In this issue

Masterpiece
Jack Watkins salutes Sir John Vanbrugh’s exuberant Baroque creation, Blenheim Palace.

Chelsea as we have never seen it before
Rich hues and new stands: the autumn Chelsea is worth visiting, believes Kathryn Bradley-Hole.

Growing for gold
The greatest garden designer is as nothing without top-quality plants, explains Val Bourne..

How To Avoid A Chainsaw Massacre

Why foresters have to be a hardy breed

3 mins

Blenheim Palace

Britain’s greatest masterpieces

4 mins

Chelsea as we have never seen it before

Kathryn Bradley-Hole presents our guide to the highlights of the most eagerly anticipated Chelsea Flower Show in decades

6 mins

Growing for gold

It is the designer who gets the applause, but behind every successful Chelsea show garden is a nursery that supplies the plants. Val Bourne meets the busy Mark Straver of Hortus Loci

5 mins

Natural splendour

Val Bourne finds out the secrets behind the astonishing swathes of naturalised bulbs grown at Waddesdon Manor, Buckinghamshire

6 mins

Flowers for Christmas

In the garden

4 mins

A Baroque banquet

The Archer Pavilion, Wrest Park, Bedfordshire, In the care of English Heritage One of the most spectacular garden buildings of the English Baroque–as well as the architect that designed it– is ripe for reappraisal, says Helen Lawrence-Beaton

8 mins

Once bitten, twice shy

Whether they bite, suck or sting, some insects are a downright pain in the arm, says Simon Lester, as he identifies the most troublesome little nippers

7 mins

‘Through dead men's eyes'

The tradition of ‘eerie’ literature and art, invoking fear, unease and dread, has flourished in the shadows of British landscape culture for centuries, says Robert Macfarlane

5 mins

‘She can always paint more pictures'

The vigorous creativity of Vanessa Bell and her lover Duncan Grant’s work owes much to the countryside surrounding their farmhouse in the Sussex Downs, says Matthew Dennison

8 mins

Read all stories from Country Life UK

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.