Tag Archives: Trains

COUNTRY LIFE MAGAZINE – JUNE 17, 2026 PREVIEW

Cover of Country Life June 17, 2026, featuring Van Gogh's Irises

COUNTRY LIFE MAGAZINE: The latest issue features ‘Why the iris charmed Van Gogh’; How Holbein survived Henry VIII; Making super salads; Piers of the realm: the British love of the seaside…

Everything, everywhere, all at once

Irises have inspired great artists from Vincent van Gogh to Sir Cedric Morris. Michael Prodger examines the flower’s allure

Green with envy

Why not take a leaf out of Tom Parker Bowles’s book and sample the very best salad flavours from around the world?

Pier into the future

Our seaside piers are the great survivors of the Victorian age and many are thriving in the 21st century, reveals Jonathan Lee

Spread from Country Life June 17, 2026

Arts & antiques

It is 500 years since artist Hans Holbein arrived on these shores, yet we remain captivated by his portraits, finds Carla Passino

Louise Farina’s favourite painting

The perfumer senses the zest of an Italian spring morning in a still life celebrating citrus fruit

Country-house treasure

John Goodall sees High Church spirit in a handwritten Bible at Treberfydd House in Brecon

Spread from Country Life June 17, 2026

History and fantasy

In the second of two articles, John Goodall delves into the fable-meets-fact history of Warwick Castle, Warwickshire

The legacy

Octavia Pollock adds a dash of colour to the illustrious history of Winsor & Newton, supplier to the stars of the art world

The importance of being Ernst

Ernst Vegelin van Claerbergen, head of the Courtauld Gallery, is optimistic about the future of the Arts, as he tells Carla Passino

Winging it

A beauty or a beast? Mark Cocker investigates how the exotic pheasant splits opinion

Spread from Country Life June 17, 2026

Luxury

Jonathan Self explores the royal enthusiasm for amethyst and Amie Elizabeth White weaves in some summer essentials

Interiors

An open-plan makeover wows Arabella Youens, plus perfect pitchers with Amelia Thorpe

Simply perfect

A 20-year revival of the Arts-and-Crafts garden at Fonthill House in Wiltshire catches the eye of Christopher Stocks

Spread from Country Life June 17, 2026

Travel

Sophia Money-Coutts savours all the fun of Florida on a trip to the party town of Palm Beach

A new sense of purpose

Robin Hereford is calling for a revival in the fortunes of brown furniture — pieces with style and sustainability on their side

A wrinkle in time

A new generation of American collectors is being charmed by exquisite English antique furniture, discovers Patrick Monahan

Cooking up a storm

Michael Billington is blown away by the RSC’s Tempest starring Sir Kenneth Branagh, but High Society delights without dazzling

COUNTRY LIFE MAGAZINE – JUNE 3, 2026 PREVIEW

COUNTRY LIFE MAGAZINE: The latest issue featuresConstable Country’ – The places the painter loved….

Taking the scenic route

History, hauntings and high-jinx figured in Britain’s first motoring guides, finds Jack Watkins

Spreads from Country Life 3 June 2026

What a Derby day

Epsom hosts one of racing’s most thrilling spectacles. Jack Watkins picks 10 of the best winners

Monaco

Adam Hay-Nicholls explores the changing face of Monaco, Steven King treads the Prince Rainier III sculpture trail, Arabella Youens seeks out the best properties for sale in the Principality and Mark Hedges cruises serenely into town

His green and pleasant land

John Constable painted places he knew and loved the best. Susan Owens examines how insight influenced his landscapes

Outstanding in their fields

From ‘shoy hoys’ to Worzel Gummidge, Aeneas Dennison traces the story of scarecrows

Spreads from Country Life 3 June 2026

Andy Wilman’s favourite painting

The television producer chooses a work that reveals a human response to the brutality of war

Country-house treasure

A godfatherly gift ensures that Sir Edwin Lutyens and Shilstone House in Devon are happy bed-fellows, discovers John Goodall

Spreads from Country Life 3 June 2026

Building on the past

In the second of two articles, John Goodall reveals how Elizabethan Doddington Hall is thriving into the 21st century

The legacy

Octavia Pollock profiles Percy Shaw, the inventor of cat’s eyes, the 20th century’s top design

Winging it

The feral pigeon’s modern-day scavenging masks a more valiant history, suggests Mark Cocker

Drawn to the land

Katharine Freeland meets artists who are mapping estates in an echo of traditional landowners

London Life

Jack Watkins strolls the streets that became an artist’s muse, our writers have all you need to know this month, Will Hosie shares seven of the best homes on the market and Rupert Clague charts the rise of the capital’s coffee houses

Spreads from Country Life 3 June 2026

Death, taxes and Tests with New Zealand

What next for England’s Bazball approach, asks James Fisher

Luxury

Amie Elizabeth White is on red alert — and gives pearl a whirl

Interiors

Arabella Youens admires an extended Cotswolds cottage and Giles Kime ponders going it alone

Dreaming of roses

Charles Quest-Ritson shares 1,000 reasons to fall in love with the restored walled garden at Dummer House, Hampshire

Arts & antiques

Rebecca Salter, president of the Royal Academy, outlines her ambitions to Carla Passino

Travel

A mountain-top encounter rings a bell with Pamela Goodman

And much more

COUNTRY LIFE MAGAZINE – FEBRUARY 11, 2026

Cover of Country Life 11 February, 2026 featuring The Kiss by Gustav Klimt

COUNTRY LIFE MAGAZINE: The fine art issue, featuring Seurat, art in literature and Sir Antony Gormley, plus Ampthill Park House and the long-eared eagle owl. 

Cast in the same mould

Sir Antony Gormley examines the parallels between his own Reflect and the Adriaen de Vries bronze of Antiope and Theseus

Don’t believe in modern love?

With Valentine’s Day looming and singlehood rising, Will Hosie seeks dating tips from the finest minds among the Ancients

Ford momentum

Harry Pearson enjoys the thrill of splashing through the countless fords criss-crossing the rivers and streams of the British Isles

Spread from Country Life February 11, 2026

Luxury

Jonathan Self is bewitched by the poetry of poesy rings and Amie Elizabeth White says ‘if you only buy one Derby boot…’

Life in the fast lane

Norfolk farmer Gavin Lane tells Julie Harding of the sleepless nights he has endured since taking the reins at the CLA

Sir Thomas Drew and Hélène Duchêne’s favourite paintings

His Majesty’s Ambassador to France and the French Ambassador to the Court of St James share their artworks of choice

Country-house treasure

John Goodall glimpses early-20th-century life at Mapperton House in Dorset in the form of a black-and-gold satin dress

Spread from Country Life February 11, 2026

A house of collections

In the second of two articles, Jeremy Musson explores the exceptional modern collection in the historic setting of Ampthill Park House in Bedfordshire

The legacy

Carla Passino hails the artworks amassed by Sir William Burrell

Where the wild things are

Exotic animals from around the world were unveiled to European eyes by artists such as Dürer and Stubbs, finds Michael Prodger

Spread from Country Life February 11, 2026

Winging it

Mark Cocker profiles the elusive and elegant long-eared owl

Interiors

Arabella Youens lauds a London drawing room and Amelia Thorpe keeps the home fires burning

Floral geometry

Banish the gloom with glorious winter-flowering Camellia japonica, suggests Charles Quest-Ritson

Spread from Country Life February 11, 2026

Slow and steady wins the race

Tom Parker Bowles savours the boozy boeuf à la Bourguignonne

Travel

Ben Lerwill delves into the story of space travel when he touches down at NASA HQ in Houston

Arts & antiques

Georges Seurat’s sublime French seascapes are taking centre stage at the Courtauld Gallery in London, reveals Carla Passino

Write side up

Art has long drawn inspiration from literature — from Ovid and Virgil to Shakespeare and Lewis Carroll, discovers Carla Passino

COUNTRY LIFE MAGAZINE – JANUARY 7, 2026

Cover of Country Life January 7, 2026

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

Spreads from Country Life January 7, 2025

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

Spreads from Country Life January 7, 2025

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

Spreads from Country Life January 7, 2025

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

COUNTRY LIFE MAGAZINE – DECEMBER 31, 2025

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

Magazine spread from Country Life 31 December 2025

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

Magazine spread from Country Life 31 December 2025

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

Magazine spread from Country Life 31 December 2025

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

COUNTRY LIFE MAGAZINE – DECEMBER 24, 2025

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

Spread from Country Life 24 December 2025

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

Spread from Country Life 24 December 2025

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

Spread from Country Life 24 December 2025

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

Switzerland Train Travel: Tour Of Kleine Scheidegg To Grindelwald Village

AKSense – Zurich Films (January 13, 2024) – This 4K HDR video features a train driver’s view of the trip to Grindelwald village (3392 ft) from Kleine Scheidegg mountain station (6762 ft).

The Kleine Scheidegg is located directly at the foot of Eiger North Face. It is the watershed between the two Lütschinen valleys. It is a popular starting point for the Jungfrau train to the Jungfraujoch-Top of Europe station, the highest train station of Europe.

Recorded on January 11, 2024

Switzerland Train Travel: The Glacier Express – Brig To Andermatt (Dec 2023)

AKSense – Zurich Films (December 24, 2023) – The Glacier Express is the world’s slowest and Switzerland’s most elegant express train. This video is between Brig and Andermatt stations.

The entire route takes around 8 hours, the Glacier Express takes you across the Swiss Alps between St. Moritz and Zermatt regions, passing through narrow valleys, tight curves, 91 tunnels, and over 291 bridges including the unique Landwasser viaduct (UNESCO site).

Swiss Views: Riding The Brienz Rothorn Railway

Sylvia Michel Photography (July 12, 2023) – The Brienz Rothorn Railway is a tourist rack railway in Switzerland, which climbs from Brienz, at the eastern end of Lake Brienz, to the summit of the Brienzer Rothorn.

Video timeline: 0:00 Starting our journey in @brienzamsee 0:20 @brienzrothornbahn8299 is taking us through the village 0:50 Steam train with different Locomotives 1:09 Geldried 1:25 Planalp Middle station 2:36 Arrival at Brienzer Rothorn 2:58 Meeting the Ibexes 4:01 Ibex Knowledge 5:00 Sunrise 5:27 Ibexes again 7:07 Going down again with @brienzrothornbahn

The railway is 7.6 kilometres long, is built to 800 mm gauge, and uses the Abt double lamella rack system. 

Swiss Train Travel: Saanen, Gstaad & Zweisimmen On The Goldenpass Express

AKSense – Zurich Films (June 21, 2023) – A train driver’s view aboard the Goldenpass panoramic train of the Montreux Oberland Bernois (MOB) railway. The train journey is from Saanen, through Gstaad, on to Zweisimmen, in Switzerland.

The Montreux Oberland Bernois Railway, is an electrified railway line that operates in southwest Switzerland. It is one of the oldest electric railways in the country. Its main line, 62.4 km in length, is built to the 1,000 mm gauge.