CATEGORIES
Polly wants an apple
Ring-necked parakeets have made themselves at home across London and beyond, but how did these birds come to swap tropical climes for our grey shores, asks Claire Jackson
It's party time
From the smartest country estates to the capital’s most glamorous hotels, securing the dream wedding venue should be your first priority
Little England
Lost villages, factory villages, tourist villages, Georgian villages: these pieces of England all have their own story to tell. Archaeologist Ben Robinson chooses his top 10
Lands of plenty
From £2 million to £20 million properties, 2021 was a stellar year for sales of farms and estates
Blasts from the past
Two dealers are remembered at Sworders, through a painting by a limbless artist and a Soviet state dinner service
Something old, something new
Unusual architectural features are having a revival, finds Lucy Denton, from medieval moats to ice houses
The designer's room
A striking copper bath and classically inspired joinery have brought this bathroom to life
Through the mists of time
A history of the past 125 years can be read in COUNTRY LIFE’s thousands upon thousands of property advertisements. Annunciata Elwes dives in
Good sense in spades
For more than a century, COUNTRY LIFE has championed the finest garden writing. Steven Desmond looks back at our unrivalled contributors, from Gertrude Jekyll to Alan Titchmarsh
Born to paint a happier land
Thanks to vast canvases such as The Hay Wain, we might think we already know John Constable’s inimitable style. However, in later life, his work–now on show at the Royal Academy–became more radical and expressive, says Peyton Skipwith
A garden of the imagination
Timothy Mowl celebrates what may be the most atmospheric, the most beautiful and the most intellectual garden in the country, Rousham in Oxfordshire
LET'S START AT THE VERY BEGINNING
The first issue of COUNTRY LIFE was published 125 years ago. Former Editor Clive Aslet takes a look at what was happening in London at the same time
A genteel gatehouse
The Broad Gate, Ludlow, Shropshire The home of Sir Keith and Lady Thomas A 13th-century fortification that defined medieval Ludlow has been transformed into a Georgian townhouse. John Goodall examines its remarkable story and restoration
A digital treasure trove
A hugely ambitious initiative to digitise the contents of the COUNTRY LIFE photographic archive during the magazine’s 125th anniversary year promises to make its riches properly accessible to everyone for the first time. John Goodall reports
Taste the seasons
The joy of seasonal eating is devouring food at its delectable peak, be it butter-drenched asparagus, heather-scented grouse or sticky-toffee-apple pudding. Tom Parker Bowles presents his month-by-month guide to culinary delight the seasons Taste
Withnail & I
A pair of drunken anti-heroes they may be, but Marwood and Withnail struck a chord with students that continues to resonate
Consider plaquettes
A neglected art form takes centre stage at Olympia sales this month
White-hot snow
Carla Passino explores six of the best winter destinations across the world and picks great properties for sale to enjoy life on skis
What a difference a year makes
The country-house market has ridden the wave of this strange year in jubilant form
Talking about a resolution
We make them, we break them, yet, as Felicity Day reveals, our famous forebears –from Pepys to Woolf–were equally as bad at keeping New Year’s resolutions
Shaken, not stirred
Battles, Beatles, Bond and an ancient Egyptian curse–there’s a lot to remember in 2022
Nooks and crannies
NOBODY understands more than a gardener that Nature abhors a vacuum.
Charlotte Mullins comments on Julia, Lady Peel
Julia, Lady Peel by Thomas Lawrence
A story for our times
It is hard to say if Cold Comfort Farm is prophecy or warning
A one-woman show
She was a brilliant observer of boxers, ballet dancers, gypsies, horses, coastlines and women at war. To overlook the vitality of Dame Laura Knight’s work is nothing short of snobbery, argues Ian Collins
Do your ears hang low?
Incorrigible and exasperating, vocal yet always entertaining and seemingly almost human, the basset hound is a force of nature, says devotee Flora Watkins
Ready when you are
With renovations and materials in such high demand, high-spec historic houses, such as these three in Hampshire and West Sussex, should be snapped up
Dearly beloved
Old rectories, parsonages and vicarages we’re glad the Church didn’t hold on to
The designer's room
Interior designer Sarah Brown has created a perfect townmeets-country kitchen in her Chiswick home
A blaze of colour
A great window of heraldic stained glass by A.W.N. Pugin has been restored at Alton Towers in Staffordshire. John Goodall reports on this dazzling project.