Entertainment
Country Life UK
An estate made public
Bowood, Wiltshire The seat of the Marquis of Lansdowne It is 70 years since Bowood assumed its modern form. John Goodall looks at the evolution of the house, the remarkable figures associated with it and its recent development
8 min |
May 07, 2025
Country Life UK
Pretty as a picture
For those searching for a place to call home in the Cotswolds, Arabella Youens picks a selection of dream cottages for sale
2 min |
May 07, 2025
Country Life UK
Judge it by the cover
Rare or antiquarian tomes have long lit a passion in figures as diverse as Alan Titchmarsh and the late Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts. Now, the Firsts London book fair promises to feed collecting appetites
4 min |
May 07, 2025
Country Life UK
Their finest hour
Kate Green
6 min |
May 07, 2025
Country Life UK
All set for the Chelsea chop?
Plantsman John Hoyland explains why you might want to take the secateurs to give your late-flowering herbaceous perennials a prune this month
4 min |
May 07, 2025
Country Life UK
London Life
Your indispensable guide to the capital
1 min |
May 07, 2025
Country Life UK
Ride the money train
A carpenter that disappeared mid job from the childhood home of rare-book dealer Simon Finch turned out to be an infamous robber. Years later, a memento of the man’s colourful life landed in Mr Finch’s hands, as he reveals to Carla Passino
6 min |
May 07, 2025
Country Life UK
One king to rule them all
James VI and I fended off turmoil and assassination attempts to live an extravagant life, ruling over a country where the Arts flourished. On the 400th anniversary of his death, Mary Miers considers the man who united Britain's thrones
6 min |
May 07, 2025
Country Life UK
Over-egging the pudding
THE vegans never disappoint when it comes to overplaying their hand. We've had meatless meat, pigless bacon and milkless cheese.
2 min |
May 07, 2025
Country Life UK
'As dreams are made on'
In a rare glimpse behind the curtain, Selina Cadell shares the backstage secrets of appearing in The Tempest at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane earlier this year
5 min |
May 07, 2025
Country Life UK
Nothing lasts forever
A withering rosebud, the brevity of blossom and the one-day wonder of the mayfly: Nature's ephemeral beauty reminds us of our own finite existence, but melancholy transience also offers moments of magic, discovers Laura Parker
5 min |
May 07, 2025
Country Life UK
Sell your valuables with ease
The Antique Buying Collective treats gold and silver as heirlooms, not scrap. From Victorian brooches to Georgian silverware, each piece is appraised for its history, craftsmanship and charm, then thoughtfully rehomed through a trusted network. It’s a respectful approach, giving fine antiques the second life they so richly deserve
3 min |
May 07, 2025
Country Life UK
The legacy Alan Turing and computer science
As an unconventional schoolboy at Sherborne in Dorset, Alan Turing was ticked off for having 'grandiose ideas'.
1 min |
May 07, 2025
Country Life UK
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 min |
April 30, 2025
Country Life UK
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 min |
April 30, 2025
Country Life UK
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 min |
April 30, 2025
Country Life UK
The mysterious tree peony
THE idea of the tree peony inspires a nervous thrill among gardeners.
3 min |
April 30, 2025
Country Life UK
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 min |
April 30, 2025
Country Life UK
The drama of the panorama
From bucolic English scenes to Ottoman landscapes, panoramic wallpapers offer a whole world of possibilities, finds Arabella Youens
2 min |
April 30, 2025
Country Life UK
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 |
April 30, 2025
Country Life UK
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 |
April 30, 2025
Country Life UK
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 |
April 30, 2025
Country Life UK
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 min |
April 30, 2025
Country Life UK
Ready for anything
How do you prepare a country house for the challenges of the future? Arabella Youens asks the experts
6 min |
April 30, 2025
Country Life UK
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 min |
April 30, 2025
Country Life UK
The eye of the connoisseur
The late Philip Astley-Jones collected 'the quirky and the humble, as well as the grand', and the sale of some of his paintings, small bronzes and furniture didn't disappoint
4 min |
April 30, 2025
Country Life UK
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 min |
April 30, 2025
Country Life UK
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 min |
April 30, 2025
Country Life UK
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 min |
April 30, 2025
Country Life UK
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 |