CATEGORIES
Pie say!
Today's baked goods pale in comparison to a Georgian festive speciality, says food historian Neil Buttery, as he lifts the lid on the Yorkshire Christmas Pye.
Now that packs a punch
Today's punch might be an insipid fruit cocktail best left to students, but Charles Dickens and George IV knew how to conjure heady pleasures from their five key ingredients, says Lucien de Guise
First out of the lychgate
There are few things more romantic than a gabled lychgate leading to a charming church, says Jack Watkins, despite their funereal and functional purpose
Worth its weight in gold
Myrrh isn't only an expensive motif of mortality, a potent analgesic and an Ancient Egyptian mouthwash, it's also associated with untamed lust and sensuality, discovers Deborah Nicholls-Lee
Beauty by numbers
What do spiders' webs, snowflakes and snail shells have in common? They all contain fractals: Nature's exquisite, endlessly repeating mathematical pattern. Deborah Nicholls-Lee unpicks their complex geometry
Hardy and the country house
With the help of specially commissioned drawings by Matthew Rice, Jeremy Musson considers the abiding presence of the stone-built manor house in the stories of Thomas Hardy
A little mite with a mighty heart
Shy yet bold, furtive yet fearless and fond of nesting in your trousers, the tiny Jenny wren' has a lusty voice that matches its sense of adventure, observes Mark Cocker
The master builder
Harald Altmaier's photographs of floral tableaux, as colossal in effort as in scale, recall 17th-century Dutch still lifes, but the inspiration behind them is far wider, as Carla Passino finds.
The legacy
THE 'Carols for Choirs' series 'changed the whole sound of Christmas for everybody who sings,' according to the composer and choral conductor Sir John Rutter.
Tales as old as time
By appointing writers-in-residence to landscape locations, the National Trust is hoping to spark in us a new engagement with our ancient surroundings, finds Richard Smyth
Do the active farmer test
Farming is a profession, not a lifestyle choice’ and, therefore, the Budget is unfair
Night Thoughts by Howard Hodgkin
Charlotte Mullins comments on Moght Thoughts
SOS: save our wild salmon
Jane Wheatley examines the dire situation facing the king of fish
Into the deep
Beneath the crystal-clear, alien world of water lie the great piscean survivors of the Ice Age. The Lake District is a fish-spotter's paradise, reports John Lewis-Stempel
It's alive!
Living, burping and bubbling fermented masses of flour, yeast and water that spawn countless loaves—Emma Hughes charts the rise and rise) of sourdough starters
There's orange gold in them thar fields
A kitchen staple that is easily taken for granted, the carrot is actually an incredibly tricky customer to cultivate that could reduce a grown man to tears, says Sarah Todd
True blues
I HAVE been planting English bluebells. They grow in their millions in the beechwoods that surround us—but not in our own garden. They are, however, a protected species. The law is clear and uncompromising: ‘It is illegal to dig up bluebells or their bulbs from the wild, or to trade or sell wild bluebell bulbs and seeds.’ I have, therefore, had to buy them from a respectable bulb-merchant.
Oh so hip
Stay the hand that itches to deadhead spent roses and you can enjoy their glittering fruits instead, writes John Hoyland
A best kept secret
Oft-forgotten Rutland, England's smallest county, is a 'Notswold' haven deserving of more attention, finds Nicola Venning
Rising supreme: the housethat stayed the course
A medieval manor in Derbyshire survives the building of a 'new hall' and two ancient Wiltshire properties reflect the care and innovation of successive families
The decorated bathroom
Make your bathroom feel more like your sitting room, says Flora Soames
The designer's room
Sims Hilditch has created a cosseting space for a family to relax after a day on the sea
It's only natural
Striking the perfect balance between beautiful and useful, Arcana's heirloom textiles are designed to deepen our connection with Nature, finds Julie Harding
All toggled up
The thermoregulating duffle coat—both a seafarers’ favourite and a sartorial symbol of bohemian intellectualism—is perhaps most famously sported by a certain Peruvian bear with a penchant for marmalade, finds Russell Higham
Another door opens
Whether they contain traditional Christmas scenes, child-pleasing chocolates or deeply decadent beauty treats, Advent calendars ensure the first flutters of anticipation for the festivities, says Flora Watkins
Hybrids of hope
Once the hallmark of a rural idyll, our English elms were almost eradicated by a devastating fungal disease, but a new cultivation aims to secure their survival, finds Andrew Martin
A feast fit for a king
Be it turtle soup or epic, six-course lunches, the Royal Family has long enjoyed superb food. Yet, as Tom Parker Bowles explores in his latest book, the current King and Queen's tastes are far more down to earth
By royal appointment
Forget social-media followers, being appointed a Royal Warrant holder is still the highest form of accolade and influence, says Katy Birchall, as she meets those whose wares have recently been afforded The King and Queen's seal of approval
Princely re-creation - Apethorpe Palace, Northamptonshire, part I A seat of Baron and Baroness von Pfetten
In the first of two articles, Jeremy Musson celebrates the spectacular renewal of one of England's great Jacobean houses
Kitchen garden cook - Apples
'Sweet and crisp, apples are the epitome of autumn flavour'