CATEGORIES

The American way

The collection of a successful and sophisticated couple lit up Sotheby's New York, with paintings, torchères and a Tiffany chandelier

Homing instincts

Before artist and gardener Cedric Morris died, he had wisely appointed a plant executor to ensure his precious plants went to good homes. Without such foresight, many gems might have been lost, says Christopher Woodward, director of the Garden Museum in Lambeth

Many rooms with a view

Three homes have received new life thanks to some sensitive and extensive renovations

Lessons from the past

On June 13 at Design Centre, Chelsea Harbour, two leading interior designers will share the enduring design principles that never go out of date

Will the hot tub lose its fizz?

Why the outdoor bath offers a more discreet, less expensive alternative

Gnome alone

Vertically challenged, bearded and rosy-cheeked, cheerful gnomes might make for unlikely cover stars, but-says Ben Lerwill-they've long graced books, album covers and even The Queen's private garden

When I am feeling blue

With a cobalt cap, white cheeks and tiny wings, the blue tit might be a picture of songbird sweetness, but its morals leave much to be desired, says Stephen Moss

Here's looking at you, kid

What pygmy goats lack in size they more than make up for in personality, says Julie Harding, who meets the owners who have fallen for their charms

Baronial dreams

Castle Drogo, Devon, part I A property of the National Trust In the first of two articles, Clive Aslet reveals how a fascination with ancestry encouraged a wealthy Edwardian businessman to enlist the help of Sir Edwin Lutyens to build a new castle

Let's celebrate gardening

WHAT is the point of the Chelsea Flower Show? Is it a highlight of the social calendar and the start of the Season?

Delightful delphiniums

We may not all be able to grow show quality delphiniums, but even in ordinary gardens these statuesque plants still turn heads, says John Hoyland

Time to sit and stare

The West Sussex home of Harriet Anstruther and Henry Bourne Non Morris discovers a garden that has been brilliantly designed to make you want to stop and simply enjoy its loveliness

The impossible made possible

Kathryn Bradley-Hole anticipates a confident return to form at Chelsea, with mouth-watering designs for productive gardens, aromatic Mediterranean planting and even a reinterpretation of the rock garden

The stork cometh

A visiting stork causes great excitement, but no babies, and a cold spring holds the farm back

My favourite painting Lady Caroline Percy

Ancient Rome: Agrippina Landing with the Ashes of Germanicus by Turner

If music be the food of love

The summer opera season of picnics and Puccini is upon us. Henrietta Bredin advises how best to enjoy this year’s offerings

When it all goes pear-shaped

Not to be confused with cider, the art of perry-making is more than a craft–it’s an English passion. Ben Lerwill meets some of our best producers of fermented pear juice

I vow to thee, my 'very stinking herb'

Having trodden the fine line between love and hate, Tom Parker Bowles finds that what once tasted vile is now sweetly seductive: yes, he has fallen in lust with coriander

Slowly does it

Oxleaze Farm, near Lechlade, Gloucestershire The home of Mr and Mrs Charles Mann | The making of this Cotswold garden has taken place bit by bit, as time and circumstances have allowed, and the results are immensely satisfying, says Kendra Wilson

Turning fantasy into reality

What do hotels have to teach us about designing a bedroom?

Putting the house in order

Having vowed to ‘commit more fishing’ this year, our correspondent plunges into his gallimaufry of flies and collection of good-luck charms in an attempt to restore a semblance of order to his tackle room

Quintessential Cotswolds

The market in this delightful corner of England is as robust as ever

Get set

From Daylesford Organic to the Soho Farmhouse, western England’s AONB still seems like the place to be

For whom the fairy bells toll

Sometimes unfairly dismissed as ugly, edible wood sorrel, once known as fairy bells, is not only blessed with pretty white flowers, it’s also capable of predicting rain, says John Wright

The world's my oyster

On the 150th anniversary of the death of British explorer David Livingstone, Ben Lerwill asks why intrepid British men and women have long been–and still are–fond of venturing to the farthest corners of the globe

Tell me when the whistle blows

As Elton John’s Rocket Records celebrates its 50th anniversary, Steve Sutherland remembers the very boozy launch party, held in the unlikely, but charming Cotswolds setting of Moreton-in-Marsh

A nursery of inventions

7, Park Street, Cirencester, Gloucestershire | A Cotswold townhouse echoes the remarkable career of its restorer and creator, Rory Young. Alan Powers reflects on his influence and enthusiasms as embodied here

'What makes me happy is a project'

The nonagenarian writer on a brush with the Almighty and Harold Pinter as critic

All's wool that ends wool

From warm cloaks for the Roman army to many handsome churches, much of England’s might and wealth once rested on the back of the Cotswold sheep’s ‘golden fleece’, says Charles Harris

My heart is in the Highlands

Edwin Landseer’s visit to the Duchess of Bedford’s retreat in Badenoch sparked a passion for the Highlands that led to his best work and created a romantic vision of Scotland, finds Mary Miers