CATEGORIES
Easy treesy
EVERYONE should plant an arboretum. It doesn’t have to be a big one, but you should do it all the same. Start by planting a tree. Just one.
A quieter way of gardening
The Chain, Abergavenny, Monmouthshire The family home of Sarah Price Close artistic observation combined with a deep horticultural intelligence has made Sarah Price one of the finest garden designers today. Tilly Ware visits her at home, where she is experimenting to magical effect
Wonderlands
The sale of almost 10,000 acres of Northumberland leads the market this week
Fruits of the loom
The Inchbald School of Design and Veedon Fleece teach students the beauty of bespoke by inviting them to design their own carpets, finds Amelia Thorpe
Rebels and romantics with a cause
The traditional costume of the Scottish clans and later synonymous with punk, tartan has had an extraordinary journey. Mary Miers explores the world's most famous pattern
View to a thrill
No garden has left Alan Titchmarsh as impressed by the quality of its cultivation and overwhelmed by the sheer joy of its location as that of the Minack Theatre, carved out of a cliff at Porthcurno, Cornwall
The perfect 10
The tantalising tail streamers of the swallow, the musical tumble of the skylark, swirling skies darkened by starlings: Stephen Moss shares the 10 birds we must spot in a lifetime
For succour and relief
Royal Hospital Chelsea, London SW3, part I Managed by the Board of Commissioners of Royal Hospital Chelsea This year is the 300th anniversary of the death of Sir Christopher Wren. In the first of two articles, Roger Bowdler revisits one of his most celebrated creations
To the end of Wales
Another extreme point of Britain is ticked off with a trip to the end of the Llŷn Peninsula
Rule 'chaos' puts shoots at risk
MORE than 200 English shoots are fearing for their futures after a ‘chaotic’ decision to change licensing laws was implemented in a bid to combat avian flu.
What makes a great garden designer?
IN the pantheon of great garden designers, the name of Russell Page looms large
A dream fulfilled at last
The gardens of Mounton House, Chepstow, Monmouthshire Henry Avray Tipping’s masterwork, into which he poured his vast inheritance, would have gone the way of so many Edwardian gardens had it not been for its new owners, who had the brilliant idea of asking the designer Arne Maynard to bring it back to life. Helena Gerrish tells the story
Slim, rich and famous
One of the most famous photographers of the 20th century, Slim Aarons captured the post-war jet set, but his images belie a desire to document
The best master of Italy
As we celebrate the quincentenary of Perugino, the artist who set the stage for the Renaissance, Mary Miers explores the beauty of the region in which he lived and worked
Trailing clouds of glory
The romantic appeal of the past hums through three historic country houses
The designer's room
Lucy Cunningham used a rich mix of patterns in a palette of blues to create a comfortable living room at this riverside house near Marlow
Finally meeting my Waterloo
As commuters dash to catch their train home from south London and lovers meet under its giant clock, Julie Harding explores Waterloo–Britain’s busiest railway station–on the eve of its 175th anniversary
Open all hours
‘If we don’t have it, you don’t need it’: an Aladdin’s cave of useful items, the local hardware store is the shop that time forgot
Their way to heaven
One hundred years ago, a utopian community of artists, farmers and thinkers sought ‘a country life worth living’ in the heart of West Sussex
Nature's towers of strength
The world’s strongest people have nothing on the horned dung beetle, which can tow the equivalent of six double-decker buses, or the golden eagle, with a grip that could burst a car tyre
Hay, good looking
Sweating under the heat of the June sun, John LewisStempel helps his former neighbour Ian–with the aid of a Massey 135–to gather in hay bales before the rain falls
Sprung from the earth
The reconstruction of a Romano-British villa at The Newt, Somerset, has prompted a wonderful experiment in living archaeology. Bronwen Riley steps into the past
Oh, what a circus
The idea of misused patriotism is the theme of an intelligent play that features Putin’s rise to power and Giffords is still the best circus in town
A colourful life through a lens
Suffragette and groundbreaking photographer Madame Yevonde was as adept at capturing COUNTRY LIFE Frontispiece subjects as she was at creating conceptual art with high-society models sporting rubber-snake headdresses, says Lucinda Gosling
Why treasure is a universal word
The new Treasure House fair carries the hopes of the art and antiques market
Keeping the faith
The garden at Stonor Park, Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire The home of Lord and Lady Camoys: From their first mention in the late 14th century, the gardens of Stonor Park have gone through as many ups and downs as the family that still lives there. Today, after decades of careful work, they are in top form, finds James Alexander-Sinclair
Pearls of wisdom
Pearls of wisdom What Jackie Kennedy’s $35 necklace tells us about price and value
Legend of his time
Jacky Ickx won the 24 Hours of Le Mans six times between 1969 and 1982. As the gruelling endurance race turns 100, Simon de Burton talks to ‘Monsieur Le Mans’ and finds that motorsport wasn’t the first career choice for the famous driver
Let it go to your head
As supple as an Olympic gymnast and as uncrushable as the bulldog spirit, the Panama hat has long been a staple of the British gentleman’s summer attire, says Harry Pearson
Life, the universe and everything
Does the meaning of life hide in our mystical relationship with our world, as captured by the cave art of prehistoric men, asks Robin Hanbury-Tenison