SOME three years ago, I sat in an office, anxiously, being stared down by the Editor of this very magazine. ‘What’s your favourite part of COUNTRY LIFE?’, he asked. ‘I adore the features,’ I replied, reading from the script I had mentally prepared. ‘They’re of an extremely high quality, varied, eccentric and always interesting and engaging.’ I got the job and the rest is history.
I lied of course. Not about the features (they are all of those things, and much more), but they were only my second favourite part. What I loved, and still love—and I’m sure I’m not alone—are the houses.
I love the Gothic masterpieces, the Palladian mansions and the Arts-and- Crafts style so perfected by Lutyens. However, nothing can beat the picturepostcard English cottage. That gentle wisp of smoke rising through the thatch on a crisp winter’s evening; the borders of the garden bursting with colour in the spring—it is, as Rupert Sweeting, head of national country sales at Knight Frank, says, ‘the quintessential English idyll’.
‘When I picture a traditional English cottage, I envisage a quaint thatched home on the outskirts of a Cotswolds village, with a pub and local shop only a short walk away,’ he adds.
Denne historien er fra March 18, 2020-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Denne historien er fra March 18, 2020-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Kitchen garden cook - Apples
'Sweet and crisp, apples are the epitome of autumn flavour'
The original Mr Rochester
Three classic houses in North Yorkshire have come to the market; the owner of one inspired Charlotte Brontë to write Jane Eyre
Get it write
Desks, once akin to instruments of torture for scribes, have become cherished repositories of memories and secrets. Matthew Dennison charts their evolution
'Sloes hath ben my food'
A possible paint for the Picts and a definite culprit in tea fraud, the cheek-suckingly sour sloe's spiritual home is indisputably in gin, says John Wright
Souvenirs of greatness
FOR many years, some large boxes have been stored and forgotten in the dark recesses of the garage. Unpacked last week, the contents turned out to be pots: some, perhaps, nearing a century old—dense terracotta, of interesting provenance.
Plants for plants' sake
The garden at Hergest Croft, Herefordshire The home of Edward Banks The Banks family is synonymous with an extraordinary collection of trees and shrubs, many of which are presents from distinguished friends, garnered over two centuries. Be prepared to be amazed, says Charles Quest-Ritson
Capturing the castle
Seventy years after Christian Dior’s last fashion show in Scotland, the brand returned under creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri for a celebratory event honouring local craftsmanship, the beauty of the land and the Auld Alliance, explains Kim Parker
Nature's own cathedral
Our tallest native tree 'most lovely of all', the stately beech creates a shaded environment that few plants can survive. John Lewis-Stempel ventures into the enchanted woods
All that money could buy
A new book explores the lost riches of London's grand houses. Its author, Steven Brindle, looks at the residences of plutocrats built by the nouveaux riches of the late-Victorian and Edwardian ages
In with the old
Diamonds are meant to sparkle in candlelight, but many now gather dust in jewellery boxes. To wear them today, we may need to reimagine them, as Hetty Lintell discovers with her grandmother's jewellery
