CATEGORIES

Civic splendour

St Mary's Guildhall, Coventry A property of Coventry City Council

Put a smile on your garden

John Hoyland celebrates the renewed popularity of the irrepressibly cheerful pelargonium

The shadows fall

SEPTEMBER brings a strange surge of energy, gleaming cosmos and dahlias and all those rusty, dry, hairy plants: echinacea, rudbeckia, zinnias.

How to time travel to spring

The anticipation of cheerful spring bulbs can keep the gardener going through the dull winter months. John Hoyland advises on what to plant for every situation, from gravel to orchards, sun, shade or in pots

The summit of achievement

The garden at Friar Park, Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire The home of Olivia and the late George Harrison

All dolled up

Automata made in 19th-century France provided inspiration for the work of American artist Thomas Kuntz and a vintage dolls' house, furnished with period-appropriate pieces, stars in a charity auction

Just keep walking

ALMOST 30 years ago, a chap called Ian Bleasdale wrote a guide detailing all the walks on the Greek Island of Paxos. He and his wife, Elizabeth, had fallen for the island's rugged charms and, after many visits tramping its networks of old paths, decided to share their knowledge with like-minded souls.

Delicious drupes

THERE is a peculiar magic in growing almonds. However often you see their soul-lifting, frost-risking flush of white blossom and however often you collect a basket of homegrown almonds, it's hard to lose the sense of glorious impossibility, that somehow you've cheated geography and climate.

It started with a blank canvas

The garden of Patthana, Co Wicklow, Ireland The home of T. J. Maher and Simon Kirby An exquisite small garden is rich in colour and texture and has been imaginatively extended, as you would expect of a painter's domain, reports Jane Powers

Escape to 'God's own country"

Yorkshire folk are rightly proud of their county's magnificent landscapes and rich architectural heritage, but incomers looking to settle there face strong competition from local contenders for picture-perfect country houses

By the light of the harvest moon

As autumn's whisper reminds farmers to reap their crops, inspect your produce for a suggestion of the winter to come, says Lia Leendertz

Building blocks

We can expect fireworks: Labour’s draft plans for a new planning policy contain subtle, but devastating amendments that bear closer inspection

Friends in low places

As special as orchids, as beautiful as bluebells and as important as oaks, our ground-hugging mosses are worth a look down, says Mark Cocker

Talk of the ton

During the golden age of gossip, the fashion choices of the Regency elite were frequently the scintillating subject of the scandal sheets, finds Susan Jenkins

Slopes of hazard

Skiing, ironically, is the safest thing you can do in St Moritz, says Rosie Paterson, who traces the Swiss resort's love affair with adrenaline-pumping winter sports back to a Victorian bet

At anchor down under

A thoughtfully designed ship, with infinity pool and book-lined nooks, is a great base from which to explore Indonesia and the north coast of Australia, finds Jane Wheatley

Peanuts and pencils

The thrill of a new pencil case doesn't fade with age, finds Jo Rodgers, on a visit to Anya Hindmarch's new stationery pop-up shop

Fêted and plated

Behind every powerful man is a woman and behind every successful restaurant is a wise and passionate restaurateur. Tom Parker Bowles meets some of the best

The best seat in the house

Patience, knowledge and practised skill are all required to create handmade furniture. Nick Hammond discovers how one gifted woodworker found the best possible mentor, thanks to a copy of COUNTRY LIFE

Building nationhood

A recently restored villa set in a carefully planted woodland blends traditions in pursuit of a distinctly Romanian idiom of architecture, as Jeremy Musson explains

'Neither fish nor flesh'

A creature of bewitching contrasts, the otter is 'an animal that might have been specifically designed to please a child' and has captured our imaginations since first we encountered its bright-eyed gaze, says Laura Parker

The plant that defied the weather

SO much of what happens, in summer and after, is due to what forecasters like to call ‘weather events’ that occurred in the previous winter and spring.

Sporting chances

Buyers inspired by Team GB's success at the Paris Olympics and the magnificent architecture of the competition venues can pursue their own sporting dreams at four charming houses that have recently come to the market

The sweet taste of freedom

The L-plates are off and it's time to hit the road. Everyone remembers their first (car), so James Fisher asked COUNTRY LIFE staff and friends to tell us about theirs

Attending the barley ballet

Late one August night, John Lewis-Stempel and his labrador are transfixed by the last dance of the barley field, as moonshine bathes the shimmering and swaying sun-goldened crop in an ethereal silvery light

Elegy to a country churchyard

A garden with a church as its focal point is both movingly effective and mellow, with nods to a horticultural hero and a ruby wedding anniversary, as George Plumptre discovers

The summits of excellence

Scaling the Three Peaks of Britain is not for the faint of heart and neither is driving the powerful Aston Martin DBX707. Fortunately, Adam Hay-Nicholls is braver than most and took on the challenge with aplomb

Be not hasty to pluck it

Have we been picking blackberries wrong all this time? Ignore the birds and follow the bees for the ultimate hedgerow delight of summer's end, advises Deborah Nicholls-Lee

A fatal court and folly

In the second of two articles, John Goodall looks at the Jacobite history of Scone and the transformation of the Palace from 1802 into a Gothic Revival prodigy house

Hero of the turf

George Stubbs, born 300 years ago, found Nature superior to art and approached his pictures with the eye of an anatomy scholar, yet no contemporary could rival him in capturing the elegance and character of racehorses, dogs and even zebras, as Jack Watkins discovers