CATEGORIES

Delighting inDevizes

In the first of an occasional series celebrating Britain’s outstanding market places and high streets, Ptolemy Dean considers–and illustrates–what makes the centre of Devizes so satisfying

Turtle ortoffee?

Next week is the start of Glorious Goodwood. Clive As let examines the social whirl that surrounded this event before the First World War and the remarkable collection of photographs that documents it

Designs For Happiness

Clive Aslet discovers how this unsung hero of the Arts-and-Crafts Movement realised his vision for changing lives with thoughtful architecture and planning

No Doctor, No Village

What am I doing in this eternal winter?’ bemoans the title character in Franz Kafka’s Ein Landarzt (A Country Doctor) when called out of bed one stormy night to attend to a sick patient.

Three cheers for Daffy's new bloom

David Austin’s newest roses are eagerly awaited at the Chelsea Flower Show and, this year, COUNTRY LIFE has reason to celebrate

Wildflower Meadows? Give Me Strength

I DON’T see the point of wildflower meadows. I know they’re fashionable and lots of our friends have made them, but I have never seen a really convincing one. Why not? Well, for starters, there’s something ridiculously artificial about cultivating wild flowers.

I'm All Right, Jack

The jackdaw, perhaps the most dignified of the corvid family, has a strange affinity with Man

Author Of His Own Undoing

David Gelber is gripped by this sympathetic, thought-provoking account of Charles I’s life

A Modern Romantic

Michael Murray-Fennell observes how John Piper discovered a very British type of Modernism

The designer's room

Antique dealer Christopher Howe evokes a classic English drawing room

The Missing Lynx

Moves are afoot to reintroduce the enigmatic lynx to Britain, but there are strong arguments for and against

My Favourite Painting Andrew Graham-Dixon

John McEwen comments on Cupid and Psyche

The Pressure's Off

The actor and playwright on balancing ‘the quietness of writing with the showing-off of acting’

Fifty Shades Of The Grey Seal

Known as ‘people of the sea’ and often described as sad-looking, due to their huge, doleful eyes, the gigantic–yet surprisingly agile–grey seal can hold its breath and slow its heartbeat to dive to depths of 200ft, reports David Profumo.

A Georgian Renaissance

In the second of two articles, John Martin Robinson looks at the recent restoration of this magnificent Georgian house and its dazzling series of re-created 1770s interiors by James Wyatt.

Embracing The Hopes And Fears Of All The Years

The Rt Revd Rachel Treweek, Bishop of Gloucester.

Living National Treasure

Cake maker

The Return Of The Prodigal Son

‘ I commissioned this batik from Solomon Raj while I was working in an inner-city parish, near a large prison. In the traditional Indian caste system, Solomon comes from among the Dalits or “untouchables”. His work, like much of Luke’s Gospel, reflects Jesus’s particular love and compassion for the marginalised and the rejected. I asked him to create a simple, uncomplicated image depicting God’s unconditional love and mercy offered to all, not least the most marginalised. Inspired by the parable of the Prodigal Son, Solomon focuses deliberately only on the forgiving father and the returning prodigal, who, in his depiction, could be male or female ’

He's Behind You!

Perennial pantomime villain Kit Hesketh-Harvey explains why this corny, hammed-up, ritualistic theatrical format is loved so dearly. Oh yes, it is!

Pa Rum Pa Pom Pom

Why bobble fringes are the new tinsel this Christmas

The Cattle Are Lowing

With a low mist hanging over the backs of his cows like a white shroud, John Lewis-Stempel frets as his vet tests his treasured herd for dreaded bovine tuberculosis on a dark December morning

Putting The Cat Among The Fish

On an annual pilgrimage to Scotland in pursuit of silver salmon, Richard Parker enjoys the many charms of the Jaguar XJ R-Sport saloon

The Wild Hunt Of Odin

John McEwen comments on The Wild Hunt of Odin

When The Diva Met The Dictator

For centuries, the medium of opera has been open to political interpretation, a theme brilliantly distilled in the V&A’s newest exhibition.

They Know What They Want

The Northern Antiques Dealers Fair returns under new management, but offering the same high quality

Entering The Final Frontier

The Prof takes his sons, James and Tom, fishing in America’s ice box: Alaska, the 49th state

Let's Get Pickled

Simon Lester explains how to bottle your own crunchy pickled onions without (too many) tears

Artistic Inspiration

Anyone flummoxed by the vast choice of colours on a paint chart need look no further than the work of their favourite painters for help.

Strand And Deliver

Saved from being swallowed up by a high-street chain, Simpson’s is back.

Ashes To Ashes

Ashes To Ashes