Country Life UK Magazine - April 30, 2025

In this issue

A vibrant era for our country houses The seeds of a renaissance for the British country house were sown in the mid 20th century, argues John Martin Robinson. In cloud cuckoo land The evocative, echoing cuckoo’s call reverberating across the meadows heralds the arrival of spring for John Lewis-Stempel Today’s pollen account Hayfever sufferers may not agree, but Ian Morton argues that pollen’s contribution to life on earth is not to be sneezed at.

The schoolmaster by René Magritte

Charlotte Mullins comments on The schoolmaster

1 min

A vibrant era for our country houses

Rather than perceiving the mid 20th century as a troubled period in the history of the country house, John Martin Robinson argues that it was perhaps one of the most interesting, unexpected and enterprising

7 mins

Bringing 'beauty' back

Lord Deben explains the thinking behind his 'Gummer's Law', which provided for the creation of new country houses within planning law

3 mins

Radbourne Hall, Derbyshire

IN 2014, following the death of her mother at the age of 102, Lady Chichester inherited this fine 1740s Palladian house.

1 min

A question of technique

Craft-makers stand equal with architects and patrons in the trinity of the country-house creator. Mary Miers meets five experts keeping our historic houses and their collections alive, repairing, conserving, reinstating and adding new layers of creativity

8 mins

Chillingham Castle, Northumberland

ON January 27, 1344, a certain Thomas of Heton sought a licence from Edward III to 'fortify and battlement his manor of Chevelyngham with stone and lime and to make the same a castle or for-talice to be held by him and his heirs without impediment'.

1 min

Asleep no more

Fifty years ago, there were very few garden designers. Now, horticulture is a major industry, thanks to the extraordinary revival of the country-house garden, finds Tiffany Daneff

8 mins

Knowsley Hall, Lancashire

IN 1997, after it had spent 35 years in institutional use, the Earl and Countess of Derby began to restore Knowsley Hall, which stands only 11 miles from the centre of Liverpool.

1 min

And now for something different

The days of pulling up the drawbridge are long gone. Over the past 50 years, many owners have turned around the fortunes of their country houses with imaginative diversification, becoming major rural employers in the process, as they tell Kate Green

9 mins

Stowe, Buckinghamshire

THE spectacular Marble Saloon, designed for Earl Temple in the 1770s and completed for his nephew, the 1st Marquess of Buckingham, is the centrepiece of Stowe, one of the largest Classical country houses ever created.

1 min

Ready for anything

How do you prepare a country house for the challenges of the future? Arabella Youens asks the experts

6 mins

Wimborne St Giles, Dorset

THE Great Dining Room at Wimborne St Giles was originally created by Henry Flitcroft in the 1750s and restored, together with the house, in the course of a far-reaching renewal of the property by the Earl and Countess of Shaftesbury between 2011 and 2015.

1 min

Best-kept secrets

With the arrival of spring, the rural property market in Norfolk has taken off in style, as some of the county's less well-known, but historically significant country houses come to the market

5 mins

Odd ones out

Who needs old rectories and manor houses when you can have Fagin's den or a windmill that can withstand lightning strikes? As the Monty Python boys say, 'and now for something completely different...'

2 mins

The drama of the panorama

From bucolic English scenes to Ottoman landscapes, panoramic wallpapers offer a whole world of possibilities, finds Arabella Youens

2 mins

You saw it here first

The gardens may grab the headlines at Chelsea today, but, writes John Hoyland, the show's greatest legacy is the plants it brings to our attention

4 mins

The mysterious tree peony

THE idea of the tree peony inspires a nervous thrill among gardeners.

3 mins

The sweetest thing

As pretty as its name, with top notes of aniseed perfume and a kiss more saccharine than sucrose, this perennial is enough to inspire poetry, says John Wright

3 mins

In cloud cuckoo land

On a vivid yet bracing April morning, John Lewis- Stempel savours the increasingly rare privilege of hearing a cuckoo's evocative call echoing over the meadows and rejoices in this special herald of spring

4 mins

Today's pollen account

Pollen often hits the headlines for making us sneeze, but it plays a vital role in far more serious matters

2 mins

A rainbow of ribbons

Once banned by Parliament for being 'wicked', maypole dancing—with its multi-coloured unfurling of fabric and flowers—also affords a sense of mathematical satisfaction

3 mins

The once and future master

With his quiet landscape prints, Utagawa Hiroshige brought beauty into the everyday life of 19th-century Japan, but his influence also reached across time and space to inspire Vincent van Gogh, James McNeill Whistler and many contemporary artists

8 mins

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Country Life UK Magazine Description:

Country Life; architecture, gardens, countryside, property, the very best of British life Published by IPC Media. Country Life, the quintessential English magazine, is undoubtedly one of the biggest and instantly recognisable brands in the UK today. It has a unique core mix of contemporary country-related editorial and top end property advertising. Editorially, the magazine comments in-depth on a wide variety of subjects, such as architecture, the arts, gardens and gardening, travel, the countryside, field-sports and wildlife. With renowned columnists and superb photography Country Life delivers the very best of British life every week.