Spring-fed genius

The garden at Selehurst, West Sussex The home of Mr and Mrs Michael Prideaux The streams that trickle through this woodland valley in the Sussex Weald have enabled the planting of thousands of different trees and flowering shrubs

Stars of the West

Wonderful houses of the West Country are enhanced by characterful owners, from the man who bought the whole of Exmoor to Jane Seymour and Sir Terence Conran

There's no place like home

Riding a train may not be as joyful as clicking a pair of ruby slippers, but there is a kind of magic to the new one-to-two-hour commute, because if you’re only in the office a few days a week, what does a little extra journey time matter, when it increases your buying power? With the flexible-working ethic broadening our horizons, you may find yourself shopping for a bigger, better house, without actually spending more money

'Because it's there': the Mallory and Irvine mystery

It’s now 100 years since George Mallory and Andrew ‘Sandy’ Irvine disappeared high on Everest; speculation has been rife ever since. Robin Ashcroft takes a broad perspective

Elegant and congruous

In the second of two articles, John Goodall looks at the abbey’s history after the Reformation and its descent in the hands of one family to the present

Under the Cornish sun

From the late 19th century, artists attached themselves like barnacles to Cornwall's shores, forming colonies that changed both art and the lives of local people

The contented garden

George Plumptre returns to the garden of the American artist John Hubbard and finds it basking in comfortable maturity

Safe havens of the West

Wildlife and people alike can thrive in four magnificent estates in Wiltshire, Somerset and Devon

A bit of light relief

Why paler hues are back in favour

A wop bop a loo bop a lop bam boom

As he prepares for another season on the fly, our correspondent considers what it is about fishing that has long enthralled the great and the good-from Coco Chanel to US presidents, Robert Redford and Eric Clapton

Walking with giants

On a meander around the mighty summits of Dartmoor, Manjit Dhillon recalls tales of warring giants, complex marriages and clotted cream

Romancing the stone

His walls are works of art, but it is Tom Trouton's innovative trees, fruits and even newts that set him apart as a master of dry stone

Claws for celebration

Caught in a pincer movement? Feeling the need to scuttle away? You're not the only one: Helen Scales gets under the shell of the UK's crabbiest crustaceans

Why we love (and hate) the A303

Sometimes, it is the journey we remember, rather than the destination. Julie Harding travels the long, winding-and sometimes frustrating road to the West Country, taking in the sights along the way

A valley of delightful beauty

In the first of two articles, David Robinson considers the medieval abbey at Hartland, beginning with its nebulous origins as an ancient religious site associated with the cult of St Nectan

Put some graphite in your pencil

Once used for daubing sheep, graphite went on to become as valuable as gold and wrote Keswick's place in history. Harry Pearson inhales that freshly sharpened-pencil smell

Dulce et decorum est

Michael Sandle is the Wilfred Owen of art, with his deeply felt sense of the futility of violence. John McEwen traces the career of this extraordinary artist ahead of his 88th birthday

Heaven is a place on earth

For the women of the Bloomsbury group, their country gardens were places of refuge, reflection and inspiration, as well as a means of keeping loved ones close by, discovers Deborah Nicholls-Lee

It's the plants, stupid

I WON my first prize for gardening when I was nine years old at prep school. My grandmother was delighted-it was she who had sent me the seeds of godetia, eschscholtzia and Virginia stock that secured my victory.

Pretty as a picture

The proliferation of honey-coloured stone cottages is part of what makes the Cotswolds so beguiling. Here, we pick some of our favourites currently on the market

How golden was my valley

These four magnificent Cotswold properties enjoy splendid views of hill and dale

The fire within

An occasionally deadly dinner-party addition, this perennial plant would become the first condiment produced by Heinz

Sweet chamomile, good times never seemed so good

Its dainty white flowers add sunshine to the garden and countryside; it will withstand drought and create a sweet-scented lawn that never needs mowing. What's not to love about chamomile

All I need is the air that I breathe

As the 250th anniversary of 'a new pure air' approaches, Cathryn Spence reflects on the 'furious free-thinker' and polymath who discovered oxygen

My art is in the garden

Monet and Turner supplied the colours, Canaletto the structure and Klimt the patterns for the Boodles National Gallery garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

Wonders of the Weald

Three enchanting houses amid rolling hills have been well cared for

Bright ideas brought to life

Prepare to be dazzled: six designers currently dreaming up rooms for this year's WOW!house share their plans

Mane stay

A hard-wearing textile with a pearlescent sheen, horsehair is much more than mere mattress stuffing. Deborah Nash meets the last British company creating this heritage fabric

Slugging it out

Have you ever encountered leopard slugs in the throes of passion? They may lack grace, but some of our toughskinned mollusc species are a curiously beautiful sight

'When the ass begins to bray, surely rain will come that day'

Is a leaping trout more accurate a rain gauge than Michael Fish? John Lewis-Stempel ponders the accuracy of proverbs portraying our wildlife as weather forecasters