ALIVE AND WOOL

A yearly festival of wool sees drop spindles, peg looms, felted collars and yarns dyed in heavenly shades of old rose, hawthorn and hedgeberry fill a parallel world in which wool reigns supreme,

A place for everything

Why storage is more important than space

Protecting our own wild isles

The inspiring new Attenborough documentary should encourage us to look at–and protect–what we have on our own doorstep

Three times a legend

This year’s Grand National marks the 50th anniversary of Red Rum’s first win. Jack Watkins explains why we may never see his like again

As thick as thieves

From piracy to hijacking and mugging, Nature abounds with all sorts of bad and condemnable behaviour, but some species have a real knack for stealing, as Ian Morton discovers

Sense and sensibilities

Knoyle Place, East Knoyle, Wiltshire The home of the Comtesse de La Morinière | The more you look, says Charles Quest-Ritson, the more there is to admire in this magnificent garden, which has been subtly and beautifully enhanced in recent decades

Heavenly hepaticas

JOHN MASSEY is a happy man. His beaming face is familiar to plant lovers all over Britain and beyond. Plants have been the great love of his life—finding them, growing them, selecting them and selling the best

Hear the language of the birds

WE share with the birds 50 genes or more to do with sound-making, which leads to the lovely notion that early hominids perched in trees and sang like the feathered things.

A plum job

Once the mainstay of Cumbria’s Lyth and Winster valleys, damson orchards declined steeply after the Second World War. Tessa Waugh meets the farmers working hard to revive the fruit’s fortunes

Dreamy spires

Foxgloves, which can be planted now, provide the perfect link between the garden and the countryside, says John Hoyland

Sip back and relax

Once relegated to the back of the drinks cabinet, vermouth is enjoying a fresh revival and not only as a traditional cocktail ingredient, says Jack Adair Bevan

It's a dog's world

What’s the best way to live side by side with our four-legged friends, asks Arabella Youens

If you go down to the woods today...

Isabella Worsley has designed interiors of treehouses in the grounds of Callow Hall in Derbyshire that are at one with their surroundings, finds Arabella Youens

A lot of bottle

Jennifer Manners has spent three years developing a range of luxury rugs made from recycled water bottles, finds Arabella Youens

An eye to the future

Embarking on a new chapter in the history of an ancestral home requires patience, persistence and the right guidance, finds Kitty Galsworthy

Blends with benefits

The British are very conservative when it comes to tea, but a gentle revolution is under way, spearheaded, in part, by a new breed of experts. Rob Crossan meets some of our best tea sommeliers to discuss the nation’s cuppa habits

Where dinosaurs still walk the earth

THE National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) has announced that it intends to invest $3.6 billion over the next 10 years, it was revealed last week.

Surprise: we're here!

A COMMUNITY of ‘at least’ 50 beavers has been discovered in the River Avon near Bristol, surprising researchers, Natural England said last week.

Think before you fire

SAVE SHOOTING NOW’ is the cry from the Countryside Alliance and other shooting organisations after a 12-week consultation on game bird releasing was announced by Natural Resources Wales (NRW).

I err, therefore I am

Although often overlooked, the Easter message is as much about making mistakes as it is about Resurrection. However, getting it wrong and letting go of our perfectionism is the key to a more contented life, says the Revd Dr Colin Heber-Percy

One a penny

Nothing is as delicious as a fluffy, spicy, fruity hot cross bun at Easter, but its miraculous properties and ancient origins may be a little exaggerated, as Carla Passino discovers

A bolt from the blue

John McCutchan's ancient bluebell woods in East Sussex have been bringing joy, scent and a spectacular carpet of colour for the past 50 years, as Natasha Goodfellow discovers

Golden Guernsey goat

GUERNSEY'S fine-boned native goat, with Tits rippling coat a palette of pale gold and rust shades, has been proven genuinely to originate from the Channel Island, thanks to DNA research carried out by the University of Córdoba in Spain.

Beneath the rose

Campion Hall, Oxford, part I: The task of creating a Jesuit hall in Oxford in the 1930s was eagerly assumed by Sir Edwin Lutyens. In the first of two articles, Clive Aslet reveals the story of this remarkable building

Halls of fame

Although they may no longer feature medieval remains, use of the word 'hall' signifies a building of exception

The lonesome crowded west

Their proximity to London, combined with their serene landscapes, make Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Berkshire as desirable as ever

All in the family

generation takes on As the fifth the care of this historic garden, Charles Quest-Ritson rejoices in the unique legacy of its horticulturally astute owners

Currant thinking

IN a jar to the side of my desk sit a number of upturned items: a 6H pencil from the table at which my father wrote that I use for sketching garden plans, a pen for writing plant labels and a fork that’s more practical than pretty.

Treasure island

With acres of towering Scottish hills to stalk and myriad remote islands to explore, the Benmore estate is a dreamland for each generation

All aboard for all connections

Take your time and travel in old-fashioned luxury aboard the revived Orient Express, advises Rosie Paterson