CATEGORIES

Better by design

A house built of Beer stone in Devon has commanding views, as do a cleverly converted Chilterns farmhouse and a Scandinavian style property in prime Shires hunting country

Friends for life

I DON’T accept the old adage ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover’. I buy books I already own when I see a new edition with a wonderful cover. Then there is the title.

ENGLISH HOMES OLD & NEW Part 2 Lancastrian and Yorkist 1400–85

Each month of this 125th anniversary year, COUNTRY LIFE will illustrate a period in the development of the English great house, from the Middle Ages to the present day. This week, John Goodall looks at the 15th-century home

A lack of common knowledge

Enshrined in law since 1215, commoners’ rights allow the unrestricted grazing of all sorts of livestock–including ducks–that learn to ‘heft’ or ‘lear’ to the land in an ancient farming system that’s now under threat, says Octavia Pollock

A brush with history

A family in Wiltshire has built a 100-year-old empire on brushes for sweeping, scrubbing, cooking and construction, finds Julie Harding

Through the glass starkly

Swamping a building with natural light can create more problems than it solves

St George's, Bloomsbury

IT may seem a contrarian’s choice to pick St George’s, Bloomsbury, London W1, as Nicholas Hawksmoor’s masterpiece ahead of his East End wonder, Christ Church, Spitalfields. The latter, the subject of a high-profile conservation campaign in the 1980s, has been variously described by architectural writers as ‘the grandest’, ‘most stirring’ or ‘stupendous’ of Hawksmoor’s creations.

Lend me your ear(wig)

Once believed to be adept at entering our ears so as to lay eggs in the brain, sending us mad, no creature was more unfairly condemned by its name than the earwig, laments Ian Morton

Seed funding

PEOPLE don’t grow plants from seed as much as they used to. It’s a pity, because this form of propagation is a good way to stock a large garden on the cheap.

Over the hills and far away

Beatrix Potter transcended a lugubrious childhood to emerge as a highly original writer and illustrator, whose cherished characters– inspired by the Nature around her–have more than stood the test of time, believes Matthew Dennison

Nature and food– how to have it all

Caring for the natural environment and food production are not binary activities, says Jamie Blackett, who presents the findings of his research on a thorny subject, the current ‘rewilding’ zeitgeist

International velvet

First woven in Damascus in the late 7th century, sumptuously sensual velvet has long been a trapping of prestige, indulgence and luxury, says Michael Montagu

High art, low behaviour

Works from a roguish 18th-century MP’s Dorset estate far exceed expectations at Lawrences of Crewkerne

Candles in the wind

Eremurus, also known as desert candles and foxtail lilies, make a wonderful show and are easy to grow if you give them the right conditions, says John Hoyland

Beauty needs vigilance

The Chilterns retains a gentle charm, despite the proximity of motorways and HS2

Who is Maris Piper?

If you ever wondered exactly why those potatoes are called Maris Piper and how Aston Martin came by its ‘DB’ model prefix, Eleanor Doughty has all the answers

There's gold in them there hills

From Scottish kings to political protest, there’s more to Muswell Hill than its height, finds Carla Passino

The Thirty-Nine Steps

Britain’s greatest masterpieces

The little master

One-hundred-and-fifty years after the painter’s birth, Jack Watkins considers the artistic endeavours of Sir William Nicholson, best known as the father of abstract artist Ben Nicholson, but whose work displays a satisfying warmth, mastery of technique and an old-school, painterly finish

Take the inside out

Outdoor fireplaces are an increasingly popular way to cosy up your garden. Eleanor Doughty gets to the hearth of the matter

Pride of place

Two country houses with a fascinating history and beautiful surroundings have flourished after careful restoration by their current owners

Fancy is as fancy does

Originally known as ‘pudels’ or ‘puddles’, curly-coated standard poodles were first bred in Germany to retrieve game from water and, as Matthew Dennison discovers, some still cut a typically stylish dash in the field

Creating the Cambridge college

In the first of two articles, John Goodall looks at the early history of the college that helped defined the tradition of academic architecture in Cambridge

HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT

Many will have wondered what lies behind the huge windows of the Victorian-era studios on one of London’s busiest roads. Rosie Paterson takes a peek

Blooming lovely

Seize the moment to plant a lilac–the scent of their generous flowers is more than enough reason why every garden should have one or, ideally, several, believes Charles Quest-Ritson

Under the Tuscan sun

In contrast with the arid landscape of the Val d’Orcia, the exuberant gardens created by Cecil Pinsent for the writer Iris Origo at La Foce, Tuscany, Italy, are all the more astonishing

The main attraction

The Greek islands have been a go-to holiday destination for decades, but what about the mythical and sometimes misunderstood mainland?

Plaster of paradise

Recent restoration and revival offers the perfect opportunity for a reappraisal of this house and its magnificent plasterwork interiors.

Through the looking glass

On a bleak January day, John Lewis-Stempel boards a train from London to Herefordshire and admires the wealth of wildlife on view through the carriage window

The women shaping a new countryside

Throughout history, formidable women such as Cleopatra and Lady Eve Balfour did much to nurture the land. Camilla Akers-Douglas talks to four present-day matriarchs who are helping to boost the rural economy in very different ways