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Interiors: The designer's room

Papering the walls and eaves of this guest room with a lively botanical wallpaper has lent it a summery feel

HOME AND HARBOUR

The huge expanse of the London Docklands has become a fashionable residential area. John Goodall considers the history of this area in the natural flood plain of the Thames

Racing sunshine on Cotswold walls

Freda Lewis-Stempel takes to the road to explore one of the most alluring and ancient attributes of the Cotswolds–its 4,000 miles of mellow, dry-stone walls

Fruit sours

WHEN I was at school, there was little worse than being a gooseberry.

Head for the hill

One of London’s most desirable boroughs started life as a small hilltop settlement. Carla Passino delves into the archives of Islington’s past

From source to seniority

The mighty River Thames is a surprisingly gentle affair in its infancy

The Island Of Adventure

With pristine beaches, plenty of wildlife and an Enid Blyton atmosphere, the Benmore estate, on the island of Mull, is the perfect place for a great British holiday

Where the wych elm grows

Fifty years after his death, Jenny Bardwell reflects on the life of Howards End author and King’s College Honorary Fellow E. M. Forster

The chicken and the eggs

Lockdown has made the idea of keeping hens–and harvesting their eggs–even more appealing, but the populations of a surprising number of delightful native breeds are dwindling. Kate Green canvasses expert opinion on rewarding poultry to consider

Rhythms of the Baroque

Le Jardin du Bâtiment, La Vendée, France John Hoyland visits a garden conjured from the imagination of the celebrated conductor and keen gardener William Christie

The designer's room

Interior designer Guy Goodfellow has created an elegant apartment above his Chelsea premises

The Ripple effect

The arrival on the market of three much-loved family houses in the Home Counties bodes well

Hitting the hay

Early one June morning, when the dew has condensed on the grass, John Lewis-Stempel sets off to mow a mini-meadow with the aid of his trusty ‘grim-reaper’ scythe

I compare you to a kiss from a rose

Now that the dog rose is in full bloom, Ian Morton celebrates the climbing briar–embodied by Madame Eglantine in The Canterbury Tales–whose delicate flowers and cherry-red hips have charmed and cured us for centuries

Hot under the collar

In a laundry in Bournemouth, an aged piece of machinery has spun back into action thanks to Downton Abbey and the Edwardian stiff collar’s phoenix-like resurgence. Matthew Dennison discovers the secrets of starching

An escape from politics

Arundells, 59, The Close, Salisbury, Wiltshire Property of the Sir Edward Heath Charitable Foundation An ancient house in the magical setting of Salisbury Cathedral became the home of a former Prime Minister. John Goodall looks at its remarkable story

Music In A Time Of Covid

Music in a time of Covid It’s a case of innovate or go under. From drive-in opera to face-masked players, musical bodies must find a way to keep going during the pandemic, says Claire Jackson

What price perfection?

Cecil Beaton’s cherished Chalke Valley country home and an award-winning Dutch-style house near the West Sussex coast come to the market

The great survivor

Burghley House, Lincolnshire, part II The home of Miranda and Orlando Rock In the second of two articles celebrating the 500th anniversary of the birth of William Cecil, Lord Burghley, Jeremy Musson looks at the 20th- and 21st-century story of the seat he created

Objects of lustre

Mary Miers considers the contribution made to English art by William Nicholson (1872–1949), master of the ‘unassuming sublime’

Farewell to France

I HAVE spent the past 14 years living, for as much as the tax laws allow, in an unfashionable corner of Normandy. Why?

Reach for the stars

In the 200 years since its foundation, the Royal Astronomical Society has borne witness to the discoveries of Albert Einstein, Edwin Hubble and Stephen Hawking, as well as an enduring fascination with our less-immediate surroundings, reports Jack Watkins

Orchidmania justified

Mark Griffiths celebrates the 52 species of native British orchids whose extraordinary history and unconventional beauty have beguiled and intrigued both scientists and amateurs

Going, going, gone...

Interior designers tell Amelia Thorpe about the thrills of furnishing a house at salerooms–and pick lots in recent auctions that have caught their eyes

Back from the brink

Ormiston House, Belfast, Northern Ireland After the police moved out in 1995, Ormiston was abandoned, its grounds reduced to a mess of razor wire and overgrown sycamores. Christopher Stocks applauds a remarkable renaissance

Make Cothay While The Sun Shines

Country Life can exclusively reveal that one of the jewels of the West Country is on the market

Standing in solitary splendour

The garden at Parcevall Hall, Skyreholme, North Yorkshire Steven Desmond visits the early-20th-century garden created by Sir William Milner and now triumphantly restored

When small is beautiful

Many large firms are clamouring for financial bailout, but it’s Britain’s smaller, rural ‘Cinderella’ businesses that may yet save the day

The battle for the skies

It’s one very lucky feral dove that emerges from a spectacular avian dogfight

Ripe for the picking

For Tom Parker Bowles, there’s no fruit as luscious or versatile as a juicy red tomato