Country Life Magazine – November 15, 2023: The latest issue features the annual Georgian Group Architecture Awards; Horns of plenty – The Bull, monarch of the meadow has been a key mythological figure since ancient times; the sensitive restoration of Somerton Castle in Lincolnshire, a once-neglected medieval stronghold; the great thatching renaissance, and more…

Here’s to the Georgians

Imaginative restoration, from Stowe House to Stroud canal, is lauded in the annual Georgian Group Architectural Awards

No, you’re not going batty

Jane Wheatley investigates the development pitfalls of finding a pipistrelle on your property

Back to the strawing board

The art of thatching is enjoying a renaissance as architects are drawn to its eco credentials, as Sarah Langford discovers

Horns of plenty

The monarch of the meadow has been a key mythological figure since ancient times. Ian Morton takes the bull by the horns

The toast of the town

Jonathan Self finds comfort in every crunchy, buttery mouthful and asks: how do you like yours?

Buried treasures

Christopher Stocks goes under-ground to examine the centuries-long allure of glittering grottos

The great country-house revival

Director-general Ben Cowell celebrates Historic Houses and half a century of achievement

Sir David Hempleman-Adams’s favourite painting

The explorer chooses a work that demonstrates the beauty and colour of the natural world

Hebridean overtures

Jamie Blackett runs the gauntlet of the ‘Grand National’ in pursuit of ever-elusive South Uist snipe

From ruin to rebirth

Nicholas Cooper marvels at the sensitive restoration of Somerton Castle in Lincolnshire, a once-neglected medieval stronghold

Native breeds

Kate Green meets the docile and floppy-eared British Lop

The good stuff

Need a sparkling conversation starter? Hetty Lintell picks out a fistful of fabulous cocktail rings

Dressed to impress

The sartorial centre of Savile Row provided the perfect setting for our Gentleman’s Life party

Interiors

Painting a floor is a fun way to add colour and pattern to a room, finds Amelia Thorpe

A touch of glass

Victorian glasshouses are feats of engineering that deserve a new lease of life, says Lucy Denton

Big apple

Charles Quest-Ritson is wowed by the display of trained apples in the 18th-century walled garden at The Newt in Somerset

Kitchen garden cook

Melanie Johnson savours the sweet earthiness of a chestnut

Shakespeare, but not as we know it

Sir Kenneth Branagh’s Lear may be off beam, but Michael Billington is buoyed by a stirring portrayal of the Bard’s wife

And much more