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Arts & Literature, Culture, Homes, Magazines, Previews, Reviews

Previews: Country Life Magazine – March 6, 2024

March 5, 2024 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

Country Life Magazine – March 5, 2024: The latest issue features The Country Life Top 100 – Britain’s leading exponents of country-house architecture, interior design, gardens and specialist services…

The Top 100 builders, architects, interior decorators and garden designers in Britain

Welcome to the eighth edition of our guide to Britain’s leading exponents of country-house architecture, interior design, gardens and specialist services

New series: The legacy

In the first of this new series, Kate Green celebrates Dame Miriam Rothschild’s remarkable contribution to the nation as a pioneer of wildflower gardening

Reach for the Skye

Following in the slipstream of swimming cattle, Joe Gibbs enjoys safe passage to the Isle of Skye courtesy of the world’s last manual turntable ferry

Hail the conquering heroes

Jack Watkins is in the saddle for a canter through 100 years of the Cheltenham National Hunt Festival’s Blue Riband event, the Gold Cup

Arts & antiques

Works by a whole host of great artists are more accessible than you might imagine. Carla Passino talks to leading art dealers about the Old Masters you could collect

Sir Alistair Spalding’s favourite painting

The artistic director admires a religious fresco that encourages contemplation and reflection

Out of Africa

Carla Carlisle reflects on the life of Karen Blixen after visiting the author’s former home in Kenya

Renewal and recovery

The restoration of Boston Manor House in Greater London offers a fascinating insight into changing tastes, reveals Charles O’Brien

The Devil wears parsley

March can be the month of all weathers, warns Lia Leendertz

The masked singer

Jack Watkins goes in search of the elusive, enchanting woodlark

London Life

Cashing in with Russell Higham
Celebrating Claridge’s
Revisiting James Burton’s beat with Carla Passino
Jack Watkins finds change in the air at the Natural History Museum

Stancombe revisited

Marion Mako visits Stancombe Park, Gloucestershire — Waugh’s garden inspiration for Brideshead

Kitchen garden cook

Melanie Johnson harnesses the subtle depth of flavour of leeks

And so to sleep…

Hemlock is a pretty addition to riverbanks, but its charm ends there, says Deborah Nicholls-Lee

The claws are out

Simon Lester shares the thrill of an encounter with the secretive native white-clawed crayfish

The good stuff

Patterned or pastel? Hetty Lintell showcases the finest waistcoats

Arts & Literature, Culture, Homes, Magazines, Previews, Reviews

Previews: Country Life Magazine – Feb 28, 2024

February 27, 2024 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

Country Life Magazine – February 27, 2024: The latest issue features ‘Britain’s Top Dogs’ – Our favorites, decade by decade…

Arts & Literature, Culture, Homes, Magazines, Previews, Reviews

Previews: Country Life Magazine – Feb 21, 2024

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Country Life Magazine – February 21, 2024: The ‘The Fine Arts Issue’ – Artists who say it with flowers and the AI debate; Wig law, daffodils and how does your hedgerow grow?….

Artificial art

With the technology powering artificial intelligence advancing so rapidly, what can artists do to protect their original work?

Blooming marvellous

Michael Prodger examines how flowers have inspired artists for centuries, from the ancient Egyptians up to the present day

On a wig and a prayer

The periwigs that were a 17th-century status symbol are still a mainstay of our legal system, as Agnes Stamp discovers

Hedge of eternity

They have long been used to contain cattle or define boundaries, but hedges can be beautiful, too, argues Charles Quest-Ritson

Trumpet majors

Alan Titchmarsh takes a wander with Wordsworth as he dreams of spring daffodils ‘fluttering and dancing in the breeze’

Norman Foster’s favourite painting

The architect falls under the spell of a gritty, but humorous work

All in a day’s work

Jamie Blackett is ready to man the barricades to scupper plans for an unwanted national park

Brothers in art

John Goodall applauds the restoration of Leighton House in London, which formed the hub of a 19th-century celebrity circle

Man of the world

Mary Miers follows the globe-trotting Sir John Lavery from Ireland to Africa and beyond

Follow your art

An inspiring oil painting was at the centre of a heist with a happy ending, reveals Carla Passino

Where be dragons?

A protective force in China and Wales, but a symbol of greed and evil in England: Lucien de Guise delves into dragon lore

The good stuff

Hetty Lintell celebrates the best of the Art Deco era with earrings old and new, but always modern

Is this London’s most exquisite hotel room?

The astonishing King’s Lodge suite at The Connaught is fit for a monarch, finds Rosie Paterson

Interiors

Amelia Thorpe shares the very best of London Design Week

A seed of an idea

Tilly Ware meets the wild-seed pioneer ‘nurturing the future’

A tower of thorns

Ben Lerwill finds the salt of the earth on the coast of Scotland

Kitchen garden cook

Melanie Johnson on rhubarb

Love and marriage

A real-life couple are in harmony on stage, finds Michael Billington

Arts & Literature, Culture, Homes, Magazines, Previews, Reviews

Previews: Country Life Magazine – Feb 14, 2024

February 13, 2024 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

Country Life Magazine – February 13, 2024: The latest ‘How Do I Love Thee?’ – Let me count the ways; Rough collies, red roses and royal caviar; Glass acts – the coolest conservatories; Head start – why real gentlemen wear hats….

The romance of the rose

With its velvety, softly scented depths, the red rose has long beguiled lovers. Charles Quest-Ritson falls under its spell

Thoroughly good eggs

Tom Parker Bowles savours the unctuous delights of caviar from the mother-daughter team at King’s Fine Foods, ethically farmed and utterly delicious

Taking the rough with the smooth

Famed for their loyalty, rough collies are happy finding hidden sheep, bounding up Munros or simply curling up with children. Katy Birchall meets Lassie

In the hat of the moment

Time was when every gentleman of every background wore a hat. It’s time to fall back in love with bowler, beret and bonnet, recommends John F. Mueller

Interiors

Amelia Thorpe admires the most stylish conservatories

Sir Karl Jenkins’s favourite painting

The composer chooses an ethereal Italian scene that literally reflects his own music

Behind the scenes at the cathedral

Fiona Reynolds explores the environs of St Albans in Hertfordshire, from the longest nave in Europe to the River Ver

A Georgian reinvention

With imagination and style, late-18th-century Marlwood Grange in Gloucestershire has been transformed into a family home fit for the 21st century, discovers Jeremy Musson

The good stuff

Hetty Lintell gets a handle on the most colourful handbags

Music to our ears

As the famous opera house at Glyndebourne, East Sussex, turns 90, the gardens are more glorious than ever. Tiffany Daneff admires a symphony of planting

More pudding, pease

Tom Parker Bowles tucks into the succulent, comforting suet pudding, an old favourite that deserves to return to our plates

More than a pretty face

Admired for his portrayal of dewy eyes and diaphanous fabrics, John Singer Sargent rose to the top of the portrait-painting world. Mary Miers follows his career from peripatetic childhood to Society favourite

Arts & Literature, Culture, Homes, Magazines, Previews, Reviews

Previews: Country Life Magazine- February 7, 2024

February 6, 2024 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

Country Life Magazine – February 6, 2024: The latest features The Travel Issue – View the world from the very best hotels; The map-makers who broadened our horizons; Out of the ashes – Chillingham Castle rescued and Waxwing explosions and snowdrop heaven….

Travel

Richard MacKichan rides with the eagle hunters of Mongolia
Jo Rodgers asks what makes a good hotel great as we introduce Country Life’s inaugural list of the world’s top establishments
All the latest travel news and new openings with Rosie Paterson
Nigel Tisdall tails the elusive jaguar in Belize
Catherine Fairweather is on the strait and narrow in Istanbul
Richard MacKichan puts the fun back into flying
Pamela Goodman swims with pigs in the Caribbean

A castle of curiosities

The history of Chillingham Castle in Northumberland is a turbulent and memorable one, peppered with family disputes, imprisonments and a live toad. John Goodall explores

Windows on the world

The urge to chart our surroundings is centuries old. With map in hand, Matthew Dennison ventures forth in search of mammoth tusks and globes

Irruption of the waxwings

Mark Cocker marvels at the exquisite plumage of this European songbird as it flocks to our shores to feed on a glut of its favoured winter berries

Get down on your knees

James Alexander-Sinclair joins the wandering throng as snow-drop lovers descend on Thenford in Northamptonshire to luxuriate in 900 varieties of Galanthus

Joanna Jensen’s favourite painting

The founder of Childs Farm chooses a rural scene to sum up ‘a picture of my England’

Groundhog day

The shortest month can also feel like the longest, delaying the arrival of spring, but what can February tell us about the year ahead? Lia Leendertz reveals all

Thunderous waterfalls and torrents hoarse

From the most dramatic plumes to the calmest cascades, we seek out the corners of the kingdom where water and gravity collide to magical effect

The good stuff

Hetty Lintell says green for go with a selection of stylish and useful khaki travel accessories

Interiors

Sally Stephenson on the secrets of illuminating period houses and Amelia Thorpe’s lighting picks

London Life

Russell Higham on piazza plans for the Docklands
Carla Passino meets the man who shaped Mayfair
Martin Fone reveals the saga of ‘London’s Eiffel Tower’

Kitchen garden cook

Melanie Johnson harnesses the delicious flavours of rosemary

Arts & Literature, Culture, Homes, Magazines, Previews, Reviews

Previews: Country Life Magazine-January 31, 2024

January 30, 2024 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

Country Life Magazine – January 30, 2024: The latest issue features How British Rivers Got Their Name; Where to find a really wild man; Miniature collecting and more…

‘Still glides the Stream, and shall for ever glide’

From the Piddle and the Polly to the Yox and the Yeo, the meanings behind the namesof Britain’s rivers run deep, as Vicky Liddell discovers

Call of the wild

The protective, stick-wielding Wild Man that strides through much medieval art has taken on fresh meaning in recent times, reveals Susan Owens

Chainsaw gardening

Taking a blade to our gardens may seem drastic, but a severe pruning sometimes leaves plants and trees in better health, suggests Charles Quest-Ritson

There is wonder in the little things

Huon Mallalieu puts miniatures under the microscope and finds a world of small marvels celebrating power, loyalty and love

Allan Mallinson’s favourite painting

The military historian chooses a moving First World War scene

Murder most pitiful

John Goodall investigates the dramatic events that shaped the history of 18th-century Gilmerton House in Lothian

The devil makes work for idle hands

As dedicated craftspeople fashion a revival in the art of needlepoint, Matthew Dennison can see a pattern emerging

‘Full of a watchful intentness’

John Lewis-Stempel embraces the ‘faerie enchantment’ of the heath as he visits the inspiration for a classic Thomas Hardy novel

Interiors

Matthew Dennison celebrates the Soane chimneypiece that is still hot property after 200 years and Amelia Thorpe’s selections keep the home fires burning

Lord of the rings

Ben Lerwill meets Simon Turner, an arboreal artist who creates wonderful ceramics using the contours and curves of trees

Luxury

Hetty Lintell on high fashion in the Highlands, switching off the stress and astonishing rubies, plus some of McFly drummer Harry Judd’s favourite things

Kitchen garden cook

Melanie Johnson knows her onions, giving an understated kitchen staple a starring role

Ireland’s call

The well-oiled Ireland winning machine can repel France’s strength in depth to retain rugby’s Six Nations Championship, argues Owain Jones

And much more

Magazines, Opinion, Politics, Reviews

Current Affairs: Prospect Magazine – March 2024

January 25, 2024 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

Prospect Magazine (March 2024) – The latest issue features ‘How The Government Captured The BBC’ – A faceless fixer – and a broadcaster in a state of ‘permanent cringe’…

To whom do we owe shelter?

We do not choose where we are born. That creates rights—and obligations—that we should all seek to honour

Conflict, human rights abuses and climate change have led to a doubling of the global refugee population in the last seven years, and yet the response of many wealthy countries has become increasingly insular and myopic. Constant demands to slash international aid, along with punitive immigration policies and hateful rhetoric, mark a shift away from humanitarian values. The UK’s Rwanda scheme epitomises this trend: it would normalise the mass deportation of asylum seekers and undermine prohibitions on returning refugees to dangerous countries. At the same time, citizens of wealthy countries appear increasingly indifferent to the plight of those who perish in the Mediterranean or along other perilous routes.

How the government captured the BBC

Ukraine’s fate, Europe’s choice

Arts & Literature, Culture, Homes, Magazines, Previews, Reviews

Previews: Country Life Magazine-January 17, 2024

January 17, 2024 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

Country Life Magazine – January 17, 2024: The latest issue features ‘Floral Fireworks’ – The National Collection of Dahlias; The Bridges of Britain; and the Arts-and-Crafts masterpieces of Madresfield Court, Worcestershire…

Floral fireworks

Kirsty Fergusson visits the new home of the 1,700-strong National Collection of Dahlias and reveals which blooms to order now for late-summer colour

The Bridges of Britain

Our greatest bridges span the ages and have the power to inspire both awe and admiration, as Jack Watkins discovers

Cold cures

The beautiful and practical cast-iron Victorian cloche is making a comeback. Tiffany Daneff investigates the revival of the miniature glass house

Twist and shout

Tiffany Daneff visits Morton Hall Gardens in Worcestershire to discover the secret of its owner’s intriguing new clematis-training technique

Why, why, why weigela?

New forms of this easy-to-grow garden shrub have repeating flowers in wonderful colours — no wonder they are hot sellers, suggests Charles Quest-Ritson

Arts & Literature, Culture, Homes, Magazines, Previews, Reviews

Previews: Country Life Magazine-January 10, 2024

January 9, 2024 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

Country Life Magazine – January 9, 2024: The latest issue features ‘Walk This Way’ – England’s secret sunken roads; Return of the curly-coated retriever; Tom Parker Bowles on the comfort of pie; Britain’s most poisonous plants, and more…

Curls, curls, curls

The intelligent, powerful curly-coated retriever was favoured by the Victorians and is still winning plaudits as a working breed, discovers Katy Birchall

Rolling in the deep

Ben Lerwill follows in the foot-steps of our ancestors to explore the history of holloways, those sunken and often secret routes criss-crossing the countryside

Little crop of horrors

From hemlock and henbane to giant hogweed, Britain is home to a host of poisonous plants. John Wright reveals how to spot the dangerous and the deadly

Why we all cry for pie

Tom Parker Bowles earns his crust with an ode to the enduring appeal of this humble, yet oh so heavenly savoury creation

Lady Violet Manners’s favourite painting

The broadcaster chooses a poignant work that speaks of absolute parental devotion

A distant horizon conquered

Fiona Reynolds explores the ancient Wiltshire Downs, with her sights set firmly on the far-off landmark of Cherhill Monument

The future as a footstool

The landmark 1980s restoration of London’s Liverpool Street Station is under threat from new proposals, argues Ptolemy Dean

The Midas touch

In the first of two articles, John Goodall investigates the early history of Madresfield Court, Worcestershire, which has been in the same family for 900 years

I can’t believe it’s British butter

Butter is making a comeback in a welcome celebration of our dairy heritage—Jenny Linford meets the artisan makers who are helping to spread the word

The good stuff

Tackle the snow in style this winter with Hetty Lintell’s pick of the best skiing accessories

Sweet dreams are made of these

The gardens at Villa Durazzo-Pallacini in Italy are Heaven on Earth for Charles Quest-Ritson

‘I have seen a very pretty thing…’

Lucien de Guise reveals how you can add a true touch of Ottoman opulence to your home

Interiors

Amelia Thorpe selects the hottest new stoves, fires and range cookers, and Giles Kime examines the growing range of options fuelled by bioethanol

Money for old rope

Deborah Nicholls-Lee looks at how hemp can help in the battle against climate change

Arts & Literature, Culture, Homes, Magazines, Previews, Reviews

Previews: Country Life Magazine – January 3, 2024

January 2, 2024 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

Country Life Magazine – January 2, 2024: The latest issue features ‘The Very Best Of Britain’; Marylands, a Surrey country house with a Spanish influence; artist Anne Wright’s miniature Daffodils and snowdrops at her small nursery in North Yorkshire; and how January weather can set the tone for the year to come…

The foul-mouthed Miller and the prim Princess

Geoffrey Chaucer created his Canterbury pilgrims more than 600 years ago, yet his band of travellers speaks across the ages, finds Matthew Dennison

Let’s hear it for Britain

Carla Passino bangs the drum for the British Isles with 50 things to make the nation proud, from code-cracking to clever dogs — and everything in between

Snow magic

Mary Keen is mesmerised by the array of rare and highly collectable snowdrops that artist Anne Wright is breeding at her small nursery in North Yorkshire

Keith Halstead’s favourite painting

The chief executive of the Royal Countryside Fund chooses a work that sparks memories of his childhood in rural Norfolk

Thought for the year 2024

Carla Carlisle enters the new year with a determination to remain positive, fortified by the sentiments of W. H. Auden

A fairy house

The glamour and glitz of 1920s stage and screen is rekindled as Clive Aslet puts the spotlight on Marylands, a Surrey country house with a Spanish influence

Baby, it’s cold outside

In the first of a new series on weather lore, Lia Leendertz reveals how January can set the tone for the year to come

Interiors

The bathroom of a Somerset house is restored with a nod to its historic roots, finds Arabella Youens, and Amelia Thorpe shares ideas for creating your own luxury bathing sanctuary

London Life

Start the year with an exhibition, says Charlotte Mullins, while Carla Passino assesses architect Richard Rogers’s contribution to the London skyline and Gilly Hopper looks ahead to the year’s big events in the capital

Kitchen garden cook

Melanie Johnson on sweet and nutty Jerusalem artichokes

Travel

Mary Lussiana stays at a land-mark luxury hotel in Marrakech while Luke Abrahams explores Athens in the snow and James Fisher dons his skis and discovers the Dolomites