The Acer Up Our Sleeves

Condemned as a weed tree, the sycamore is blamed for leaves on the line and sticky windscreens, but are we overlooking a pollution-tolerant specimen that plants itself for free, asks Jack Watkins

They Kept The Show On The Road

Frustratingly, the curtain has fallen on stages everywhere, but there have been some valiant efforts to bring entertainment–and a superb new biography of a great playwright

To Italy For The Roses

Gardeners like plants that do well for them and, for the Italians, there is no flower more adored than the rose. They have become connoisseurs, says the rosarian Charles Quest-Ritson, creating some of the finest rose gardens in the world

Deck The Halls With Homegrown Holly

Even on the darkest days, there is always fresh foliage to pick, but plant with winter in mind and you can adorn your house with scented flowers, gleaming leaves and bright berries, says Val Bourne

The long way home

Struck down by Covid-19 earlier this year, Robin Hanbury-Tenison spent five weeks in a coma and was close to death. Now, he is valiantly fundraising for more of the healing hospital gardens he believes helped save him

The Glorious Dead

This year is the centenary of the unveiling of the Whitehall Cenotaph on Armistice Day in 1920. John Goodall explains how this famous monument came into existence and became a fixture in the nation’s consciousness

Treasure island

JW Marriott Maldives

Making a point

The first obelisk to be erected in Europe was a trophy of war. Loyd Grossman considers how these ancient monuments came to be understood and became the mark of every great city

March of the ants

Insects are seldom loved and are often loathed, feared or disregarded, but they are an integral part of our ecosystem. In an extract from his new book, Framing Nature, Laurence Rose joins the effort to save the narrow-headed ant

Changing views

Environmental art is all the rage, but, for landscape painters, it was never out of fashion. Laura Gascoigne finds out why

Away with the fairies

One hundred years ago, two girls convinced the world they had photographed fairies at the bottom of their garden. However did they get away with it, asks Richard Sugg

Let's Drink To The Château D'yquem Of Apples

A Visit to a well-organised apple store in November is always a wonderful experience. The early eaters that, although lovely, will not keep, are a distant memory. We now see before us those sterling kinds that ripen on the tree in October, but whose flavour and texture will improve with proper storage—cool, dark, frost-free— and will keep in good order until at least the following March.

Pilgrims' progress

Taking a break from work on his Herefordshire farm, John Lewis-Stempel and his son, Tristram, tackle the historic Camino Francés pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in Spain

Once lost, now found

Featured in Vogue and modelled for Princess Margaret, a haute-couture Dior dress then vanished for 50 years. V&A curator Claire Wilcox describes a fashion mystery

Quintessential Georgian

Three glorious Georgian properties come to the market, in Wiltshire, Cheshire and Co Durham

The forgotten works of Fabergé

When Geoffrey Munn saw a flash of purple and gold in a crowded cabinet, he instinctively knew he had stumbled upon a lost cache of pieces by the imperial Russian jeweller–but who were the regal-looking women pictured in the enamel frames?

Centuries in the making

As Partagás celebrates 175 years, our correspondent reflects on his epiphany and subsequent conversion to the brand

The stuff of fairy tales

Gingerbread will forever be associated with that little house in the woods, but it was also a firm favourite with Elizabeth I. Inspired by a collection of extravagant moulds, Rosie Goodwin of the Ryedale Folk Museum explores the origins of a festive favourite

Holmes, sweet Holmes

Sherlock Holmes had an eye for architectural detail, an interest derived from his creator, Arthur Conan Doyle. Jeremy Musson looks at how it emerges in the books, with the help of specially commissioned drawings

A prince's passion

Michael Prodger is fascinated by a pioneering royal project devoted to the collecting and reproducing of the Renaissance Master’s works

When Geography Matters

When is a Cornish pasty not a Cornish pasty?

You've been framed

Want to cultivate serious specs appeal? Emma Hughes gathers advice from those in the know

The secret's in the soil

The houses of the Garden of England are as impressive and storied as the landscape

The good doctor

The banishment of Sir Hans Sloane to a back-room glass case is unjustified and ignorant. This generous, kindly medical pioneer deserves better

‘When I swear, people know I mean it'

Michel Roux Jnr, the Michelin-starred member of a French cooking dynasty, talks to Christopher Jackson about the new normal, dressing up, the dangers of drinking and the importance of respect

Hickory dickory dock

The soporific tick-tock of seconds passing, the hypnotic swing of the pendulum, the commanding chiming of the hour: every house deserves a longcase clock, concludes Matthew Dennison

HALLS OF LEARNING

From private to public ones, the capital is home to some of the finest libraries in the world. London Library member Harry Mount extols the virtues of some of his favourites

I like the way you move

The manner in which you enter a room can change everything that happens next. Daniel Pembrey reveals how you could become the next Sean Connery

Have I got moos for you

Far from being ‘stupid’ or ‘silly cows’, cattle are ungainsayably clever and emotionally intelligent, with bags of personality, too, contends John Lewis-Stempel

First impressions

With this year’s GENTLEMAN’S LIFE supplement in mind, we pick five homes perfect for the young gent in the city