CATEGORIES

Ripe for the picking

On a hazy September morning in Herefordshire, John Lewis-Stempel plucks haversacks full of Worcester Pearmains from the orchard and reverts to childhood by climbing up to sit in the top of an ancient tree

Culinary capers

The latest looks in kitchens, chosen by Amelia Thorpe

Those Magnificent Flying Machines

Outnumbered yet never outfought, The Few buckled on their Spitfires and rode into the Battle of Britain like knights on their chargers. Eighty years on, their true memorial is the freedom in the air we breathe, eulogises John Lewis-Stempel

To boldly go...

Confident colour blocking of single species creates a garden that is a joy to explore, says Tiffany Daneff

The frontier man

The writer and broadcaster on dogs with film presence and the lockdown recording process

Shine bright like a diamond

If Nerine sarniensis is the diamond or jewel lily, then Nicholas de Rothschild’s purpose-built glasshouse is the best place to see it in all its shimmering glory

Shoo fly, don't bother me

Houseflies carry cholera and anthrax, have been used as military weapons and are generally irritating, laments Ian Morton–but do they hold the secret to eternal youth?

Packing a punch

Suffolk was once the wealthiest county in the nation and its landowners cut no corners when it came to their homes

Letters from Hillside

In the final part of our quarterly series, Dan Pearson describes making the wildflower meadow at his Somerset home

Horticultural ecstasies

In the garden

Everything and the kitchen sink

Sodden potatoes and paperwork are forgotten in a glorious return to the river

As clear as mud

From Neolithic pottery to a child’s tiny Tudor shoe, the foreshore of the Thames offers all sorts of fascinating finds for intrepid mudlarkers

A decorative autobiography

The restoration of an estate building by Vanbrugh has created a delightful cottage, where ingeniously conceived modern decoration records the lives and interests of the couple who undertook the work.

Our Guide To The Best Bulbs To Plant For Spring 2021

With tens of thousands of bulbs to choose from, what should you order? Val Bourne selects the finest, chosen for looks, performance and reliability

Poet of the beach

In this 80th anniversary year of the retreat from Dunkirk, Peyton Skipwith considers the work of Richard Eurich (1903–92), War Artist, draughtsman and visionary painter of people, landscape and the sea

The doors open at last

Marquees in Petworth Park will be thronged with eager visitors, where swivel guns and cufflinks, a bachelor chest and a noble Cheviot ram will draw their eyes

And a partridge (not in a pear tree)

Some lust after sky-high pheasants or fast grouse, but, for Tom Parker Bowles, a French (or, even better, English) partridge bagged on a mild September day is top of the pops

The best of both worlds

Two Oxfordshire properties that espouse the benefits of town and country living hit the market

Of corn blobs and goggle-eyed plovers

From the ‘ethereal minstrel’ skylark to the yellowhammer with its ‘little-bit of-bread-and-no-cheese’ call, these birds are inextricably linked to our farming heritage, says Jack Watkins

Life in the slow lane

With a taste for radio and raspberries and a habit of clambering over anything in their path, tortoises are never going to be the cuddliest of pets, but they are nonetheless treasured by successive generations, finds Madeleine Silver

A shore thing

With 48 miles of coastline, you could spend an entire weekend exploring different Jersey beaches and still not see them all. Antonia Windsor has the pick of the ones you really shouldn’t miss

A magical touch

COUNTRY LIFE played a formative role in the development of Edwardian architectural taste, championing eclecticism and engaging with history, as Timothy Brittain-Catlin reveals

Learning In A Time Of Covid

Teepees, no uniform and housework–as pupils and staff return to a semblance of normality, how will school life have changed? Lucy Higginson finds out

The Best Things In (Country) Life Are Free

It’s hard to do anything in a city without spending money. Yet in the country, some of the greatest pleasures are there for the taking

The re-birth of the English country village

Thanks to broadband, rural areas are set to be transformed by an influx of newcomers freed from the shackles of a daily commute, finds Flora Watkins

The new English country house

Increasingly, flexible lifestyles are creating a fresh type of English country house that is a hybrid of home and office, with plenty of guest accommodation. Arabella Youens asks leading experts about the changing nature of the far-flung rural idyll

Further from the madding crowd

This year has shown that a five-day-a-week commute isn’t as vital to our working lives as we once thought. Now, the prospect of a part-time approach to commuting is creating a chance to head further afield. Julie Harding offers 20 destinations beyond a short train journey

The return of the bolt hole

From The Albany on Piccadilly to Bertie Wooster’s bachelor pad in Mayfair, the London pied-à-terre has had many incarnations. Could the rise of a part-time commute herald a new golden era, asks Clive Aslet

The workers' revolution

Thanks to broadband, the countryside is on the cusp of change, of a kind not seen since the advent of the train and the car, says Mark Hedges

Down to a tea

Most Britons would consider themselves fairly talented consumers of tea, but to be considered an expert, you would need to sample one million cups at 125mph. Roderick Easdale meets the professional tea tasters