CATEGORIES

April at a glance

We’re all guilty of ignoring what’s on our doorstep, so we’ve made it easier for you. Here’s what’s happening this month

Come out, wherever you are

THE Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (ALVA) is calling for an extra Bank Holiday this year, in September, after last week’s release of dismal 2020 figures. Over the past 14 months, most visitor sites have been closed for every Bank Holiday and there were 45.4 million total visits to ALVA’s top 294 sites in 2020, down 70% compared with 2019’s 151.3 million.

A green space

GREENWICH PARK, SE10

My Favourite Painting Skye McAlpine

The San Zaccaria Altarpiece (Madonna Enthroned with Child and Saints) by Giovanni Bellini

Around The World In British Plates

It’s often the butt of jokes, but British food’s reach is more global than you might think, reveals Emma Hughes

Their Green And Pleasant Land

From bluebell woods to crystalline lakes and winding river valleys, the countryside in Europe is a joy to behold, reveals Carla Passino

Where Fairy Tales Come True

Buyers on the hunt for history and drama need look no further than Holly Kirkwood’s selection of the finest castles on the market across the world

Very much on song

The reimagined gardens at Nevill Holt, Leicestershire, have stepped into the limelight to offer a powerful overture to the summer opera festival, explains Kendra Wilson

Window on the world

Ceramic artist Saskia Spender reflects on a life of rich experiences across borders

Flame throwers

The trial currently being held at RHS Wisley is testing 100 different crocosmia to see how they perform. Val Bourne reports on its findings to date

In the round

This week, the Royal Albert Hall celebrates its 150th anniversary. With photographs taken during the unnatural quiet of lockdown, John Goodall looks at the remarkable story behind the creation of this world-famous venue

Between sea and sky

James Fisher revels in the history, culture and sheer beauty of Italy’s Amalfi Coast

A celebration of life

Charles Quest-Ritson watches the leaves unfurl in one of spring’s most glorious sights–the reawakening of Japanese maples in all their infinite variety

Let Them Make Furniture

Once the height of fashion among collectors, including George IV, pieces by Marie-Antoinette’s favourite cabinetmaker Jean-Henri Riesener are back in the spotlight, reports Rufus Bird

Gardens Are Like People– Most Don't Age Well

When I was 18 and waiting to go up to the Varsity (as my grandmother called it), I hitchhiked out to Italy in search of all those new excitements that young men hope to experience. Culture, mainly, in my case—the girls were unassailable in those days. It was my first solo trip abroad and I fell deeply in love with Baroque churches, olive landscapes and classical gardens.

Why is a raven like a writing desk?

IF you stand on Horse Guards Parade and look up, you might see a figure surveying St James’s Park from his window, one of the British Army’s heirlooms next to him—the Duke of Wellington’s desk.

Day and night, night and day

The Radio 3 anchors on the values of silence and patience

The female of the species

They may be championed by Sir David Attenborough now, but the first women entomologists had to overcome great prejudice to study insects, reports Ian Morton

Pretty in pink

Only available for a fleeting moment, rose-hued forced rhubarb–grown in the dark and harvested by candlelight in Yorkshire’s ‘tusky triangle’–is an ephemeral vegetable with a muted, yet distinct, lip-smacking tartness.

Sussex secrets

A manor and a villa on the site of a lost mill are two examples of the fine country houses in this home county

The plants are the thing

The garden of the eminent plantsman John d’Arcy, The Old Vicarage, Edington, Wiltshire, is home to an astonishing collection of plants, finds Charles Quest-Ritson

Improving on history

A beautifully preserved Georgian house reveals the influence of pattern books in the practice of English architecture. John Goodall admires its revival and the addition to it of two well-judged new wings

It's simply pure racing

The Cheltenham Festival will be a strangely silent affair, with no Guinness, no Irish punters and no amateurs, but that won’t detract from the quality of racing, which is set to be as illustrious as ever, says Marcus Armytage

Thelwell: more than a one-trick pony

Sixty years after Penelope and Kipper rode into our lives, Alice Wright explores Norman Thelwell’s expert touch in capturing all aspects of country life

The Painting's On The Wall

Once practised by Michelangelo, Raphael and da Vinci, the art of fresco creation has changed little in 1,000 years. Marsha O'Mahony meets the artists following in their footsteps

Taking it on the chin

From how to wear red trousers with aplomb to always ‘going to the loo’, The Chin Dictionary is a self-deprecating and witty guide to being ‘posh’, observes Joe Gibbs

Circles of life

Shrouded in mystery and once believed to replenish themselves magically at night from condensation in the air, spherical dew ponds are often manmade and fed by rainfall, explains Simon Lester

Georgian grace

The late 18th century saw a wealth of fine country houses spring up in the county of Somerset

A minister for all seasons

The Defra Secretary on badgers, Brexit and other burning topics

Affairs of the heart

Romance–as well as scientific and artistic endeavour–was synonymous with Mayfair long before Bridgerton appeared on our screens, discovers Carla Passino