CATEGORIES

Albion the brave

Two works illustrate the ambivalence–loyalty and pride mixed with disgust and anger–that playwrights, from Shakespeare to Alan Bennett, often display towards England

Fantastic Mr Fox

On a dreary February day, John Lewis-Stempel comes face-to-face with a brace of Vulpes vulpes crucigera among the emerging snowdrops in the dingle below his Herefordshire farmhouse

Pomp and propaganda

Jeremy Musson explores the glorious detail unveiled in a new exhibition devoted to the late Stuart Age

A palace worthy of a bishop

Encircled by water in the shadow of its cathedral, the Bishop’s Palace at Wells is a captivating survival. John Goodall looks at the history of this outstanding building 800 years after its construction

A leap of faith

Ladies, gather your red petticoats and Poundland rings–the day on which you’re ‘allowed’ to propose marriage is on the horizon, says Victoria Marston

The Future Of The Kitchen Garden

Steven Desmond applauds a ground-breaking restoration that balances productivity with beauty

Gardens For All Seasons

Winter Gardens have had a difficult late 20th century. What lies ahead for these extraordinary architectural creations, asks Marcus Binney, and might they be about to enjoy a revival?

My Favourite Painting Viktor Wynd

A Love Spell by Austin Osman Spare

Through An Italian Looking Glass

Restituted paintings, particularly a stormy scene from the life of St Clare, light up Christie’s, as Dürer poses a riddle it is natural, I suppose, to

Tied up in knots

Homo rusticus spends ‘Veganuary’ on the urban media trail

‘Where gentle Thames his winding water leads'

Huon Mallalieu reflects on the influence of the Thames on the work of Turner and other artists and writers of his time

Trumpet majors

WAS there ever such an obliging and ubiquitous plant as the daffodil?

Kent believe it

The market in the garden of England is seeing a Dutch bloom

City of arts and crafts

Bruges, Belgium

Broadening horizons

As Britain’s leading metropolitan auction houses cut their regional activities, their provincial counterparts are doing better than ever, says Emma Crichton-Miller

Moss magic

Moss softens hard edges and brings a natural ease and permanence wherever it colonises, but tends to be ignored. Tilly Ware thinks it’s time to invite it in

To the manors born

Two properties, one in Somerset, one in Berkshire, would certainly impress Audrey fforbes-Hamilton

Wearing the green willow

Of all the sylvan gifts we enjoy, Ian Morton finds that the moisture-loving willow tree has arguably bestowed the most to Mankind throughout history

The Prince and his pagodas

The Royal Pavilion, Brighton, East Sussex Brighton & Hove City Council The temporary loan by the Royal Collection Trust of fittings and furnishings removed from the Brighton Pavilion in the 1840s have transformed this lavish interior. John Goodall reports

Thank you for the music

Many composers, even Elgar and Liszt, owe their popularity to groups of devotees who were determined their music should continue to be heard. Claire Jackson reports

Royal connections

The love of sporting pursuits is commemorated in kingly and canine portraits, as a cautious estimate proves far off the mark

Putting a face to a name

Art meets anatomy as our ancestors are brought back to life through facial reconstructions, discovers Michael Murray-Fennell

Labour of love

Laura Freeman is captivated by an exhibition that explores the different ways pregnancy has been represented in portraits, from Holbein to social media

Around Britain in 50 foods

The British Isles boasts some distinctive–and distinctly eccentric–foods. Kate Green and Melanie Bryan feast their way around the country

Paper pictures

Caroline Bugler is thrilled by an exhibition that traces Picasso’s entire career through his work on and with paper

No troubles at t'mill

Feel the rush of two exciting mills in Hampshire and Gloucestershire

Crikey, what crocus!

The Garden at Little Court, Hampshire A natural at gardening, Patricia Elkington typically underplays her role in the creation of one of the finest displays of crocus in the country, says George Plumptre

‘For the use of schollars and those affected'

The buildings of a wealthy medieval college were transformed during the 17th century into a school and what is now Britain’s oldest surviving public library. Steven Brindle isits a remarkable survival

The forgotten Brontë sister

To mark Anne Brontë’s 200th birthday, Charlotte Cory looks back at the life and works of this ‘runt of the literary litter’ and finds she was by no means meek and mild

Letters from Hillside

In the first of a new quarterly series from his Somerset home, plantsman-designer Dan Pearson considers the role of the gardener in the landscape