You'll Never Walk Alone

Grafham Water is alive with human and avian company

If You Go Down To The Jungle Today

On a trip to Africa’s self-proclaimed safest country, John Goodall finds a Rwanda free from the grip of its turbulent past and comes face-to-face with two of its most astonishing and heavily protected residents

The lands that time forgot

Britain is full of hidden treasures, from haunted forests to flower-filled meadows, secret stone circles and saintly volcanoes. Annunciata Elwes tours 50 lesser-known treasures of this country to tick off in 2021

The sweet taste of success

We’ve all done it: eased the lid from the golden tin, only for a cloud of powdered sugar to erupt over the car. Amazingly, A. L. Simpkin’s sweets have now been our faithful travel companions for 100 years, reports Julie Harding

When Gounod met Georgina

When, 150 years ago, the French composer encountered the voluptuous singing teacher, sparks flew and London and Paris were agog. Henrietta Bredin recounts the tale of their short-lived, but tumultuous relationship

Three cheers for British spuds

FOR a few years now, most of the potatoes I’ve grown have been nutty, early, French salad potatoes.

Looking forward, looking back

In the first of a new monthly series, Amy Jeffs reflects on the medieval pastime of January: feasting with family and friends

Don't try this at home

The five-day office week is a thing of the past. Emma Hughes rounds up the best places to work from, beyond the kitchen table

Given the green light

A new-found love for space, quiet and Nature is driving growth in the prime countryside market

A charming anomaly - Rosebery House, Midlothian The home of Lord Dalmeny

A late-Georgian shooting lodge became the favoured retreat of the Victorian Prime Minister, Lord Rosebery. It escaped ambitious remodelling at his hands and has recently been the object of sympathetic restoration, as John Martin Robinson reports

A blisteringly good border - Aston Pottery, Oxfordshire

Every single one of the 5,000 plants in this 200ft-long annual bed has been sown and raised from seed. Val Bourne discovers the secrets behind this astonishing achievement

If the wig fits

Rugby boys in dresses, bankers in tights, aristocrats in full Mars and Venus regalia: why do we Britons shed all inhibitions in the face of fancy dress, asks Kit Hesketh-Harvey

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