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 Isobel Sophia Michie • Isobel is a portfolio manager at Cazenove Capital and a chartered financial analyst. She is engaged to Thomas Harvey, whom she will marry at St John the Baptist Church, Penshurst, Kent, in June, and is the daughter of Dr Elizabeth Kenyon of Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent, and the late Hamish Michie. Having undergone successful treatment for thyroid cancer, she will take part in the Great North Run in September, raising money for the British Thyroid Foundation.

Sounds like spring

Country Life

Shooting’s way out of the woods

Town & Country Notebook

Letters to the Editor

That boat has sailed

Athena • Cultural Crusader

My favourite painting Jenny Jefferies • The Lark’s First Flight by Albert Bruce-Joy

We need to trade on a level playing field • Life after the NFU and why MPs of all parties need to sort a food strategy

A marvel revived • A major restoration project has brought one of Britain’s greatest Victorian buildings back to splendour and life. Steven Brindle explains the extraordinary story of how it came to be

The legacy • Philip Wayre and the restoration of the otter

Our incomparable coastline • Our beautiful, infinitely varied coast has become central to our national concept of what makes Britain so special, says Peter Waine

Happy birthday to whom? • There are few things less pleasurable than a tuneless public rendition of Happy Birthday To You, says Rob Crossan, a century after the little ditty came into being

Shepherd’s delight • A prolific weed, shepherd’s purse has long been taken for granted, but it deserves greater consideration, if only for its medicinal properties, says Ian Morton

To have and to hold • A collection of much-loved pieces will turn a house into a home, finds Arabella Youens

The art of layering • Henriette von Stockhausen believes combining textiles in a variety of different forms is the secret to creating a room that is not only timeless, but also supremely comfortable, finds Arabella Youens

Different strokes • The infinite possibilities of decorative painting brought life to villas in Pompeii, Florentine palaces and Charleston in East Sussex. Today, a revival of interest in the artform is once again precipitating a highly distinctive new look in interiors, finds Arabella Youens

New looks for a new season • Events, news and inspired ideas for interiors, chosen by Amelia Thorpe

Why old is gold • Giles Kime pays homage to some of the most inspiring books on interior design ever written

It’s all about you • Last month, London Design Week revealed a more personal approach to creating interiors, with some exciting and distinctive results

Wedding belles • With parkland or rural settings, country houses make for idyllic wedding venues, as the vendors of these three properties have found

Keys to the kingdom • Buying agents excel at gaining access to houses of which there’s nary a whisper on the market, finds Annabel Dixon

My kingdom for The Cottage • Be it the charming Rose Cottage, the possibly soggy Marsh Farm or the more eccentric Gruntfuttock Hall, the name of your house matters, says Eleanor Doughty

Small, but...