WE are fortunate to live in a golden age of British architecture, interior design, gardening and restoration. Much of this is thanks to a greater depth and breadth of expertise than ever before, which springs from the growing number of ever-more knowledgeable and inventive practitioners offering exciting opportunities to build new houses or bring old properties to life. Increasingly, these projects involve seamlessly blending old and new, creating buildings that combine styles that are not only sympathetic to their setting, but which also meet the growing demands of modern life and of sustainability. It’s a process that is reinventing the way we live, as well as engaging a vast range of ever-evolving skills, from design and craftsmanship to the creation of thermal efficiency in period buildings. COUNTRY LIFE is delighted to present its own selection of practitioners with a demonstrable track record of excellence, as well as the fresh additions bringing new ideas to the fore.
New entries to the Top 100
Berdoulat
Named after the childhood home in southwest France of founder Patrick Williams, who earned his pocket money—and understanding of traditional buildings—by apply- ing lime render to his parents’ 18th-century farmhouse, this company embodies Mr Williams’s passion for restoration and sensitivity to fine craftsmanship.
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Tales as old as time
By appointing writers-in-residence to landscape locations, the National Trust is hoping to spark in us a new engagement with our ancient surroundings, finds Richard Smyth
Do the active farmer test
Farming is a profession, not a lifestyle choice’ and, therefore, the Budget is unfair
Night Thoughts by Howard Hodgkin
Charlotte Mullins comments on Moght Thoughts
SOS: save our wild salmon
Jane Wheatley examines the dire situation facing the king of fish
Into the deep
Beneath the crystal-clear, alien world of water lie the great piscean survivors of the Ice Age. The Lake District is a fish-spotter's paradise, reports John Lewis-Stempel
It's alive!
Living, burping and bubbling fermented masses of flour, yeast and water that spawn countless loaves—Emma Hughes charts the rise and rise) of sourdough starters
There's orange gold in them thar fields
A kitchen staple that is easily taken for granted, the carrot is actually an incredibly tricky customer to cultivate that could reduce a grown man to tears, says Sarah Todd
True blues
I HAVE been planting English bluebells. They grow in their millions in the beechwoods that surround us—but not in our own garden. They are, however, a protected species. The law is clear and uncompromising: ‘It is illegal to dig up bluebells or their bulbs from the wild, or to trade or sell wild bluebell bulbs and seeds.’ I have, therefore, had to buy them from a respectable bulb-merchant.
Oh so hip
Stay the hand that itches to deadhead spent roses and you can enjoy their glittering fruits instead, writes John Hoyland
A best kept secret
Oft-forgotten Rutland, England's smallest county, is a 'Notswold' haven deserving of more attention, finds Nicola Venning
