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 Sarah Wood

Know where you are

Country Life

Town & Country

Town & Country Notebook

Letters to the Editor

Prepare to take the heat

Athena • Cultural Crusader

My favourite painting The Duchess of Marlborough

Let us now praise the Nanny State • Scratch a utopianist, find a …

The legacy • The 10th Duke of Beaufort and Badminton Horse Trials

Cometh the ice men • Nature is awakening in all her glory, but May can still possess a sting in its tail, warns Lia Leendertz

A celebration of local pride • For its size, Britain is the most diverse country in the world. Here, we toast the infinite geological and topographical distinctiveness of this nation, from its houses to its sheep, its plants to its poets

Granite country

Chalk downland

The Fens

Wealden clay

North Wales slate

Yorkshire millstone grit

The Highlands

Cotswold limestone

Local foundations • With the help of a specially commissioned series of his drawings, Matthew Rice meditates on the qualities that imbue the architecture of the British countryside with its wonderful variety

Picking winners • Clay, loam, chalk, sand or peat, the soil under our feet determines what we can grow and how good it tastes, says Mark Diacono

Don’t get caught with your apple-catchers down • With experts warning that regional accents could disappear within decades, our sometimes quaint and often bizarre dialect words are becoming ever-more precious. Victoria Marston takes a crash course in local language

Around Britain by bitter • We are what we drink. From hazy pale ales to heavy stouts and bitter lagers, our rich tradition of local beer production should be celebrated, says Harry Pearson

Do you know where you are? • Test your local knowledge of the infinitely varied British Isles

The living is easy • Outdoor furniture and accessories, chosen by Amelia Thorpe

Lands of hope and glory • A trio of stellar estates launches the spring selling season, with links to Pink Floyd, royal forests and war horses

Property news

London Life • Your indispensable guide to the capital

Need to Know

Coming up roses • It’s half a century since Covent Garden’s eponymous market travelled south of the River Thames, but it did little to dent the area’s appeal, says Jack Watkins, who charts its development from Tudor times to the present day

All roadslead to Savile Row • Cars and tailoring go hand-in-hand at London’s most priceless street party, says Adam Hay Nicholls

Up hill and down dale • Kathryn Bradley-Hole visits a garden set in a magnificent landscape, where the formally laid gardens are planted with great verve and personality

Secret agent

Kitchen garden cook Watercress

A king’s ramsons • Once dismissed as a ‘disgusting’ weed of ‘repulsive odour’, wild garlic is now a forager’s delight, but don’t go down to the woods once it wilts, warns John Wright

So near and yet so far • The beguiling Isles of Scilly are full of wonders, from exotic plants to countless birds and heroic tales. Mark Hedges hops across from Cornwall

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