CATEGORIES

A perfect finish

The renovation of an old barn led the way to the making of two new interconnecting gardens that together reflect the Cotswold vernacular and the contemporary interior, reveals Tiffany Daneff

This dumb blonde ain't nobody's fool

Blessed with good looks and a sunny personality, it hardly seems fair that golden retrievers are also intelligent and adaptablebut it does explain their popularity, says Katy Birchall

The moonlight hunt

Pippin sees off an intruder and spring comes to Dumfriesshire

Watering plans

TURN on the fountains!' exclaimed the head gardener of a country house to his gardeners when he realised that an unexpected visitor was none other than the eminent Victorian rose grower and Dean of Rochester Samuel Reynolds Hole.

Satan of the riverbank

More bat than bird, the cormorant might have a gait that makes a penguin look like a supermodel, but it is actually a fearsome and effective aquatic predator, says Harry Pearson

The colours and textures of the past

Traditional paints and lime mortars-prized for their sympathy to historic buildings -are sought after for their subtle colours and finishes, too, finds Arabella Youens

Surrey spectacular

If these impressive properties are anything to go by, this resilient county is in fine health

New kids on the block

Exciting developments and new-builds shaking up the property world

High endeavours

Glorious houses high in the hills of Derbyshire and Staffordshire compete with a landmark Cornish property for the best view

Down the rabbit hole

Pie filling, pest or pet of underrated beauty, the rabbit is a mute and gregarious commoner that will nonetheless scream, fight and kill when warranted, says John Lewis-Stempel

The secret appeal of scurvy grass

A delicate brassica that even its mother would struggle to call pretty, the sea kale can compete with asparagus for the title of ‘taste of spring’, reveals Tom Parker Bowles

A land of milk and Cheddar

In their latest celebration of West Country people, places and produce, ‘Deepest’ book authors Fanny Charles and Gay Pirrie-Weir explore why Somerset is so different from its neighbouring counties

The Great Map of Scotland

ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON, in an essay written near the end of his life on the genesis of Treasure Island, expressed disbelief that there were people who did not care about maps. ‘The names, the shapes of the woodlands, the courses of the roads and rivers, the prehistoric footsteps of man still traceable up hill and down dale… Here is an inexhaustible fund of interest for any man with eyes to see or twopence-worth of imagination to understand with!’

Paradise in the Garden of England

The view has changed since Chaucer’s day, but the important things survive

Crusading spirit: Bunting War Memorial Chapel, Scotch Corner, North Yorkshire

A War Memorial Chapel in a remote, but magnificent spot stands as a monument to the sculptor who created it.

He was of his time

Vaughan Williams, who was born 150 years ago, is largely seen as a pastoral composer, but there was far more to him than that

A glad hand for gladioli

I LOVE gladioli, but I realise that many readers may not share my passion. Good taste has much to answer for. The corblimey gladioli you see in other people’s gardens are anathema to strict and peculiar plantsmen; so are dahlias and chrysanths. People like us don’t grow them. The only acceptable gladioli are the wild ones you see in Mediterranean pastures and olive groves.

A colour symphony

Flamingos may draw the crowds, but it is the brilliant flower borders that keep people coming back to this wonderful garden.

Take me home

Private members' club 5 Hertford Street has precipitated a quiet revolution in interior design through colour, comfort and decoration for decoration's sake. Now, its founder has launched a collection that embodies his approach to living

What Cath did next

Having turned her distinctive style into a much-loved business, Cath Kidston brought a beautiful 17th-century house in the Cotswolds back to life. Now, she's back at the drawing board

The future's bright

Colourful tables, selected

An absurd little bird

Parasitic creatures with murderous and greedy offspring they may be, yet the prospect of no annual competition to hear the cuckoo's first call is a bleak one

Small is beautiful

Many aspects of farming are expanding-and not always in a good way. Jason Goodwin argues that it needs re-balancing, with a return to multiple small family farms, neighbourly cooperation and a bolstering of the local community

The art of wallpaper

A new wallpaper company is unleashing the potential of digital technology to realise ranges of designs created by artists and designers

Cool as cucumbers

MY father was a meat-and-two-carbs kind of a guy, who was cursed in his rare liking of cucumbers, which reduced him to a chest bashing hiccuper.

Hooray for clay

The growing emphasis on handmade interiors is reviving interest in the tactile appeal of handmade ceramics

AHOY THERE CITY SAILOR

From Chelsea to the canals, Londoners are taking to the water in search of a more peaceful way of life. Jo Rodgers clambers aboard

A garden of the mind

Developed over 30 years by an art historian, this thought-provoking garden is filled with Classical references

The designer's room

A distinctive wallpaper was the foundation for this drawing room of a London townhouse

Something to crow about

Clever, companionable and mischievous, the crow or corvid family of birds has long loomed large in our lives and imaginations, as symbols of death and crop destroyers. But, contends Simon Lester, they’re not all black-hearted scoundrels