CATEGORIES

One night stand

An increasing number of sprawling historic houses is available for rent for short stays, finds Eleanor Doughty

Pigeon pie with Mrs Crocombe

Audley End’s Victorian cook has become a YouTube sensation. Eleanor Doughty signs in for a lesson with her

The one true Canaletto of the north

Being the nephew of Antonio Canaletto was both a blessing and a curse for Bernardo Bellotto, whose brooding landscapes eventually emerged from his uncle’s formidable shadow, as Michael Prodger observes

Forever England

These quintessentially English estates are the perfect places to revel in the beauty of this green and pleasant land

Busman's holidays

Historians and archaeologists select the English Heritage property that would be their first choice for a day out

In it to win it

Foregoing chocolate, running every day and riding out multiple lots before starting her day job as Chief Sub-Editor of COUNTRY LIFE mean that Octavia Pollock is ready to race to victory in next week’s Magnolia Cup at Glorious Goodwood

A real pleasure

In the hands of English Heritage, the care and restoration of the striking mid-19th-century garden of Brodsworth Hall, South Yorkshire, is producing truly impressive results, writes Tiffany Daneff

Of Bankruptcy And Birds

The fam-ily motto of the Marquess of Aberdeen is fortuna sequatur, or ‘let fortune follow’. However, reading Simon Welfare’s tale of the 1st Marquess’s reversal of his heraldic exhortation, it is difficult not to believe a more appropriate motto would have been ‘no good deed is left unpunished’.

The soothing island

From forest bathing to beach moonwalks, Jersey is the perfect place to find solace in Nature, says Antonia Windsor

To a skylark

Hailed by Shelley as a ‘blithe spirit’ and evocatively celebrated in one of our most revered pieces of music, this brave little bird needs more farming friends, finds Ian Morton

‘Essentially a working terrier'

Comedic and affectionate with endless energy, it’s not hard to see how Border terriers steal hearts, be it Lorraine Kelly’s or Sir Andy Murray’s –but beware the prey drive, warns Katy Birchall

Strawberry fields forever

Plump, buxom, sweet, juicy and with curves in all the right places, the strawberry is the very quintessence of an English summer for Tom Parker Bowles

Holding out for a hero

The battle for Trafalgar Park raged for a century and the Wiltshire estate now comes to the market after a victorious restoration

Onto the court

Winner of a team gold medal at the Commonwealth Games, Jersey-raised netball superstar Serena Guthrie talks to Arabella Youens about her island childhood

An island called home

Holly Kirkwood unearths some of the best properties for sale in Jersey

Around Jersey in eight landmarks

Penny Byrne explores the island’s history through some of its most fascinating monuments

A Greek revival

Taitlands, Stainforth, North Yorkshire Restored by Emma and Martin Sharp An exemplary restoration project has created a modern family home from a fine neo-Grecian country house that has been in institutional use since the 1940s. John Martin Robinson admires the result

WALK THE LONDON LINE

Our capital city is more inviting for walkers than you might expect, with meadows, towpaths, unexpected sculpture and great houses to draw the eye. Octavia Pollock sets off to explore

The Tale of Peter Rabbit

I DON’T know what to write to you, so I shall tell you a story about four little rabbits, whose names were Flopsy, Mopsy, Cottontail, and Peter,’ wrote Beatrix Potter in 1893, in a letter to a little boy, the five-year-old son of her former governess, who was suffering from scarlet fever. A decade later, these lines, only slightly adjusted, formed the opening to what has become one of the bestselling, most fondly remembered books in children’s literature.

My favourite painting Lorna May Wadsworth

Cornelis van der Geest by Sir Anthony van Dyck

‘Keep the momentum going'

The new Historic Houses president on leaky roofs, lobbying Government and VAT

Interiors The designer's room

The new kitchen of Lisa Mehydene’s Cotswold barn was deliberately designed to appear old

Far from brassed off

Those who play in a Northern brass band have a lung capacity similar to that of an Olympic athlete and, as Rebecca Oliver discovers, they’re not likely to run out of puff any time soon

Say hello, wave goodbye

Whether constructive or destructive, waves–even as high as four double-decker buses–claw at our shores in a frenzy of energy, observes Annemarie Munro

Daisy rides again

Once an endangered species, yet still gracing beaches up and down the land, the seaside donkey remains the epitome of an English summer, believes Vicky Liddell

I've been a goggle eyed plover for many's the year

With a sinister yellow gaze and legs ‘swoln like those of a gouty man’, the prehistoric-looking stone curlew is nonetheless an endearing little fellow, finds Jack Watkins

Architecture-on-Sea

What is it that makes the buildings of the seaside so distinct? Kathryn Ferry looks at the vibrant architecture of our coastal towns and the way our perception of it has been shaped by early-20th-century appreciation

Slobber, puddle, chewing and trouble

Inspired by COUNTRY LIFE’s search for Britain’s naughtiest dog, illustrator John Holder tells Katy Birchall why he’s dedicated a delightful new book to mischievous mutts

Where the air is clear

Beautiful northern properties to get you looking up

Ship shape and Chelsea fashion

Bluebird of Chelsea is no ordinary motor yacht. Built for record-breaker Sir Malcolm Campbell and requisitioned for Dunkirk, her story is one of survival against the odds. In her 90th year, her interiors have been given a new lease of life, finds Arabella Youens