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...