CATEGORIES

Sip back and relax

Once relegated to the back of the drinks cabinet, vermouth is enjoying a fresh revival and not only as a traditional cocktail ingredient, says Jack Adair Bevan

It's a dog's world

What’s the best way to live side by side with our four-legged friends, asks Arabella Youens

If you go down to the woods today...

Isabella Worsley has designed interiors of treehouses in the grounds of Callow Hall in Derbyshire that are at one with their surroundings, finds Arabella Youens

A lot of bottle

Jennifer Manners has spent three years developing a range of luxury rugs made from recycled water bottles, finds Arabella Youens

An eye to the future

Embarking on a new chapter in the history of an ancestral home requires patience, persistence and the right guidance, finds Kitty Galsworthy

Blends with benefits

The British are very conservative when it comes to tea, but a gentle revolution is under way, spearheaded, in part, by a new breed of experts. Rob Crossan meets some of our best tea sommeliers to discuss the nation’s cuppa habits

Where dinosaurs still walk the earth

THE National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) has announced that it intends to invest $3.6 billion over the next 10 years, it was revealed last week.

Surprise: we're here!

A COMMUNITY of ‘at least’ 50 beavers has been discovered in the River Avon near Bristol, surprising researchers, Natural England said last week.

Think before you fire

SAVE SHOOTING NOW’ is the cry from the Countryside Alliance and other shooting organisations after a 12-week consultation on game bird releasing was announced by Natural Resources Wales (NRW).

I err, therefore I am

Although often overlooked, the Easter message is as much about making mistakes as it is about Resurrection. However, getting it wrong and letting go of our perfectionism is the key to a more contented life, says the Revd Dr Colin Heber-Percy

One a penny

Nothing is as delicious as a fluffy, spicy, fruity hot cross bun at Easter, but its miraculous properties and ancient origins may be a little exaggerated, as Carla Passino discovers

A bolt from the blue

John McCutchan's ancient bluebell woods in East Sussex have been bringing joy, scent and a spectacular carpet of colour for the past 50 years, as Natasha Goodfellow discovers

Golden Guernsey goat

GUERNSEY'S fine-boned native goat, with Tits rippling coat a palette of pale gold and rust shades, has been proven genuinely to originate from the Channel Island, thanks to DNA research carried out by the University of Córdoba in Spain.

Beneath the rose

Campion Hall, Oxford, part I: The task of creating a Jesuit hall in Oxford in the 1930s was eagerly assumed by Sir Edwin Lutyens. In the first of two articles, Clive Aslet reveals the story of this remarkable building

Halls of fame

Although they may no longer feature medieval remains, use of the word 'hall' signifies a building of exception

The lonesome crowded west

Their proximity to London, combined with their serene landscapes, make Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Berkshire as desirable as ever

All in the family

generation takes on As the fifth the care of this historic garden, Charles Quest-Ritson rejoices in the unique legacy of its horticulturally astute owners

Currant thinking

IN a jar to the side of my desk sit a number of upturned items: a 6H pencil from the table at which my father wrote that I use for sketching garden plans, a pen for writing plant labels and a fork that’s more practical than pretty.

Treasure island

With acres of towering Scottish hills to stalk and myriad remote islands to explore, the Benmore estate is a dreamland for each generation

All aboard for all connections

Take your time and travel in old-fashioned luxury aboard the revived Orient Express, advises Rosie Paterson

A slippery slope

OVER a family dinner recently, we began reminiscing about memorable meals. Not the home- cooked variety round the kitchen table, but overseas feasts relished on holiday, those unforgettable breakfasts, lunches or dinners that, for whatever reason, have lodged a place in our memories.

The passion and the paintings

The pathos of the Easter story has inspired some artists to create their best and most affecting work, from Michelangelo to Dalí, Giotto to Inchbald. Michael Prodger highlights both the heart-stopping and the heart-breaking -and the sheer bravura of it all

Lübeck's in the air

When aesthete Harold Peto met 'modest and retiring' Ernest George, the London skyline turned into a riot of German, Flemish and Dutch gables that delighted and horrified people in equal measure, as Carla Passino discovers

Fiddling while Britain burns

WE’RE going to be warned by mobile phone if we’re likely to be flooded or threatened by storms or, eventually, terrorism. The Government has done a deal with the mobile-phone operators that will cover 90% of the country.

Putting Man on the map

UNTIL the publication of Jonathan Kewley’s book, my scant knowledge about the ancient kingdom of Man amounted to the deathly TT motorcycle races, Manx cats without tails, Baillie Scott’s inventive Arts-and-Crafts houses and Sir John Betjeman’s elegiac essay, when he went ‘tramping kneedeep in blaeberry bushes on the wild west coast’, was exhilarated by the narrow-gauge railways and transfixed by the Tynwald Day celebrations.

New kid on the block

The new Línea Maestra line by Cuba's Partagás is worthy of enthusiasm

Return to magnificent Maastricht

After the dramas, the TEFAF fair is back as the art world's most important showcase

Faithful and fearless to the last

From the lifelike painting of majestic otterhound Brizo to Queen Victoria's affectionate portrait of her beloved dachshund, Waldmann, we've long turned to art to celebrate our cherished canine companions, says Matthew Dennison

It's only natural

Inspired by the crystal-clear swimming lakes of Austria and Germany, natural swimming pools are making more of a splash here than ever, says Anna Tyzack

The first unfurling

I NEVER quite remember how glorious it is going to be, that first day in spring when I can stay out all day in the garden, not doing anything unpleasant such as pruning roses, but simply fiddling about—a bit of weeding, a bit of tying in, but mostly just wandering, fitting myself back into the plot.