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

The Right White Stuff

The Right White Stuff

Appointment At Tooth-Hurty

The molar the merrier!

Harem Revisited #33

John McEwen comments on Harem Revisited #33

An Absolute Porker!

A search for the ultimate epicurean mouthful could arguably start and finish with suckling pig. Nick Hammond studies a timeless culinary tradition

Relight My Fire

After a date with an old flame, our correspondent finds that the refreshed Volkswagen Golf GTI is still the classiest act in town by far.

Alexander III Of Scotland Saved From The Fury Of A Stag By Colin Fitzgerald

John McEwen comments on Alexander III of Scotland Saved from the Fury of a Stag.

Is Small Really Beautiful?

Game shoots today are awash with reared French partridges and small-pheasant varieties. Charles Nodder asks whether they’re better than more traditional quarry.

Heavens Above!

Could a bed inspired by the Moon herald a new approach to furniture design?

How To Make A Lawn Without Grass

RELATED to Lobelia, Pratia angulata and P. pedunculata are two creeping perennials native to New Zealand. They were originally sold in Britain as rock-garden plants, but, in such sites, they tended either to dry up and perish or to become overwhelming, depending on exposure and water. It’s only latterly that we’ve come to see their invasiveness as an asset, freed them from the rockery and put them to work on the level.

Ducking And Diving About On The River

A prodigious piscivore, the crafty cormorant or ‘sea crow’ can dive to depths of 30ft, where its prey includes eels of up to a yard long, gulps David Profumo.

A Warming Winter's Tale

George Plumptre learns how the proximity of a new motorway turned around the fortunes of a historic hotel and its garden.

Follow The Star To Wintershall

A full-blown production of the Nativity takes place every year in the Surrey Hills. Rupert Uloth witnessed last year’s delightful telling of the Christmas story.

Living National Treasure

Fan-maker

Special Delivery

Lobster through your letterbox? Cheese by courier? Emma Hughes goes behind the scenes with the firms keeping connoisseurs posted

Stranger In His Own Land

A reassessment of David Bomberg’s career prompts Charles Darwent to consider what prompted him to produce such radical works in insular, early-20thcentury Britain

Three Cheers: A Venue For All Seasons

IN 1976, Rosemary and John Nicholson visited the graveyard of the church of St Maryat-Lambeth to see the tomb of the John Tradescants, celebrated 17th-century gardeners, explorers and antiquaries. They found a sarcophagus carved with fantastic evocations of the distant lands where the father and son travelled in search of plants for our gardens and exhibits for their Ark in Lambeth: England’s first museum to be opened to the public.

An Englishman Abroad

On the eve of a grand tour of America, the actor talks about sniffing trees and singing for his supper

Caught in a cross fire

I was up at six o’clock on sunday morning, lighting the kitchen range, warming the twins’ clothes in the oven, making porridge and preparing packed lunches.

Oh, for the wings of a dove!

Its occupants were once thought fit for a feast, but the sight of a dovecote encircled by a halo of fluttering life is becoming a rarity, sighs bird fancier

Let me loose in a sweet shop

When it comes to confectionery, the British have got it licked, says Emma Hughes, who finds that pocket-money sweet treats have never looked more tempting, no matter how old you are