CATEGORIES
Scent to try us
Lithe, opportunistic and with a predilection for poultry, these elusive, often pocketsized predators have long raised a stink for farmers and gamekeepers, but not all of them deserve such an otterly bad rap, believes John Lewis-Stempel
ENGLISH HOMES OLD & NEW
Each month of this 125th-anniversary year, COUNTRY LIFE describes a period in the development of the English great house. In the seventh of this 12-part series, John Goodall looks at the mid-Georgian world
The king's invention
Many monarchs of the Enlightenment showed an active interest in architecture. Inspired by a new facsimile of royal drawings from Sweden, Clive Aslet looks at the designs of Gustavus III
What lies beneath
The UK's seagrass meadows are an important wildlife habitat and fundamental to combating climate change, but they're disappearing at a rapid rate. Jack Watkins finds out more about the ongoing fight to save them
Thinking big, thinking Wagnerian
With the summer country-house-opera season in full swing, delightful Longborough Festival Opera in the Cotswolds is distinguished for the ambition of its programming. Henrietta Bredin reports
Urban streams
The need for clean water in 19th-century Britain led to a new and magnificent genre of street furniture. Kathryn Ferry examines the drinking fountain
Oh , Mr Porter
WHAT I like about film work is that it is constructive. You're building up a character all the time,' Will W Hay once explained.
How to be more dog
The sports commentator and labrador owner on a startling rise to fame
Small by name, but not by nature
Five smallholders tell Julie Harding about their journey towards self-sufficiency
Rocks of ages: how Hadrian's legacy lives on
What once kept out hordes of bloodthirsty warriors is, nearly 2,000 years later, barely proof against the most timid of sheep. But if Hadrian's Wall is now low on stature, it remains high on atmosphere, finds Harry Pearson
In the book club
The Roxburghe Club is the oldest existing society of bibliophiles in the world and one of the most exclusive. Bronwen Riley finds out what it takes to be one of its mere 40-strong membership
How terribly English
New playwright Steven Moffat may be the natural successor to Alan Ayckbourn and Anupama Chandrasekhar's work sheds light on Gandhi's assassin
How green is their valley
The garden of Low Crag, Cumbria The home of Mr and Mrs Chris Dodd A thoughtful approach to gardening has brought about a great increase in the population of birds and animal life in this two-acre plot, discovers George Plumptre
Hedgerow Trees
BRITISH photography in the middle of the 19th century was headed by gentleman amateurs, inspired by the patenting in 1841 of William Fox Talbot’s calotype processing method to seek suitable subjects for picture-taking.
Homegrown heroes
Reports of the death of the British ceramics industry are premature
Come what blooms
The new head gardener at Knepp in West Sussex talks to Flora Watkins about a different direction for the rewilding pioneers-and why gardeners need to unclench
Head for the farm
More and more travellers are abandoning traditional holidays in favour of staying on a working farm. Rosie Paterson investigates why and where to find the best
Don't you forget about me
As blue as the eyes of the Virgin Mary, the unassuming forget-me-not stars in tales of romance, Remembrance and politics, finds Ian Morton
An Englishman's home is his castle
Two landmark properties, Gilling Castle in North Yorkshire and a Cotswold manor farmhouse where the remains of a Norman motte and bailey can still be seen, come to market
'A partly real, partly dream country'
Thomas Hardy's depictions of a fictional Wessex and his own dear Dorset are more accurate than they may at first appear, says Susan Owens
The brilliance of Thomas Telford
His legacy is the Shropshire Union Canal, a feat of engineering and a delight to walk beside
An ideal manor house
Mapperton House, Dorset The home of the Viscount and Viscountess Hinchingbrooke. Fresh research reveals more about the history of one of our most celebrated manor houses and its magnificent gardens, finds Timothy Conno
The slug of the Baskervilles
Prowl the wilds of Dartmoor at night and you just might stumble upon our largest land slug
With fairy shoes in every flower
It might be common and unremarkable, but the deadnettle has been a powerful and effective country remedy for centuries, discovers Ian Morton
Walk on the wild side
The garden at Kestle Barton Gallery, near Helford, Cornwall. Caroline Donald visits a garden that marries an award-winning art gallery with a landscape of creeks and fields
Furniture with a future
Antique shops, auctioneers houses are full of furniture that is hundreds of years old. Yet much of what is made today won't last for more than a decade or two. Arabella Youens asks five designers what they regard as the secret to creating designs that will last for generations and historic
To have and to hold
Finding himself at a loose end, woodsman John Williamson decided to revive the lost art of Devon stave-basket-making using old museum transcripts.
Fishing in troubled waters
Few of us give much thought to how our fish gets to the supermarket, but the life of a small-scale fisherman is becoming ever more unpredictable and dangerous
Et in Arcadia ego
Manors in and around 'the great paradise of England'-Somerset's Vale of Taunton Deane
'Just William' stories
William Brown is the boy who is forever 11 years old.