CATEGORIES

The cottage industry

Disraeli once said that ‘the palace is not safe when the cottage is not happy’, but looking at these five examples, happiness is almost guaranteed

Setting the scene

Looking for homes that were once part of large estates reveals a rich tapestry

Life behind barbs

In the hazy heat of high summer, John Lewis-Stempel stops to contemplate the lives and loves, deaths and hates of his 600-year-old Great Green Wall

Very much a cut above

Harvard Farm, Halstock, Dorset When topiarist Jake Hobson brought his sculpturally inspired techniques to bear on his mother’s evergreens, the results were unforgettable.

Glory be to God for wrinkly tin

From cathedral to gospel halls, tin tabernacles are regarded with a special affection in Britain. Mary Miers discovers the ups and downs of corrugated-iron churches–the original flat-packed buildings

This sceptr'd isle

Dwelling on a tiny island sounds idyllic, but is the reality quite as romantic? Tim Relf explores the charms and challenges of a most particular way of life

Hounds and dairy maids

All Georgian architects enjoyed designing estate buildings, because they gave scope for experimentation and novelty. John Martin Robinson explores the inventive– but easily overlooked–creations of James Wyatt

More than one string to her bow

The violinist on virtual teaching, playing Elgar and lobbying the Government

Exorcising the fear

The sculptor Elisabeth Frink (1930–93) responded to the climate of the Cold War with powerful works exploring man and beast as predator and prey. As her work undergoes a timely reappraisal, Mary Miers considers her career

Nidderdale

Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty

Three hundred not out

It is 300 years since the Rev Gilbert White, creator of Nature writing, father of modern ecology and forerunner of Darwin, was born. John Lewis-Stempel salutes the man who put England’s Eden into words

Wide Sargasso Sea

They can dive deeper than a nuclear submarine, make perilous journeys across the ocean not once, but twice in their lifetime and are trafficked in suitcases in their millions. Julia Platt Leonard learns more about the threats facing Anguilla anguilla

The German way

FEAR not: I am not going to tell you that the German way of using herbaceous plants is better than ours.

Shouldering the burden

The human figure supporting a structural load–the female caryatid or male atlas–is a long-running theme in British architecture. John Goodall examines this playful idea

The future is Raymond

Robotics eventually arrive at the farm, as do wildflowers and oystercatchers

Hello, sunshine

Each fossil we uncover reveals another chapter in the story of life on Earth. In an extract from his new book, A History of Plants in 50 Fossils, palaeobotanist Paul Kenrick examines a 47 million-year-old member of the sunflower family, Raiguenrayun cura

Oh, we do love to grow beside the seaside

The key to making a success of a garden on the coast is finding plants that will be happy whatever the wind, sea and sand throw at them. John Hoyland suggests some of the best to try

It really is cricket

England should beat the West Indies in the Wisden Trophy starting today, but, asks James Fisher, what will be the impact of lockdown, new faces and closed doors?

That's the way to do it !

A parrot-voiced hunchback with a hook nose, an evil smile and a ghastly taste for domestic violence could hardly be considered a role model for children, yet our love for Punch and Judy shows endures. Matthew Dennison explores the evolution of Pulcinella

‘Sir, what's the difference between a cactus and a succulent?'

SUCCULENTS: their very name is mouthwatering— unless, of course, you’re one of those gardeners who lumps them with cacti, their spiny cousins. ‘Sir, what’s the difference between a cactus and a succulent?

The sands of time past, present and future

From the reed marsh of the south to the machair of the north, dunes are the UK’s most dynamic landscapes, continually, magically, evolving. They’re also, says Mark Griffiths, much misunderstood and in need of urgent help

Full of broad beans

Once believed to be vessels for the souls of the recently departed, a freshly picked pod with broad beans nestling in their velvety white casing is a seasonal obsession for Tom Parker Bowles

Breath of fresh air

Laura Gascoigne celebrates the neglected genius of Richard Parkes Bonington (1802–28), an English painter of French seascapes who fell between two schools

Beautiful Britain

Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty

Any Fort in a storm

Interesting coastal houses for sale include a formerly piratical home on the Helford, a hidden, creekside recording studio and three Napoleonic-era forts

An Englishman's hut is his castle

From preservers of British modesty to kitsch and unloved relics, our nation’s beach huts are back in vogue.

Malvern Hills

Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty

With your head in the clouds

From cirrus to cumulonimbus, there’s never been a better time to study the clouds skudding across the sky, says Richard Webber, as he discovers more about the man who named them With your head in the clouds

THE CAPITAL ACCORDING TO ... Marine Tanguy

Rosie Paterson talks to the founder of MTArt–an award winning agency for visual artists–and Marylebone resident

Sit back and re-flax

Once a familiar sight throughout Britain, delicate blue flax flowers are once again gracing the fields of the Cotswolds. Jane Wheatley discovers more about the production and many uses of linen