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Cool, calm and connected

The winners of the Best in Show at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show this year have applied the same rigorous attention to detail in this garden in the Chilterns

The gorgeous Georgians (and a vibrant Victorian)

These heritage homes from the 18th and 19th centuries still have all the looks

A rub of the green

Three astonishing estates in the Emerald Isle, one of which is on an island and one of which includes an island, have come to the market

Grace and favour rooms

It's now possible to dine or even stay overnight in some of our best-loved country houses or in splendour on their estates. Rosie Paterson meets the new lords and ladies of holiday let

Bringing dreams to life

Helen Needham of bespoke oak-frame building specialist Oakwrights, describes how she worked with clients to create their ideal home amid the breathtaking landscape of the Forest of Bowland AONB

Decoration with a capital D

Members of the current generation of US interior decorators are enthusiastic cheerleaders for classic decoration

May I have a word in your shell-like?

Combing the seashore for shells is one of life's greatest pleasures, says Natasha Goodfellow, as she winkles out her favourites and meets an artist for whom molluscs offer endless inspiration

Always reaching for the stars

Dicing with death at dizzying heights, the work of the steeplejack is not for the faint-hearted. Ben Lerwill meets the men at the top of their spires

The master builders of the British countryside

From forest skyscrapers to labyrinthine tunnels and daring underwater bubble rooms, many native creatures engage in precision architecture.

A collector's palace

An outstanding celebration of the Tudor and Stuart worlds has passed another important milestone in its history.

From Adder's Copse to Gallows Down

A quiet part of the North Wessex Downs is redolent with history and wildlife

Self-Portrait as the Allegory of Painting (La Pittura) by Artemisia Gentileschi

Charlotte Mullins comments on Self-Portrait as the Allegory of Painting

You give me cabin fever

AM I the only one to feel a little challenged by the pervasive use of the word ‘porn’ on social-media sites or in book titles?

Out of Andalucía

You don’t have to venture halfway round the world for a good safari, says Sophia Constant, who trials three different horseback adventures in Spain

King of the jungle

In echoes of Rudyard Kipling’s seminal collection of short stories, Rupert Uloth journeys to India and Suján Sher Bagh in search of his own Shere Khan

A real grass act

The great British lawn is a marvel born of our wet weather, gardeners’ determination and the Industrial Revolution. Whether you like it neat and smooth or with daisies poking through, it remains a paragon of beauty, says Steven Desmond

Give a fig

A FIG eaten straight from the hand of the grower in a market on the Greek island of Santorini ruined me for figs for 20 years. So juicy and luscious was that fruit, and the 11 that followed it on that balmy evening, that all others I bought in this country—picked ahead of the glorious ripeness that figs are born to—felt like leather on the tongue.

Crackling with good ideas

Tilly Ware visits Highlands, a relatively new garden surrounding an old house in East Sussex that is thriving in the care of innovative head gardener Chris Brown, who is introducing a rare and wonderful collection of plants Photographs by Mimi Connolly

Bring home the bacon

London’s streets are chockful of independent and alternative food shops. You just have to know where to look, says Emma Hughes, who rounds up some of her favourites

The fickle finger of fate

Once as reviled as he is now revered, John Nash stumbled, rose and fell again. Carla Passino retraces the life of the man with the face of a monkey

A roost for every bird

These properties in our capital will cater to everyone’s tastes

Curious connections

The walls of these storied properties have quite the tales to tell

In the mix

Kit Kemp and her daughter Willow are bringing the dinner table to life

What lies beneath

Minuscule springtails vault at the base of rough grass, ants march robotically to pursue their mission and, at night, female glow worms light the way with their abdomen. John Lewis-Stempel discovers the life in a meadow’s underworld

Sealing the deal

Fishermen might fear their competition, but most of us are enthralled by their huge eyes and eerie calls. Joe Gibbs goes seal-searching and tries to understand why one British species is declining as another thrives

'My sun one early morn did shine'

Whether a fiery blaze or a gentle blush, sunrise brings life, hope and a time to be at one with Nature. Six early risers tell Ben Lerwill what dawn means to them

Secret splendour

No 15, Kensington Palace Gardens, London W8 | After a period of institutional use and abandonment, a house created for a merchant and philanthropist in the 1850s has been turned back into a family home. Clive Aslet reports

A woman of genius

I KNOW people’s tempers from their faces,’ claimed preeminent 18th-century pastel portraitist Rosalba Carriera and images reproduced in Angela Oberer’s engrossing illustrated biography of the artist—the latest in Lund Humphries’s ‘Illuminating Women Artists’ series—testify to her out-of-the-ordinary insight

Weaving her magic

A childhood spent among raspberry bushes sparked Laura Ellen Bacon’s passion for sculpting the massive, organic willow sculptures that now grace some of Britain’s grandest country houses

Stars back in the limelight

Two rediscovered Rembrandt pendant portraits and a work by Sweerts are top lots among the Old Master paintings on offer at Christie’s