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.

The news in 2024

Country Life

You can leave your hat on

Country Mouse • Flowers spring eternal

Town Mouse • The slack water of the year

100 years ago in COUNTRY LIFE December 29, 1923

Cabinet of curiosities

Town & Country Notebook

In the spotlight • Jack snipe (Lymnocryptes minimus)

Wines of the week

Letter of the week

Fossilised thinking

Cultural Crusader • Ever so ’umble, but worth keeping

The way we were

My favourite painting Victoria Vyvyan • Saint Jerome in his Study

Chivalry and sacrifice • The architect Sir Herbert Baker created what is perhaps the greatest of his many public-school war memorials at Winchester. Timothy Mowl explores the history of this remarkable monument

Sealed with a kiss • From scribbled thank-you notes to long, lyrical testaments of love, the handwritten word creates a meaningful and lasting record, says Sarah Fortescue, as she laments the lost art of letter writing

Beautiful Britain: a celebration of our land • From our archives comes a new book this year: Country Life: 125 Years of Countryside Living in Great Britain by John Goodall and Kate Green. Here is a selection of some of its loveliest images, which showcase the rich and varied wonders of this extraordinary country

Walking on a tight rope • Precariously balanced on the Endangered Crafts Red List, traditional rope-making is facing an uncertain future, warns Harry Pearson, as he meets the makers who are almost at the end of their tether

Still spinning a good yarn

Forget me knot • Do you know your reef from your sheepshank? Knotting matters, so, if you don’t, you’d better start learning the ropes, advocates Agnes Stamp

Top knots

Pearls of wisdom • The 10 most helpful quotes on interior design, from Winston Churchill to Elsie de Wolfe

Highlights of a challenging year • Literary associations and waterside locations hit a sweet spot, as sellers seemed game for historical renovation

Before Sissinghurst • It was at Long Barn that Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson first gardened and many of those early horticultural experiments still stand, says Christopher Stocks

Chill factors

Horticultural aide-mémoire • Sniff the air

Kitchen garden cook Microgreens

More ways with Microgreens

Fantastic beasts and where to keep them • What child (or adult, come to that) hasn’t dreamt of having Pegasus, the Psammead or a Phoenix as a pet? Deborah Nicholls-Lee reveals the pros and cons of inviting some of fiction and folklore’s favourite creatures into your home

A dram good sculpture • When a bronze by a modern French master opens to reveal a whisky bar, parting with it is incredibly hard, found art dealer Ben Brown

Small, but perfectly formed

WEIRD & WONDERFUL

Take five: British female sculptors

A MATCH MADE IN HEAVEN

Down to a fine art • This has proved an interesting year for collectors, with a crop of excellent shows and lots including a Bronzino portrait and a Xuande cloisonné box initially dismissed as a copy and later revealed to be the real deal

Pick of the...