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Why does the discovery of ‘Port Talbot’s Pompeii’ matter?The discovery of a Roman villa at Margam, outside Port Talbot in Wales, generated huge amounts of publicity, but the press failed to get to the heart of why it matters.
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Castle Howard was devastated by fire. Against all the odds, its decades-long restoration has made it even greater today than it once wasAn award-winning restoration at Castle Howard in North Yorkshire has transformed the interior of this fire-damaged great house. What's more, the work has been finished in time for the celebrations surrounding the tercentenary of the death of its designer, Sir John Vanbrugh. John Goodall reports; photographs by Paul Highnam for Country Life.
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The 'Welsh Pompeii' is is a staggering reminder of how ancient history still shapes the modern landscapeCountry Life's cultural columnist Athena takes a look at the Roman villa discovery in South Wales which plugs a centuries-wide gap in the chronology of the area.
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One of the first substantial buildings constructed from cast iron lives on only in the Country Life ArchiveThe London Coal Exchange enabled City merchants to buy and sell coal across the world. Despite this magazine's best efforts, it was destroyed in the 1960s.
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The National Trust's untold story: How generations of bachelors poured their souls into their houses, and then gave them to the nationThe acquisition of houses by the National Trust from the 1930s had less to do with the impoverishment of aristocratic families than the industrial wealth of bachelor donors, as Michael Hall reveals.
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'This is an international institution, a great Regency building and a public face of London. It deserves something better'The British Museum's proposal for a new temporary pavilion has every chance of casting a permanent shadow.
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The best country house architects in BritainCountry Life's list of the finest country house architects in Britain — an indispensable guide if you're considering serious work on your home.
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From baroque masterpiece to the UKs most picturesque motor circuit: The tragic tale of Oulton Park and its inhabitantsOne hundred years ago, Oulton Park — whose family had already been torn apart by the First World War — was consumed by fire.
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'A celebration of connoisseurship and the sheer enjoyment of art and history': The extraordinary treasures of Ampthill Park HouseIn the second of two articles on Ampthill Park House, Bedfordshire — the home of Sir Timothy and Lady Clifford — Jeremy Musson looks at an exceptional modern collection that speaks to the history and character of the house it dignifies.
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There's a town in the Netherlands where you can build whatever you want. The outcome is quite extraordinaryTim Abrahams on the bewildering and intoxicating architectural collage that is Oosterwold.
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Gibside: The curious roofless castle where The King's ancestor was kidnappedGibside flourished under coal baron George Bowes but his heiress daughter, Mary Eleanor, nearly lost it all to her deceitful second husband.
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'A blue-blood background and a drive to disrupt': Lady Violet Manners on the importance of preserving Britain's privately-owned country homesThe Viscountess talks about a childhood at Belvoir Castle, primogeniture and why Americans love a British country home.
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A Suffolk home where glass, steel, timber and thatch come together in perfect harmonyThis new house of four discrete elements adopts vernacular forms and materials to striking effect. Clive Aslet pays a visit to Housestead, Suffolk — home of Abigail Hopkins and Amir Sanei — to discover more. Photography by Paul Highnam for Country Life.
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Why has everyone fallen under the spell of Wrotham Park — one of the largest private houses inside the M25Wrotham Park, the seat of the Earls of Strafford, is not open to the public and hardly any interior photographs are available to view online. So why do film directors, photographers and luxury brands continue to flock to it?
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Refurbishing the Palace of Westminster will be extremely expensive, but so too will be doing nothingWe must confront the neglect of Parliament.
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What binds the Queen Mother and Chicago's first department store? A lost castle that was blown to smithereens by the Territorial ArmyStreatlam Castle was one of the Earls of Strathmore and Kinghorne three principal seats.
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The only thing better than a stately home is a stately home in wooden miniatureMeet George Barham — the gifted woodcarver who can turn your family pile into a wooden masterpiece.
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Les Espaces d'Abraxas: 'Building a Versailles for the people in Noisy-le-Grand'The Catalan architect Ricardo Bofill's development in the suburbs of Paris is an intriguing solution to how you expand a city using unwieldy machinery.
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'A fantastic creation, with the magic of a strange, dreamed, longed-for world': Inside Schloss Charlottenhof, the Prussian royal family's exquisite sanctuaryThe desire for a retreat from the cares of the Prussian court and the formality of palace protocol created Schloss Charlottenhof, Brandenburg, a neo-Classical masterpiece. Aoife Caitríona Lau explains more; photographs by Paul Highnam for Country Life.
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The magnificent London mansion that Country Life mourned when it was demolished to make room for the Dorchester HotelDorchester House was once the epicentre of late-Victorian society.
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Repton: The 500-year-old school with a medieval priory whose story leads back to the kings of MerciaThe medieval Augustinian priory within the curtilage of Repton School in Derbyshire links together the history of this great public school with the Anglo-Saxon era and the Kings of Mercia. David Robinson tells its story, with photographs by Paul Highnam for Country Life.
