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.
Mrs Penelope Jane Meredith-Hardy
Comforts and joy • Future Publishing Ltd, 121–141 Westbourne Terrace, Paddington, London W2 6JR 0330 390 6591; www.countrylife.co.uk
Country Life
Fears for our green lungs
Town & Country Notebook
Letters to the Editor
Requiem for our roses
We need evidence, not emotion
The way we were Photographs from the COUNTRY LIFE archive
My favourite painting Oliver Mears • The 3rd of May 1808 in Madrid by Francisco de Goya
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Austen and the country house • Country houses serve as an ever-charming backdrop to the novels of Jane Austen. With the help of specially commissioned drawings, Jeremy Musson considers her treatment of their architecture
A brush with history • Deep in the Wiltshire countryside, Compton Marbling keeps alive a centuries-old art form. Julie Harding marvels at the colours and patterns of marbled paper- and the extraordinary skill of those who make it
Like a child with a new toy • From automata to wooden dogs with jointed legs, members of the British Toymakers Guild have crafted a cornucopia of intriguing playthings that are not only for children, says Claire Jackson
A call to arms
Grate expectations • As legendary cheesemonger Paxton & Whitfield celebrates its 225th birthday, Emma Hughes goes behind the scenes and discovers why this remarkable business has stood the test of time
Big cheeses: bestsellers down the ages
Strong flavours to savour • The crowning glory of the clubland table, a robust savoury–such as Welsh rarebit with lashings of Worcestershire sauce–is sure to pack a piquant palate punch, wagers Tom Parker Bowles
Tom’s top five savouries
Sip, sip hooray! • Who will be drinking what this Christmas? Six oenophiles and one teetotaller share their top festive tipples with Eleanor Doughty Illustration by Adam Larkum
Me old china • Christmas is the perfect time to bring festive tables to life with antique china, glass and silver, finds Melanie Johnson
Top tables • Inspirational ideas for setting the table this season, selected by Amelia Thorpe
Christmas gifts • Hetty Lintell has the festive season all wrapped up
The Editor’s choice • COUNTRY LIFE Editor Mark Hedges reveals his favourite things from the past year
If the shoes fit • Royalty, James Bond and even a lame dog have all benefited from John Lobb’s exquisite shoe-making craftsmanship during the past 173 years, says Zeb Soanes
Merry halls • Painstaking restorations have made for three warmly welcoming and grand family homes
Property news
Properties of the week
A gardener’s Christmas • Paul Hawkins uses garden and hedgerow pickings in style, blended with shop-bought highlights, discovers Tiffany Daneff
Painting the life force
Kitchen garden cook Swiss chard
‘The once and future king’ • Lauding King Arthur as a symbol of chivalry and honour, Pre-Raphaelite artists such as Edward Burne-Jones were as in thrall to the legendary monarch as his loyal knights of the Round Table, says Matthew Dennison
We love Paris in the autumn • The first combined Fine Arts Paris &...