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 Rebecca Gleeson

Spot the birdie

Country Life

Town & Country

Town & Country Notebook

Letters to the Editor

This is no time for personal attacks

Why the play is no longer the thing

The way we were Photographs from the COUNTRY LIFE archive

My favourite painting Raynor Winn • Arenig, North Wales by James Dickson Innes

Totally foxed • The new Scottish legislation on hunting looks unworkable and will be to the detriment of wildlife

Is the ‘tourist tax’ realistic? • Charging visitors to national parks such as the busy Lake District sounds an attractive idea, but it could easily backfire, says one local

A future in the Arts • West Horsley Place, Surrey Property of the West Horsley Place Trust One of the most important historic houses in Surrey is enjoying a new lease of life as a centre for the Arts. John Goodall looks at the history of this remarkable building

Native breeds Bluefaced Leicester

ALIVE AND WOOL • A yearly festival of wool sees drop spindles, peg looms, felted collars and yarns dyed in heavenly shades of old rose, hawthorn and hedgeberry fill a parallel world in which wool reigns supreme, finds Jane Wheatley

‘Painting horses is, to me, the breath of life’ • Lucy Kemp-Welch was overlooked for RA election and refused to get involved with the feminist politics of her day, letting her powerful and empathetic animal paintings do the talking, says Octavia Pollock

Return of the Mac • It might now be spelt differently, made of alternative fabrics and have even embraced colour, but–at heart–the Mackintosh remains the same classic waterproof coat conceived 200 years ago, says Julie Harding

That sounds just like you • Forget flashy plumage or intricate dances, being a great sound mimic is what really wins over women-at least for some birds, as Stephen Moss reveals

Earn your stripes • Multicoloured stripes draw attention in all the right ways, says Hetty Lintell

Colour counsel • The latest paints and wallpapers, selected by Amelia Thorpe

To boldly go • A new book explores David Hicks’s brave approach to colour

Once in a generation • Today’s Property Market previews the launch onto the market, for the first time since 1985, of one of Kent’s most important country houses

The estate sale • Surrey’s private estates are now more than 100 years old, but are still as popular as ever with UK and international buyers

Fronds in high places • The Palm Centre, Richmond, Surrey An obsession with palms has taken Martin Gibbons to some of the most inaccessible places around the world, says Tiffany Daneff, and to the founding of his remarkable nursery

Seed capital

Kitchen garden cook Wild garlic

Dressed to impress • Towering headdresses, 3ft-high feathers and a diamond-spangled skirt so heavy that a pulley was needed to raise the hem are only some of the extraordinary outfits that made Georgian Britain sartorially magnificent, finds Matthew Dennison

Crowning glories • A Bristol exhibition contains riveting treasures from past coronations

Simply the best • Sir Nicholas Hytner’s new production of Guys and Dolls is a triumph, as James...