COUNTRY LIFE MAGAZINE (February 18, 2025):

The legacy

Kate Green celebrates the Revd Gilbert White, the original ecologist whose 1789 book on flora and fauna has never been out of print

Mad as a box of frogs

Our amphibious friends were once thought to possess mystical powers and they now aid the advance of medicine, as Ian Morton discovers

The ghost of golden daffodils

David Jones traces the fall and rise of the Tenby daffodil — all but extinct in the wild, but making a return as a cultivated bloom

The lure of Venice

Matthew Dennison investigates Britain’s long-standing love affair with the Italian maritime republic, fuelled by Canaletto’s enchanting, kaleidoscopic vedute

Playing the fool

Who could have foreseen the influence of tarot cards down the ages? Deborah Nicholls-Lee delves into decks and divination

Dr Ximena Fuentes Torrijo’s favourite painting

The Ambassador of Chile picks a vast, dreamlike Surrealist work that portrays a turbulent world.

A sense of delight

John Goodall marvels at the outstanding array of new and restored buildings on the grand Aldourie estate in Inverness-shire

Snakes and snails and puppy-dog tales

Matthew Dennison pays tribute to Peter and Iona Opie, who pre-served much-loved folklore and fairy tales for future generations

The good stuff

Work out in style with Hetty Lintell’s elegant exercise picks

Interiors

Amelia Thorpe shares the best of London Design Week wares, plus an elegant room with a view

Shaping the view

Tiffany Daneff admires the vista of rural Northamptonshire from the delightful Modernist garden created for a converted cart house

Foraging

Listen in as John Wright shares his thoughts on wood ears, the fungus with a gelatinous texture

Arts & antiques

Thomas Girtin’s exquisite landscapes were a match for Turner before the artist was cut down in his prime, reveals Carla Passino

History triumphs over invention

A brilliantly acted historical play conquers overproduced Greek mythology for Michael Billington