Shiver my timbers

Part art and part history, these timber-frame houses are some of England’s finest

Set fair for 2020

The year’s trade had an excellent start, with high prices achieved for a cheese-toasting dish, a stone Apollo, an Art Deco rug and slabs of the Berlin Wall

Make mine a labradoodle

In the past 30 years, this well-mannered crossbreed has stolen our hearts, yet the man responsible has likened it to Frankenstein’s monster. Kate MacDougall finds out more

A growing success

The Plant Specialist, Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire A good garden starts with great plants. Juliet Roberts visits one of the finest suppliers

A flash in the pan

One of Britain’s outstanding Baroque houses vanished in 1747, having been sold within three years of its patron’s death. William Aslet looks at the tantalising fragments that survive and what they tell us about this prodigy building

Punching Above Their Weight

Small independent schools can still give larger rivals a run for their money in terms of academic results, facilities and individuality. Madeleine Silver finds out how they manage to hold their own

Time to reflect

Find some perspective next to the peaceful waters of these three properties

Purple reign

Purple-sprouting broccoli, the surprisingly robust dandy of the vegetable patch, is best enjoyed with an anchovy sauce and a dusting of feta, says Tom Parker Bowles

Pride rocks

At last, Joseph Paxton’s monument is being given the restoration it deserves, reveals Tiffany Daneff

Scalloped splashes of gold

Lauded by Wordsworth for their ‘glittering countenance’, the appearance of the first celandines and the swallow’s return to our shores are c favourite, and much anticipated, harbingers of spring

Albion the brave

Two works illustrate the ambivalence–loyalty and pride mixed with disgust and anger–that playwrights, from Shakespeare to Alan Bennett, often display towards England

Fantastic Mr Fox

On a dreary February day, John Lewis-Stempel comes face-to-face with a brace of Vulpes vulpes crucigera among the emerging snowdrops in the dingle below his Herefordshire farmhouse

Pomp and propaganda

Jeremy Musson explores the glorious detail unveiled in a new exhibition devoted to the late Stuart Age

A palace worthy of a bishop

Encircled by water in the shadow of its cathedral, the Bishop’s Palace at Wells is a captivating survival. John Goodall looks at the history of this outstanding building 800 years after its construction

A leap of faith

Ladies, gather your red petticoats and Poundland rings–the day on which you’re ‘allowed’ to propose marriage is on the horizon, says Victoria Marston

The Future Of The Kitchen Garden

Steven Desmond applauds a ground-breaking restoration that balances productivity with beauty

Gardens For All Seasons

Winter Gardens have had a difficult late 20th century. What lies ahead for these extraordinary architectural creations, asks Marcus Binney, and might they be about to enjoy a revival?

My Favourite Painting Viktor Wynd

A Love Spell by Austin Osman Spare

Through An Italian Looking Glass

Restituted paintings, particularly a stormy scene from the life of St Clare, light up Christie’s, as Dürer poses a riddle it is natural, I suppose, to

Tied up in knots

Homo rusticus spends ‘Veganuary’ on the urban media trail

‘Where gentle Thames his winding water leads'

Huon Mallalieu reflects on the influence of the Thames on the work of Turner and other artists and writers of his time

Trumpet majors

WAS there ever such an obliging and ubiquitous plant as the daffodil?

Kent believe it

The market in the garden of England is seeing a Dutch bloom

City of arts and crafts

Bruges, Belgium

Broadening horizons

As Britain’s leading metropolitan auction houses cut their regional activities, their provincial counterparts are doing better than ever, says Emma Crichton-Miller

Moss magic

Moss softens hard edges and brings a natural ease and permanence wherever it colonises, but tends to be ignored. Tilly Ware thinks it’s time to invite it in

To the manors born

Two properties, one in Somerset, one in Berkshire, would certainly impress Audrey fforbes-Hamilton

Wearing the green willow

Of all the sylvan gifts we enjoy, Ian Morton finds that the moisture-loving willow tree has arguably bestowed the most to Mankind throughout history

The Prince and his pagodas

The Royal Pavilion, Brighton, East Sussex Brighton & Hove City Council The temporary loan by the Royal Collection Trust of fittings and furnishings removed from the Brighton Pavilion in the 1840s have transformed this lavish interior. John Goodall reports

Thank you for the music

Many composers, even Elgar and Liszt, owe their popularity to groups of devotees who were determined their music should continue to be heard. Claire Jackson reports