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

Angels in the house

Winged creatures, robed figures and celestial bodies are under threat in a rural church. Jo Caird speaks to the conservators working to save northern Europe's most complete Romanesque wall paintings

There is no sting in this tale

A living prehistoric relic, the scorpion fly is a permanent guest at the ugly-bug ball, says Ian Morton

Blow the froth off

Nodding and waving to passing traffic as it engulfs our roadside verges, exuberant cow parsley is almost unstoppable, says Vicky Liddell, as she takes a closer look at the umbellifer and its sometimes sinister kin

The legacy Isabella Beeton and recipes

MANY of Isabella Beeton’s 900odd recipes were not her own for which modern-day cookery writers have taken her to task—but she is credited as the first to publish them in the clear format (ingredients followed by method, including cooking time, right) that everyone uses today.

Every picture tells a story

As the National Gallery prepares to celebrate its 200th anniversary in May, Carla Passino delves into the fascinating history of 10 of its paintings, from artistic triumphs to ugly ducklings and a clever fake

Sometimes, less is more

FASHIONS in gardening come and go like those on the catwalk, they simply take a lot longer doing so: sometimes decades.

A sparkling collection

Guided by the nose of wine expert Harry Eyres, the COUNTRY LIFE team tasted some of England's finest sparkling wines and found elegance and finesse, with notes of hedgerows and seaside air, to compete with any fizz from across the Channel-surely, this is what we should be drinking now Qu

Hampering after summer

Lifting the lid on a sturdy hamper to find cold ham and ginger beer is a summer joy. Julie Harding meets the wicker weavers who make the dream come true

The heat of the moment

With temperatures rising, but formal dress codes remaining the same, Tom Chamberlin and Sophia Money-Coutts tell us how on earth they keep their cool-or, if not, at least remain standing-at the smartest events of the Season

The racing club you can bet on

The exclusive Royal Ascot Racing Club offers its membership a unique experience at the world-renowned racecourse

Escape to the hills

These four houses in the county of Surrey can offer the best of both worlds: rural settings and easy access to London

A little help from your friends

Driven to distraction by paint charts? A colour consultant could be the answer for anyone befuddled by choosing the right hue

A (crab) apple a day

They may be too tart to eat, but crab apples can be made into all sorts of good things, from jellies to salves, and may even have been Adam and Eve's forbidden fruit, says Ian Morton

The legacy Sir John Soane and his Museum

EXASPERATED and despairing at the provocative behaviour of his sons, Sir John Soane (1753-1837) decided towards the end of his life to make the British public his heir. His eldest son, John-whom he had hoped would follow him as an architect, but who had no interest in the profession -had died in 1823 and he had become estranged from his younger son George.

From royal favourite to stranger's heir - Stansted Park, West Sussex, part 1

A property of the Stansted Park Foundation In the first of two articles, John Goodall looks at the stages by which a medieval hunting lodge developed from the 17th century to become a great country house

That boat has sailed

WELL, we haven’t stopped the boats. The Rwanda Bill was supposed to deter illegal migrants. It hasn’t and it won’t.

The sinner who painted saints

Although named after an angel, Caravaggio needed no stronger reason to brawl than having his artichokes dressed with butter instead of olive oil. Maev Kennedy delves into his short and brutal life

Whistle down the wind

‘The Lady of the Nightingales’ Beatrice Harrison charmed King and country with her garden duets. One hundred years later, Julian Lloyd Webber examines whether her performances were fact or fiction

Small, but perfectly formed

With a stream running through it and views of the Uffington White Horse, this is a garden of great natural beauty cleverly designed and planted to make it seem much larger than it actually is

Wedding belles

With parkland or rural settings, country houses make for idyllic wedding venues, as the vendors of these three properties have found

Different strokes

The infinite possibilities of decorative painting brought life to villas in Pompeii, Florentine palaces and Charleston in East Sussex. Today, a revival of interest in the artform is once again precipitating a highly distinctive new look in interiors

Shepherd's delight

A prolific weed, shepherd’s purse has long been taken for granted, but it deserves greater consideration, if only for its medicinal properties

Our incomparable coastline

Our beautiful, infinitely varied coast has become central to our national concept of what makes Britain so special

To have and to hold

A collection of much-loved pieces will turn a house into a home

Get the London look

Exuberant and different, Biba helped consign to history the fustiness of post-war dressing. Matthew Dennison looks at the rise and fall of the iconic 1960s fashion label