

Rupert Uloth's Favourite Painting

The Master of the Worshipful Company of Grocers chooses a Cecil Aldin scene that holds family connections for him

Beautiful Britain: Blackdown Hills

Kate Green highlights the quiet charms of one of the least-known West Country AONBs