Country Life

Published by Time Inc. (UK) Ltd Country Life, the quintessential English magazine, is undoubtedly one of the biggest and instantly recognisable brands in the UK today. It has a unique core mix of contemporary country-related editorial and top end property advertising. Editorially, the magazine comments in-depth on a wide variety of subjects, such as architecture, the arts, gardens and gardening, travel, the countryside, field-sports and wildlife. With renowned columnists and superb photography Country Life delivers the very best of British life every week.

Miss Honour Wainwright • Honour is head of communications at family-run jewellers Boodles. She is the sixth generation of her family to work for the company and is the daughter of Michael Wainwright of Hampshire.

The insulation game

Country Life

Town & Country

Town & Country Notebook

Letters to the Editor

Turkeys beat flu for Christmas

Could we try a little harder with names?

The way we were Photographs from the COUNTRY LIFE archive

My favourite painting Nick Trend • Portrait of a Man by Jan van Eyck

At Canaan’s Edge • What comes next?

A local revival • Lytham Hall, Lancashire A property of the Heritage Trust for the North West A local initiative has returned a major country house from a building in danger to a well-loved and intensively used property. John Martin Robinson reports

Native breeds Lincoln Red

Stranger things • Burning barrels, hare-pie scrambles, bottle kicking and horn dances: no one does eccentric quite like the English. Harry Pearson explores our weird, wonderful and sometimes distinctly dangerous folk festivals

You’re a dark horse • The desired steed of great conquerors, as well as a symbol of strength and courage, the black horse–whether mythological, literary or real-has long galloped across our minds, says Celia Brayfield

An ode to winter • The silence, subtle beauty and certainties of a British winter combine to make it a breathtaking season of cold and cosiness, says Patrick Galbraith

The comforts of the kitchen • The onset of winter has its compensations, not least the chance to indulge in the flavoursome indulgence that is slow cooking, says Tom Parker Bowles

10 ways to insulate a period property • Modern technology might offer sustainable, cost-effective heat sources, but the best-value unit of energy is the one you don’t lose through your roof, floors, walls and windows. Tim Moulding, a eighth-generation builder, suggests ways to keep an old building warm

Burning desires • Stoves, fireplaces and range cookers to warm your cockles, with Amelia Thorpe

Whatever the weather • Sometimes, it’s best to forget all about the warm embrace of a winter-sun holiday, argues Emma Love, and cuddle up in the cold, at home and abroad

Softly, softly • Winter attire is surely the most luxurious, with layers of delicious knitwear, says Hetty Lintell, who suggests The Cashmere Circle for mending much-loved pieces (www.cashmere-circle.co.uk)

County of contrasts • The Garden of England provides the ideal backdrop for three beautiful country homes

Anything but flat • The appetite for apartment living is on the up. Here are some of the capital’s best new-builds

Your indispensable guide to the capital

London Life Need to Know

Defying gravity • Norman Foster gave London dizzying skyscrapers, head-turning apartment blocks and a bridge of light, as well as championing compact city living and piloting aeroplanes. Carla Passino meets the man with his head in the clouds

America’s 51st state • Glamorous American bars were once a familiar sight in London, catering to US and British citizens alike, but only two of the historic ones remain. On the eve...