Last of the summer wine

As the warm September sun begins to wane, John Lewis-Stempel visits John Clare's grave, where he laments the sad demise of Nature's favourite son and wonders why the peasant poet's genius was never fully appreciated during his lifetime

You've got to roll with it

Incorrectly considered a pest, the woodlouse-a land-based crustacean with a hard, armadillo-like outer shell that rolls into a ball to protect itself-plays a pivotal role in our gardens and literature

Under pressure

Barometers and altimeters have saved thousands of lives since their invention, although their occasionally inaccurate predictions have caused tempers to flare

The need for tweed

Given the chance create his very own 'estate' Harris tweed, David Profumo knocks at the door of Donald John Mackay, the Hebridean weaver who has changed an entire industry

And the beat goes on

Wrestling through brambles or wading through sodden cover crops are all in a day’s work for beaters. Essential to the success of a shoot day, they also often have the best fun, enthuses retired gamekeeper Simon Lester

Here's one I trained earlier

Any gun who's ever looked enviously at a neighbour's dog sitting patiently on the peg, as their own over-excited charge lunges on its lead, may want to consider buying a pre-trained gundog

Loved to life

Shilstone House, Devon The home of Sebastian and Lucy Fenwick Work to a new drawing room in the Jacobean style brings to completion the remarkable rebirth of a Devon country house

Wright on time

Frank Lloyd Wright's visionary creations brought American architecture to the forefront. Agnes Stamp rounds up iconic residences for sale looking for their next guardian

Through the looking glass

A Mirror is the best new play so far this year and raises the question of whether reality must be portrayed literally or through the filter of imagination

A blessing in disguise

With its messy, lopsided leaves and tiny yellow flowers, wood avens would never win a beauty contest, but this unprepossessing plant has a rich spiritual history and even some surprisingly snuggly qualities

Kew's Herbarium should stay put

TO describe the Herbarium at Kew Gardens as its beating heart could be seen as ironic—all the plant specimens it contains are as dead as the dodo—but its importance to science and the future of the world’s botanical riches cannot be underestimated.

Set in stone

This former working farm in the Cotswolds with its scattering of ancient buildings has been transformed into a series of beautiful gardens surrounding the main house

Taking stock in the Cotswolds

A sense of normality has crept back into this once frenetic market, but some noteworthy sales are still being achieved

Follow your (white) hart

Whether a harbinger of death, a religious symbol or an inspiration for artists and poets, the white deer has long loomed large in our imagination, as Deborah Nicholls-Lee discovers

All in the family

Exquisite craftsmanship and attention to details are the bywords at jeweller G. Collins & Sons, where the second generation is now at the helm

Lark Rise ascending

Flora Thompson’s evocative trilogy captures the ‘threadbare idyll’ of a countryside on the cusp of dramatic change, says Matthew Dennison, as he looks back on a world of rustic wonder, 80 years after the third book was written

Why my heart belongs to the Cotswolds

Arguably our most-loved Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and long at the top of tourists’ must-visit lists, the allure of the Cotswolds is as strong as ever. Paula Lester meets seven people who are lucky enough to call it home

Making history live

In the second of two articles, John Goodall looks at the stylish reinvention of this grand Regency house, home to the Berkeley family for more than four centuries

A fawn too far?

A young roe deer has a close encounter and an Indian summer saves the barley

The end of capercaillie?

CAPERCAILLIE numbers in Scotland have almost halved in the past 10 years and the bird is heading towards extinction in the UK, according to a new report by the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT).

Five decades of rare progress

THE great and the good of the rare native-breeds world descended on the House of Lord’s last week to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Rare Breeds Survival Trust.

Royal help for rural people

SOME £250,000 has been made available by the Royal Countryside Fund (RCF) for rural community organisations, it has been announced. The grants, which can be up to £25,000, are part of the RCF’s Supporting Rural Communities programme and the organisation is ‘keen to hear from people whose community projects are responding to specific needs in their village or town’.

How to make friends and entertain people

These glorious gardens are the perfect places to enjoy the last of the summer sun

Go with the flow

Scotland's natural capital is proving a boost to its prime property market

Plastic fantastic

Not all heroes wear capes, some are more likely to put on the wrong trousers and ask their dog if he wants 'more cheese'. Harry Pearson meets Wallace and Gromit, two of our best-loved Plasticine characters

Who are you calling prickly?

Hedgehogs live on the fringes of our world, adored, yet often unwittingly harmed. Spurred by her own encounter with Mrs Tiggy-Winkle, Sarah Sands explores what they tell us about our relationship with Nature and life

An architectural accident

In the first of two articles, John Goodall tells the story of how a stable was replaced by a splendid Regency seat

Fifty shades of green

Plants have developed surprising ways of spreading their seed, says John Wright, as he explores the unusual and risqué manner in which some species reproduce

Roll out the green carpet

Dusty periwinkles may have given groundcover a bad name, but, as John Hoyland points out, large plantings of a single species can be both practical and key to a garden's design. The trick is to choose the right plants

Tea with Miss Jekyll

GRAHAM STUART THOMAS perhaps the greatest gardener ever was for many years gardens adviser to the National Trust. It was not his only career, because he started his working life as a nurseryman and ended it as the author of many of our most influential books about plants and gardens. But his work for the Trust established the principles by which some 120 gardens were planted, managed and enjoyed. He would have been thrilled to learn that the Trust recently acquired Munstead Wood.