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COUNTRY LIFE MAGAZINE – JANUARY 7, 2026

January 6, 2026 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

COUNTRY LIFE MAGAZINE: The latest issue features ‘Portmeirion’ – A vision of the picturesque.

A peculiar genius

Kathryn Ferry salutes the fore-sight of Clough Williams-Ellis a century on from the opening of his Picturesque confection at Portmeirion in Gwynedd

Spreads from Country Life January 7, 2025

Pour show

The winter ritual of wassailing is an ancient plea for abundant apple harvests that is indulged in to this day, finds Laura Parker

Shoot for the stars

Relive the most memorable moments of the past 100 years with 22 incredible images chosen by Lucy Ford, Emily Anderson and Carla Passino

London Life

Will Hosie considers how water defines and divides Londoners and ponders the possible renewal of a rivalry between the National Gallery and Tate Modern, plus our writers have all you need to know this month

In the garden

Grow ground nuts, says Mark Diacono, and enjoy tubers with a taste of nutty new potatoes

Helen Allen’s favourite painting

The executive director of the US Winter Show picks an intriguing portrait sporting a quizzical look

Country-house treasure

John Goodall is captivated by the fighting cats in a 17th-century mosaic above the Long Library fireplace at Holkham Hall, Norfolk

The legacy: Agatha Christie

Kate Green acclaims murder-mystery-writing maestro Agatha Christie, whose 66 detective novels have sold more than two billion copies worldwide

Playing your cards right

Matthew Dennison is holding all the aces as he traces the history of playing cards right back to 9th-century China

The good stuff

Glide seamlessly into 2026 with Amie Elizabeth White’s stylish selections for the ski slopes

Interiors

Giles Kime welcomes the world of possibilities offered by free-standing kitchens and Arabella Youens admires the boot room of a house in Gloucestershire

Shining a light on the past

Carl Linnaeus’s glorious 18th-century herbarium is showcased in a new collection of exquisite photographs by Lena Granefel, discovers Christopher Stocks

Travel

Pamela Goodman takes in peerless Himalayan panoramas from a remote luxury lodge in India and, in her monthly column, wonders what the Normans did for us

Arts & antiques

Actor and poet Leigh Lawson tells Carla Passino why he will never part with memorabilia dedicated to music-hall queen Marie Lloyd, his great-aunt

Scale model

Abundant mackerel was once greeted with garlands thrown into the sea. David Profumo profiles Scomber scombrus

Culture, History, Homes, Magazines, Travel

COUNTRY LIFE MAGAZINE – DECEMBER 31, 2025

December 31, 2025 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

Country Life December 31, 2025 | Country Life

COUNTRY LIFE MAGAZINE: The latest issue features ‘Britain in 50 Treasures’ – The monuments that make the nation.

Dangerous libations

How do you cope with a Kung-Fu Panda? What do you do when the Temple of Doom strikes? Olly Smith reveals how to deal with hurricane-force hangovers

Magazine spread from Country Life 31 December 2025

Interiors

Is design destined to be more Moorish or will Egyptomania rule? Country Life predicts the shape of things to come in 2026 and Giles Kime says painted furniture is key to a laidback look

Jacu Strauss’s favourite painting

The creative director of the Lore Group chooses an intriguing unfinished 1830s painting that is still confounding art experts almost 200 years on

Learn it by art

The story of the British Isles is peppered with ancient artefacts and much-loved monuments. Charlotte Mullins surveys the centuries through 50 treasures, from the Ice Age caves of Derbyshire’s Creswell Crags to Nelson’s Ship in a Bottle at Greenwich in London

Are you ready to order?

Artfully designed menus have long been a tasty proposition for collectors, aided by designs from leading artistic lights such as Ravilious, Bawden and David Hockney, finds John F. Müller

Country-house treasures

John Goodall treads the silver-grey elm floorboards of the remarkably well-preserved 1630s hall dais at Restoration House in Rochester, Kent

Culture and commerce

John Martin Robinson marvels at the rejuvenation of Salts Mill, a vast Victorian factory building at Saltaire in West Yorkshire, founded on the prosperity of the British wool trade

The good stuff

Enter the new year fresh-faced and on tip-top form with the help of Amie Elizabeth White’s selection of skincare stars

Glistens like coral

The proliferation of new types of Japanese flowering quince prompted a four-year RHS trial. Charles Quest-Ritson cheers the rise of Chaenomeles and reveals his favourite varieties

Arts & Antiques

The exquisitely rendered Cornish luggers sailing serenely across Henry Scott Tuke’s 1908 new year card to a friend make it a prized possession for Michael Grist, as he tells Carla Passino

Culture, History, Homes, Magazines, Travel

COUNTRY LIFE MAGAZINE – DECEMBER 24, 2025

December 24, 2025 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

An image of a young boy and girl waving at the flying scotsman as it steams past

COUNTRY LIFE MAGAZINE: The latest issue features ‘Just The Ticket’ – The Golden Age of the Railway

Full steam ahead

Jonathan Self recalls the ‘railway mania’ that gripped the nation after the inaugural 26-mile run of Stephenson’s Locomotion No.1 from Shildon to Stockton

Mind the (hungry) gap!

Starched tablecloths and wood panelling have Emma Hughes dreaming of a return to the golden age of railway dining

Spread from Country Life 24 December 2025

Nature on track

The 20,000 miles of railway lines criss-crossing the country are welcome ‘green corridors’ for wildlife, finds Vicky Liddell

Small, but mighty

Octavia Pollock marvels at the magic of miniature railways tracing small-gauge tracks across the British countryside

Rhythm of the night

There is a wonderful sense of romance and adventure in over-night rail travel. Mary Miers revels in the sleeper-train experience

All signals green

From Suffolk to Scotland, via the Settle-Carlisle line, blooming station gardens are a sight to behold for Andrew Martin

Picking up steam

All aboard! Octavia Pollock hails the heroes of heritage railways who ensure our fascination with the age of steam rolls on and on

Drawing tracks

Carla Passino explores art’s love affair with the railway, seen in the bustle of Earl’s platforms and the serenity of a Ravilious carriage

Why don’t we ask the next train to take our love to Daddy?

The much-loved locomotives of literature reveal the softening of our attitudes to steam travel, suggests Deborah Nicholls-Lee

Rail travel

Emma Love lets the train take the strain as she rounds up the latest in luxury journeys, calling at stations from Rome to Rajasthan

The missing lynx in the food chain?

Roger Morgan-Grenville weighs up the pros and cons of calls to reintroduce an apex predator — the lynx — to the British Isles

Properties of the week

Julie Harding gets the party started with a quintet of homes boasting entertaining spaces

Sacred grounds

Tim Richardson applauds Paulo Pejrone’s revival of the 16th-century monastic gardens of Il Redentore in Venice, Italy

Culture, History, Homes, Magazines, Travel

COUNTRY LIFE MAGAZINE – SEPTEMBER 24, 2025

September 24, 2025 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

COUNTRY LIFE MAGAZINE: The latest issue features St Michael’s Mount at low tide.

The roads less travelled

Now you see them, now you don’t: Roger Morgan-Grenville treads the ephemeral sea paths of Britain, those often-ancient routes at the mercy of the tides

Spreads from Life Country Life 24 September 2025

A stitch in time

Deborah Nicholls-Lee unearths Mr Darcy’s shirt, Bertie Wooster’s dressing gown and Poldark’s tricorn hat in a fascinating trawl through the Cosprop wardrobes

Property market

A quartet of significant West Country houses is seeking buyers, reports Penny Churchill

Properties of the week

A Devon longhouse, Cornwall cottage and Somerset thatch catch Arabella Youens’s eye

When your art is in the right place

To whom do the experts turn for the best in framing, restoring and valuing? Leading art and antique dealers open their little black books for Amelia Thorpe

Leslie MacLeod Miller’s favourite painting

The impresario picks a portrait of a 19th-century singing sensation

Country-house treasures

The fortunes of a Cumbrian castle rest with the ‘Luck of Muncaster’, finds John Goodall

A Regency prospect

Steven Brindle looks at the remarkable story behind a fine Georgian creation — Samuel Wyatt’s Belmont House in Kent

The legacy

Emma Hughes toasts the genius of Dennis Potter, the man who gave us the darkly comic and gritty Singing Detective

Beginning to see the light

John Lewis-Stempel and his dogs are up with the skylark to witness the dawning of a spectacular September day

Luxury

Amie Elizabeth White on tartan, tweed, timepieces and fruity jewels, plus a few of Victoria Pendleton’s favourite things

Interiors

Amelia Thorpe admires the makeover of a guest bedroom at a Scottish country house and picks the best bedside tables

Plum advice

Charles Quest-Ritson shares his favourite forms of plum, gage, mirabelle and damson from the 20-plus varieties he has grown

Slightly foxed

Second-hand bookshops can be a goldmine of gardening wisdom, says John Hoyland

Scale model

David Profumo is transported back to childhood by the spiny, swashbuckling stickleback

Travel

Mark Hedges takes a break from reality on Bryher, a heather-clad haven in the Isles of Scilly

Arts & antiques

Art dealer John Martin tells Carla Passino why he can never part with a panel he stumbled upon by Nigerian sculptor Asiru Olatunde

Culture, History, Homes, Magazines, Travel

COUNTRY LIFE MAGAZINE – JULY 16, 2025 PREVIEW

July 15, 2025 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

COUNTRY LIFE MAGAZINE: The latest issue features the sustainability special, looking at the animals who are saving our landscape, solar power, and the best of the Proms.

Give us, this day, our sustainable daily bread

From eating better-quality meat to buying seasonal and local produce, Jane Wheatley suggests how we can shop smart to aid the environment

Solar, so good

Banks of solar panels covering farmland have sparked much opposition, but, with local input, could they be a force for good, wonders William Kendall

No job too big

Kate Green trumpets the native breeds best suited to grazing Britain’s green and pleasant land, as our farmers walk a fine line balancing food production and biodiversity recovery

‘It’s terrifying, but also an absolute dream’

Henrietta Bredin talks to Errollyn Wallen, Master of the King’s Music, about composing in a lighthouse and going on stage

Liz Fenwick’s favourite painting

The novelist picks a trailblazing nude by the first female RA

A passion for plasterwork

John Goodall discovers a neo-Classical delight when he takes a peek behind the unassuming frontage of a Swansea terrace

The legacy

Kate Green admires Rachel Carson’s seminal Silent Spring

A wing and a prayer

Hannah Bourne-Taylor extols the importance of feeding over the ‘hungry gap’ to help our beleaguered farmland birds

Country Life’s Little Green Book

We all want to shop well, but how to decipher the marketing? Madeleine Silver picks a handful of brands that do what they say

The good stuff

Let those bangles jangle, urges Hetty Lintell, with her bracelet pick

Interiors

Arabella Youens admires the rich refurbishment of a Scottish fishing lodge and laments the scarcity of trusty English oak

True grit

Gravel gardens are becoming ever more popular, but what are the secrets to making them a success, wonders Non Morris

Winging it

The ‘flying barn door’ that is the magnificent white-tailed eagle is returning to our shores. Mark Cocker, for one, is very glad

Arts & antiques

A lost technique is being revived by a Swiss sculptor, as pioneer-ing women of science are celebrated, reveals Carla Passino

War and peace

Tom Young’s intricate, powerful paintings capture the beauty and the heartbreak of Lebanon. Octavia Pollock meets him

All the world on one stage

Michael Billington finds Ralph Fiennes at his brooding best as Sir David Hare’s engrossing new play premieres in Bath

Culture, History, Homes, Magazines, Photography, Travel

COUNTRY LIFE MAGAZINE – JULY 2, 2025 PREVIEW

July 2, 2025 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

COUNTRY LIFE MAGAZINE: The latest issue features “Take The Plunge’… –

Come on in, the water’s lovely

The seaside lido is enjoying a fresh wave of popularity a century and more after its first appearance on the British coast. Kathryn Ferry dives in

Winging it

Watch out, watch out, there’s a thief about! Mark Cocker warns that no undergarment is safe from the resurgent red kite, a bird soaring back from near extinction

Travel

• Christopher Wallace checks in to a new opening in Marrakech, Morocco’s Mecca for luxury hotels

• Teresa Levonian Cole blazes a trail in the Spanish Pyrenees

• Pamela Goodman gets on her bike to explore the Welsh border country

Life’s a pretty picnic

Deborah Nicholls-Lee shares a hamper-full of tasty morsels from the long and varied history of alfresco dining on canvas

Ricardo Afonso’s favourite painting

The musical-theatre actor chooses an ‘otherworldly’ work that stirs complex emotions

The legacy

Amie Elizabeth White salutes Sir James Clark Ross, the vastly experienced naval officer who discovered Antarctica in 1841

In God’s acre we trust

Laura Parker learns how the absence of interference over centuries enabled our wildlife-rich graveyards to become a ‘Noah’s Ark of species’

Keeping a low profile

The countryside is littered with storm-damaged trees that simply refuse to die. Jack Watkins celebrates great arboreal survivors

The good stuff

Hetty Lintell puts her best foot forward with a selection of sandals

Interiors

Arabella Youens commends an elegant townhouse kitchen and Amelia Thorpe picks out rhubarb accessories to brighten the home

London Life

• Will Hosie assesses the cost of our partying in the parks

• How the style set are reaffirming that west is best

Lost, but not forgotten

George Plumptre applauds the masterful restoration of the Arts-and-Crafts garden at Knowle House in East Sussex

Arts & antiques

Laura Dadswell believes her pair of 18th-century Venetian mirrors is the fairest of them all, as she tells Carlo Passino

Culture, History, Homes, Magazines, Travel

COUNTRY LIFE MAGAZINE – JUNE 25, 2025 PREVIEW

June 24, 2025 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

COUNTRY LIFE MAGAZINE: The latest issue features ‘Hearts of Stone’ – Why we love our ancient sites…

We’re still standing

Tom Howells explores the mystery and magnetism of the thousands of ancient British monoliths and monuments, from Cornwall to the Orkneys

Going down in a blazer of glory

It is a favourite of royalty and rowers, worn from Augusta to the Oscars — can there be a more versatile jacket than the blazer, asks Harry Pearson

Country Life International

• Russell Higham uncovers the secret society of Cascais
• Holly Kirkwood finds the age of chivalry alive and well in Valletta
• Matthew Dennison searches for traces of the Venetian Empire in Greece
• Tom Parker Bowles savours superb Spanish dishes
• Eileen Reid tracks the influence of two intellectual giants of Avignon

Winging it

Mark Cocker welcomes the renaissance of the peregrine falcon, a raptor that stoops to conquer at up to 240mph

New series: Scale model

Overfishing threatens the very existence of the cod, but Gadus morhua remains a monster of the deep for David Profumo

Dick Bird’s favourite painting

The stage designer chooses a monumental example of early-19th-century political art

The virtues of history

John Goodall celebrates 100 years of the headquarters of the Worshipful Company of Ironmongers, one of London’s Great Twelve City Livery Companies

The legacy

Leslie Hore-Belisha created a beacon of hope for road users everywhere, finds Kate Green

Luxury

Anniversary jewels and Art Deco delights with Hetty Lintell, plus Willow Crossley’s favourite things

Interiors

Arabella Youens admires the kitchen of a house in the Scottish Borders and considers the earthly pleasures of terracotta

Laying ghosts to rest

A spectacular garden now graces the grounds of the old Somerset-shire Coal Canal Company HQ, as Caroline Donald discovers

Water, water everywhere

John Lewis-Stempel delves into the depths of a field pond, mesmerised by the seemingly endless variety of aquatic life

Arts & antiques

A quartet of journeys with The King raised the profile of plein-air artist Warwick Fuller, who talks Royal Tours with Carla Passino

Making an impression

French Impressionism was a slow burner in Britain as Monet and Pissarro gradually influenced our art scene, reveals Caroline Bugler

And much more

Culture, History, Homes, Magazines, Travel

COUNTRY LIFE MAGAZINE – JUNE 11, 2025 PREVIEW

June 10, 2025 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

COUNTRY LIFE MAGAZINE: The latest issue features ‘The Best of Britain’ – The places, people, places and craftsmen that make this country great…

My piece of Heaven

From Belvoir to Belfast, the Exe to the Itchen and Holkham to Herefordshire, 11 friends of Country Life reveal what makes their beloved little corner of the British Isles stand out from the crowd

All hail the new Carolean age

A host of Charles III’s creative subjects are echoing the artistic achievements of the Restoration. Kate Green, John Goodall and Carla Passino investigate

Best in class

Julie Harding showcases the British-made products that are the embodiment of excellence both at home and abroad

Blooming brilliant

Charles Quest Ritson meets the dedicated custodians of our precious plant heritage

Susan Owens’s favourite painting

The art historian and author chooses a coastal masterpiece that brings the elements to life

The legacy

‘We’re doomed’—Kate Green salutes the hapless Captain Mainwaring and his motley, but much-loved Dad’s Army troops

Enthroning harmony

The King’s decades-long quest for harmony shines through in his architectural ventures, as Clive Aslet discovers

Trunk call

Julie Harding reveals how The King is backing efforts to save our majestic oaks, the arboreal icons of the British landscape

Winging it

Mark Cocker hails the original ‘jump jet’, the heady hen harrier

Life is like a rainbow

The vibrant hues of Nature’s paint palette are the daubs of warning, mating and more, suggests John Lewis-Stempel

Wink and you’ll miss it

There’s nothing tame about tiddly-winks, finds Amie Elizabeth White

Penny for your thoughts

Does familiarity breed contempt for Matthew Dennison as he delves into enduring proverbs?

Heritage threads

Hetty Lintell heads into the countryside to celebrate the very best of British fashion

No, Mr Bond, I expect you to cycle…

Paul Henderson joins the Q for Aston Martin’s top two-wheeler

Interiors

Giles Kime is wowed as the WOW!house opens its doors

A phoenix rises

Tiffany Daneff admires the revival of the historic gardens at Bledhow House in Buckinghamshire

A storm in a teacup

Jonathon Jones shares the dos and don’ts of brewing up

Arts & antiques

The politics, passions and portaits of wealthy American heiresses, with Carla Passino

Do judge the book by its cover

Carla Passino toasts the British illustrators who gave life to the worlds of Winnie-the-Pooh, Alice in Wonderland and Peter Rabbit

And much more

Culture, History, Homes, Magazines, Travel

COUNTRY LIFE MAGAZINE – JUNE 4, 2025 PREVIEW

June 3, 2025 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

COUNTRY LIFE MAGAZINE (June 3, 2025): The latest issue features...

The Hampshire Chronicles

From trout to treasure and wine to witches, it’s the county that has it all. Country Life writers present 13 tales tall and true from Hampshire’s rich history.

Country Life magazine spreads 4 June 2025

The legacy

Kate Green salutes Edward, 3rd Baron Montagu of Beaulieu and his matchless motoring collection

A room with a view

Adam Rattray visits the rented lodgings where Jane Austen spent her final days and reveals secrets recently uncovered in the house in Winchester, Hampshire

City of legend

Winchester is a place of kings and cobbles. Jason Goodwin visits our venerable one-time capital and finds it ageing well

London Life

Will Hosie welcomes top-class women’s tennis back to The Queen’s Club and washes down burgers with martinis to mark the return of the high-low restaurant, plus our writers have all you need to know this month

Travel

Emma Love has all the latest news, from Arles to Antwerp, Steven King hails the revival of Madrid and Pamela Goodman learns to love camels

Into the Goodwood

The West Sussex estate’s fresh focus on art and education is heralded with an exhibition of Dame Rachel Whiteread’s work

Nishat Khan’s favourite painting

The composer and musician chooses a fascinating scene that you could almost step into

The good stuff

Hetty Lintell strides into summer with bold red-and-white stripes

Interiors

A copper-topped kitchen catches the eye of Arabella Youens

Shape shifters

Non Morris is mesmerised by the tiered grass amphitheatre sculpted by Kim Wilkie in the garden of The Holt in Hampshire

Winging it

Mark Cocker hails the majestic merlin, the favoured hunting foil of Mary, Queen of Scots

Arts & antiques

Mollie Dent-Brocklehurst tells Carla Passino why she’ll never part with a remarkable drawing of a little girl with her hair ablaze

Culture, History, Homes, Magazines, Travel, Uncategorized

COUNTRY LIFE MAGAZINE – MAY 7, 2025 PREVIEW

May 7, 2025 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

COUNTRY LIFE MAGAZINE (May 7, 2025): The latest issue features ‘The Cotswolds Issue’…

An outpouring of joy

Jubilation and bittersweet tears greeted the end of hostilities in 1945, reports Octavia Pollock.

May 7 issue spreads — Mrs Olga Hopkins, Second World War veteran, takes centre stage on this week’s Frontispiece.

The carver, the baker and fancy shoemaker

Jane Wheatley meets some of the craftspeople enhancing the Cotswolds’ standing as a hive of creativity.

‘I am the Marquis of marmite’

Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen is applying his trademark swagger to a new passion for painting, reveals James Fisher.

Nothing lasts forever

Laura Parker reveals in those ‘blink and you’ll miss it’ moments that only Nature can provide.

The Cotswolds never disappoints (above)

Penny Churchill showcases glorious country houses for sale in two ‘golden triangles’.

All set for the Chelsea chop?

This it the time to prune our late-flowering herbaceous perennials — join John Hoyland in wielding the secateurs.

Martina Froth’s favourite painting

The Yale Centre for British Art Director chooses a work tinged with a melancholy sadness.

An estate made public

John Goodall investigates the gradual architectural revolution of Bowood in Wiltshire, a house that boasts a remarkable history.

The legacy

Kate Green pay tribute to Alan Turing, the code cracker who curtailed the Second World War.

The Badminton A-Z (above)

From amateur riders to Zaragoza, Kate Green guides you through the world-class eventing action.

New series: Winging it

The elegant hobby is capable of snatching swallows in flight — Mark Cocker is rapt by raptors.

The good stuff

Hetty Lintell is wowed by watches.

Interiors

Restful bedroom furniture and accessories, with Amelia Thorpe.

London Life

Rosie Paterson reveals how bees are creating a buzz in the capital, our writers have all your need to know this month and Selina Cadell shares her on-stage experiences of the Theatre Royal Drury Lane.

A soft touch

Tiffany Daneff marvels at the flower-filled paradise of Hampnett House in Gloucestershire.

Travel (above)

Emma Love has an eye for adventure, Mark Hedges goes wild on safari in Botswana, Rosie Paterson hits the walking trail in Sri Lanka and Pamela Goodman hail’s Giubbilei’s gardens.

Art and antiques

Simon Finch tells Carla Passino he will not part with his £1 note signed by a Great Train Robber.

One king to rule them all

Mary Miers explores the artistic and cultural legacy of James I.