CATEGORIES

Daring to grasp the thorn

Could this be the best way to train roses ever, asks Val Bourne

A year of cut flowers

To find out how to fill your vases with homegrown flowers from now until December, Juliet Roberts talks to Becky Crowley at Chatsworth in Derbyshire

You're gonna hear me roar

At the dawn of a new decade, Ysenda Maxtone Graham sets out her wishlist for the 2020s and Victoria Marston discovers the icons that made the 1920s such a roaring success

The old English manner - Ogston Hall, Derbyshire The home of David and Caroline Wakefield

The characterful re-working of an ancient family house in the 1850s integrated its varied elements into an impressive and coherent whole. John Martin Robinson reports

Silence of the birds

Tom Streeter, chairman of SongBird Survival, talks to Kate Green about his charity’s ambition to halt the decline of the delightful small birds that provide the countryside’s musical backdrop

Pergolas, pillars and pencil cypress - Le Clos du Peyronnet, Menton, France The garden of William Waterfield

Charles Quest-Ritson visits the legendary English Riviera garden

Land of myth and legend: sorcerers, seers and saints

Strange things happen every day and, sometimes, there is only one explanation–a touch of magic. In the last of three articles, Amy Jeffs recalls the stories of Merlin, the Holy Grail and a miraculous salmon

If walls could talk

Two castles, one in England and one in Scotland, offer history, escapism and a touch of the unexpected

I spy with my little eye

Being immortalised as a Spy caricature in the pages of Vanity Fair was once a gentleman’s dream, observes Eleanor Doughty

Boeing, Boeing, gone

Major flight paths criss-cross over plenty of covetable areas of the UK. Eleanor Doughty explores what it’s like to live with a 747 soundtrack and whether it affects property values.

Beyond the tears

The brilliant, innovative photographer at the forefront of Surrealism was much more than merely Picasso’s mistress, says Matthew Dennison

An ode to my mother's farm

On a frosty January morning, John Lewis-Stempel builds a ‘dry hedge’ in tribute to the old ways that once abounded on the Worcestershire farm where his mother grew up

Land Of Myth And Legend: Origins

We’ve all heard of Zeus, the Minotaur and Icarus, but what of Gogmagog, Albina and King Bladud? In the first of three articles, Amy Jeffs explores the origin myths of the British Isles

Good Things Come To Those Who Wait

After three years of stalling, the English country-house market picked up again in 2019

52 Weeks To Remember

Whatever the time of year, there’s always something uplifting to do at a National Trust property.

The living legend

Barnaby Rogerson admires a bewitching array of objects that trace a 3,000-year old obsession

Take me to Neverland

Intelligent, devoted and adept at working all country, the flatcoated retriever is the Peter Pan of the dog world with a tail that never stops wagging

Life and sole of the party

Like a gentleman heading for supper at his London club, the assuredly aristocratic Dover sole enjoys a quiet life and is best served simply, says an adoring Tom Parker Bowles

Stick a pin in it

Baroness Hale’s sparkling spider took the internet by storm–and rightly so. The chameleons of the jewellery box, brooches are versatile, glamorous and prized by royalty. Now, they’re back in vogue

Roll on, Beethoven

He was the composer who ripped up the rulebook and freed music for generations to come. Pippa Cuckson salutes the tortured genius of Ludwig van Beethoven as the world celebrates his 250th birthday this year

Breaking barriers

The Berlin Wall becomes a force for good at the Brussels Art Fair, where model trains rumble through an international selection

Wishful Thinking For 2020

Predictions for the interior-design world in the year ahead

‘We identify what is good about Britain'

The director-general of the National Trust on how the charity fulfills 21st-century needs

Medieval secrets, new ideas

Canons Ashby, Northamptonshire One of Britain’s earliest post-medieval gardens has been sensitively and authentically restored, yet modernised at the same time. Tiffany Daneff finds the fusion of old and new succeeds on all levels

Reuniting a family collection

An ambitious restoration project undertaken by the National Trust in collaboration with the donor family has transformed one of Northern Ireland’s most important country houses.

Living national treasures

A number of properties in the care of the National Trust are still occupied by the families who gave them to the nation. John Goodall speaks to donors’ descendants who remain closely involved in the life of these places to find how they help keep them alive for the public

If you only climb one mountain

The former director-general reveals her favourite walk on National Trust land

Banking on the spectacular

The story of the family that created one of the National Trust’s best-known houses is revealed to Clive Aslet through its collection of art and furniture

Country Life's Favourite Hotels - Indonesia And Miami, USA

Bawah Reserve, Indonesia

Go Where The Sun Shines

As temperatures plummet and the hours of daylight diminish, Rob Crossan rounds up the best winter-sun destinations for short-, mid- and long-haul holidays