CATEGORIES

Life in Lilliput

In a room in West Sussex, magic is being created from pieces of cardboard, plastic bottles, pen lids, crayons and glue. Mark Palmer meets William Davies, film animator turned miniature-home maker

That'll do, pug

Game and gutsy, you dismiss the jovial little pug as a lapdog at your peril, finds Flora Watkins, although do beware the snoring

The urban village

Once a swathe of bucolic landscape desired by London’s elite, Hackney is now one of the city’s most cosmopolitan and diverse boroughs, finds Carla Passino

THE CAPITAL ACCORDING TO...Jackson Boxer

Rob Crossan talks to the dynamic chef behind Brunswick House Café and Orasay about custard tarts and feeding London’s masses

History and modernity

A house that might have vanished beneath London’s spreading suburbs has been lovingly returned from institutional use and forms the heart of an estate within the capital. John Goodall reports

Dancing in the moonlight

Long thought to influence our behaviour, as well as that of the sea and all flora and fauna, the mystical power of the moon continues to exert a hold on us, observes Jeremy Hobson

Nanny knows best

Norland nannies have cared for the children of the great and good for almost 130 years, but behind the white gloves and starched uniforms lies a most progressive institution, finds Flora Watkins

DIG DEEP

The team behind Europe’s largest construction project is building new tunnels beneath London’s roads every week, but another group is working with them, too. Harry Wallop talks to the Crossrail archaeologists about woolly mammoths and Roman roads

Say Yes To The Old Dress

Our forebears did it out of necessity, but we are returning to their ways out of a desire to preserve the planet for future generations. Claire Jackson investigates the return of our make-do-and-mend mentality

Fortified planting

Noel Kingsbury meets the maker of a remarkable coastal garden that combines the use of native species with more familiar garden plants to great effect

Wee three kings

We are all familiar with the diminutive wren, yet its tiny fellow kinglets the goldcrest and firecrest are, perhaps understandably, often overlooked. Ian Morton studies our smallest birds

The winners are…

For the second year, Historic Houses and COUNTRY LIFE joined forces with Neptune to find great examples of new kitchens in old spaces. Last week, John Sims-Hilditch, co-founder of Neptune, announced the joint winners and a runner-up, all of whom have found highly inventive solutions to the challenge of creating a 21st-century kitchen in a listed building

Beautiful Britain

Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty

At your convenience

It might be the smallest room in the house and the butt of many a joke, but it is surely one of the most revealing. Bronwen Riley investigates the smartest loos in the land

Seeing is believing

Exquisitely crafted from hand-dyed silks and velvets, Anne Tomlin’s uncannily realistic flower pieces possess a beauty that will never fade, discovers Natasha Goodfellow

Finding new purpose

The re-use of architectural materials and elements has a long and surprising history that’s all too easy to overlook, as John Goodall explains

Baroque delights

A major restoration project, winner of a Georgian Group award in 2019, has revived a magnificent house inspired by the architecture of Baroque Rome. John Martin Robinson reports

A work of history

Two homes with substantial stories to tell prepare to hit the market in North Yorkshire and Devon

The Acer Up Our Sleeves

Condemned as a weed tree, the sycamore is blamed for leaves on the line and sticky windscreens, but are we overlooking a pollution-tolerant specimen that plants itself for free, asks Jack Watkins

They Kept The Show On The Road

Frustratingly, the curtain has fallen on stages everywhere, but there have been some valiant efforts to bring entertainment–and a superb new biography of a great playwright

To Italy For The Roses

Gardeners like plants that do well for them and, for the Italians, there is no flower more adored than the rose. They have become connoisseurs, says the rosarian Charles Quest-Ritson, creating some of the finest rose gardens in the world

Deck The Halls With Homegrown Holly

Even on the darkest days, there is always fresh foliage to pick, but plant with winter in mind and you can adorn your house with scented flowers, gleaming leaves and bright berries, says Val Bourne

The long way home

Struck down by Covid-19 earlier this year, Robin Hanbury-Tenison spent five weeks in a coma and was close to death. Now, he is valiantly fundraising for more of the healing hospital gardens he believes helped save him

The Glorious Dead

This year is the centenary of the unveiling of the Whitehall Cenotaph on Armistice Day in 1920. John Goodall explains how this famous monument came into existence and became a fixture in the nation’s consciousness

Treasure island

JW Marriott Maldives

Making a point

The first obelisk to be erected in Europe was a trophy of war. Loyd Grossman considers how these ancient monuments came to be understood and became the mark of every great city

March of the ants

Insects are seldom loved and are often loathed, feared or disregarded, but they are an integral part of our ecosystem. In an extract from his new book, Framing Nature, Laurence Rose joins the effort to save the narrow-headed ant

Changing views

Environmental art is all the rage, but, for landscape painters, it was never out of fashion. Laura Gascoigne finds out why

Away with the fairies

One hundred years ago, two girls convinced the world they had photographed fairies at the bottom of their garden. However did they get away with it, asks Richard Sugg

Let's Drink To The Château D'yquem Of Apples

A Visit to a well-organised apple store in November is always a wonderful experience. The early eaters that, although lovely, will not keep, are a distant memory. We now see before us those sterling kinds that ripen on the tree in October, but whose flavour and texture will improve with proper storage—cool, dark, frost-free— and will keep in good order until at least the following March.