Entertainment

Country Life UK
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
3 min |
September 13, 2023

Country Life UK
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.
3 min |
September 13, 2023

Country Life UK
A Scottish fairy tale
The garden of Aldourie Castle, Loch Ness The home of Mr and Mrs Anders Povlsen The team of owners, designer and gardeners has waved a magic wand over this 500-acre estate, writes George Plumptre, rejuvenating the parkland and arboretum and brilliantly enhancing the castle's heritage with boldly contemporary schemes
5 min |
September 13, 2023

Country Life UK
Back to the wall
Solitary daily pacing of Hadrian's Wall, in the footsteps of Roman soldiers, brings back family memories
2 min |
September 13, 2023

Country Life UK
For the love of a lady
An image of Mr Sponge’s sporting bride, a Danish landscape and sun-kissed Pyramids are stars of a summer sale of paintings at Christie’s
4 min |
September 06, 2023

Country Life UK
There's snow place like Crans-Montana
The Swiss ski resort is finally ready to step out of the shadows of its glitzier cousins
5 min |
September 06, 2023

Country Life UK
A clean passport of health
The world of men's wellness is booming, but can be a scary place for the uninitiated. The best solution is a holiday health spa, preferably in the sun
6 min |
September 06, 2023

Country Life UK
Green around the grilles
Deadly nightshade, hemlock and giant viper's bugloss festoon the Chelsea Physic Garden on its 350th anniversary. Russell Higham explores this lush London oasis and its history of growing lethal and healing plants
6 min |
September 06, 2023

Country Life UK
Harmonic progression
Originally laid out in the 1630s, this latest iteration of the garden, says Charles Quest-Ritson, has found a perfect balance between planting and design
6 min |
September 06, 2023

Country Life UK
Those magnificent birds we never notice
That scrap of brown flying by may be a house sparrow, a dunnock or a skylark, birds so nondescript that they are lumped together in a single category. However, there's more to 'little brown jobs' than meets the eye
5 min |
September 06, 2023

Country Life UK
Feudal splendours
In the second of two articles on this outstanding castle, John Martin Robinson describes the transformative representation of the Victorian interiors over the past three decades
8 min |
September 06, 2023

Country Life UK
Concrete results
John Betjeman admired Sir Denys Lasdun's work, but The King disliked it, and opinion remains divided to this day. Either way, the man who viewed buildings as landscape' has left an indelible mark on London
6 min |
September 06, 2023

Country Life UK
Cinders, you shall go to the (wrecking) ball
The threat of fire is never far from our heritage buildings. Lucy Denton weighs up what we can do to protect them and whether it's worth rebuilding them at all...
4 min |
September 06, 2023

Country Life UK
The coast is clear
The buoyant Cornwall market offers a bit of everything for the country-house buyer, from spy novels to spectacular sea views
5 min |
September 06, 2023

Country Life UK
Not your average Fiesta
As more than 150,000 fans of a bygone age of cars and fashion descend on Goodwood for its annual Revival, Octavia Pollock talks to the Duke of Richmond about 75 years of motorsport on his West Sussex estate
7 min |
September 06, 2023

Country Life UK
Labour's vision for rural Britain
We invited Sir Keir Starmer, Leader of the Opposition, to set out his ideas for the countryside
5 min |
September 06, 2023

Country Life UK
Generations game
INSPIRED by the television series Old People’s Home for 4 Year Olds, the community-interest social club Young At Heart (YAH) is helping elderly residents to combat loneliness in the East Sussex village of Heathfield.
1 min |
August 30, 2023

Country Life UK
Hen harrier's helping hand
TWENTY-FOUR hen-harrier chicks have been reared and released as part of a ‘pioneering’ project to help rebuild the population of the endangered bird, it has been announced.
1 min |
August 30, 2023

Country Life UK
Any fule kno that
It's been 70 years since Nigel Molesworth was launched on an unsuspecting world. Jonathan Self reflects on a dysfunctional prep-school life
4 min |
August 30, 2023

Country Life UK
Animal encounters
Budding veterinary surgeon or not, letting children take on the responsibility of animal husbandry is vital to their education and should be encouraged, says Tessa Waugh
5 min |
August 30, 2023

Country Life UK
Intelligent by design
It's no secret that we are living in a time of fast-paced change, but what is increasingly clear is that our current idea of technology's capabilities is only the tip of the iceberg, says Holly Kirkwood
6 min |
August 30, 2023

Country Life UK
Atale of three Peters
A work by the artist eventually known as Peter Candid sold handsomely in Munich and, if you're feeling altruistic, there are some worthy appeals to preserve art for the nation
4 min |
August 30, 2023

Country Life UK
Attention seekers
WANDERING around the garden this week and seeing the tatty, browning and slug-ravaged foliage of the bearded irises, it is difficult to remember how thrilling they were only a few short months ago.
3 min |
August 30, 2023

Country Life UK
Sleeping beauty awakes
James Alexander-Sinclair admires the enthusiastic revival of a family garden near the Solway Firth
5 min |
August 30, 2023

Country Life UK
Compare and contrast
Two grand country houses-one a Georgian gem, the other built to look like one-highlight our enduring love of 18th-century architecture
4 min |
August 30, 2023

Country Life UK
Feel-good spaces
Interior designers Bunny Turner and Emma Pocock believe that well-designed rooms should feel as good as they look. Now, they've set up a charity to create relaxing, good-looking spaces in hospitals, homeless shelters and community centres
2 min |
August 30, 2023

Country Life UK
The designer's room
Traditional cabinetry was a key ingredient in the sympathetic restoration of a Grade I-listed Tudor house in Shropshire
1 min |
August 30, 2023

Country Life UK
Right before my berry eyes
Musing over the dog days of summer, John LewisStempel delights in the scarlet haw- and fulsome sloe-laden hedgerows, as he stops to pluck glistening blackberries from brambles and indulges in the sweet burst of the abundant fruit
4 min |
August 30, 2023

Country Life UK
Take cover
With soil health under threat, it's time to ditch fertilisers for a gentler system. Cover crops and green manure can help restore Nature, feed insects and birds and add a splash of colour to the countryside, advocates Simon Lester
4 min |
August 30, 2023

Country Life UK
A stitch in wildflower time
Delicate cuckooflower, bluebells and cow parsley are brought to colourful life through Sarah Becvar's carefully embroidered creations, discovers Octavia Pollock, as she tries her hand at the textile artist's intricate work
3 min |