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The history of Lincoln College, Oxford: Salvaging the vine
John Goodall describes the initiative of a Bishop of Lincoln to establish Lincoln College, Oxford, and the long struggle to bring it to fruition. Photography by Paul Highnam for Country Life.
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The extravagant seaside splendours of the south coast's most exotic museum
Created for Merton Russell-Cotes’s wife in 1901 and then given to the town, the dazzling interiors of the Russell-Cotes Art Gallery and Museum in Bournemouth capture the spirit of the Victorian seaside, says Kathryn Ferry. Photography by Paul Highnam for Country Life.
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The world's most beautiful theatre, and the visionary who created it with manual labour 'plus a few sticks of dynamite'
Kate Green tells the story of the extraordinary Minack Theatre, carved by hand into a Cornish cliffside.
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How the spectacular Wolterton Hall went from Georgian splendour to a Palladian masterpiece you can rent by the weekend
John Goodall looks at the way in which Wolterton Hall, Norfolk, was awakened from sleep as a modern home and place of entertainment. Photographs by Paul Highnam for Country Life.
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The origins of Wolterton Hall
John Goodall looks at Wolterton Hall, Norfolk — former home of Keith Day and Peter Sheppard — to analyse the creation of a new country house by Horace Walpole, a figure in the front rank of political and diplomatic life in the 18th century. Photographs by Paul Highnam for Country Life.
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How 'an insatiable appetite for brass-band music' gave rise to the bandstand, and how we almost lost them all
From Handel to Bowie, our bandstands have been a hub for free live music for centuries, as well as being buildings of architectural interest.
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Gatewick: The 'Georgian' house that was built from scratch in the 1950s
A combination of discerning architectural improvement and collecting in 1950s Sussex created Gatewick — the former home of Charles, James and Primrose Yorke — as a modern country house in the 18th-century spirit. John Martin Robinson reports. Photographs by Paul Highnam for Country Life.
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Elegant and congruous: How Hartland Abbey draws together eight centuries of architectural and family history
John Goodall looks at the history of Hartland Abbey in Devon after the Reformation, and its descent in the hands of one family to the present.
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How the country houses of Britain proved perfect for the Allied Forces to get ready for D-Day
Country houses great and small were indispensable to D-Day preparations, with electricity and sanitation, well-stocked wine cellars, countesses to run the canteens and antique furniture to feed the stoves, says Allan Mallinson.
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Russell House: A Broadway sensation
Russell House in Broadway, Worcestershire, is a Cotswold house beloved by an important Edwardian Anglo-American artistic circle. Now, it has been revived and restored; John Martin Robinson tells its remarkable story. Photographs by Paul Highnam for Country Life.
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The history of Covent Garden: 500 years of the world's most famous market
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. Jack Watkins charts the history of Covent Garden from Tudor times to the present day.
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Stansted Park in the 20th century: The private made public
John Goodall traces the 20th-century evolution of Stansted Park, West Sussex, and its current revival in the care of an independent charitable trust, the Stansted Park Foundation. Photographs by Paul Highnam for Country Life.
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Stansted Park, West Sussex: From royal favourite to stranger’s heir
John Goodall looks at the stages by which a medieval hunting lodge developed from the 17th century to become a great country house: Stansted Park, West Sussex, a property of the Stansted Park Foundation. Photographs by Paul Highnam for Country Life.
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'We cannot have beauty without paying for it': The glorious revival of Rochdale's Town Hall
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.
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The magnificent buildings of Lancing College
John Goodall examines the outstanding school buildings of Lancing College, an institution celebrating its 175th anniversary. Photography by Paul Highnam.
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'One of the great landmarks of the Sussex coast', finally finished some 156 years after work was started
John Goodall looks at the recent completion of the chapel of Lancing College, one of the great landmarks of the Sussex coast. Photography by Paul Highnam for Country Life.
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Cluny Castle: Granite, grandeur, and testimony to the exceptional wealth of its creator
Never previously described in Country Life, Cluny Castle, Aberdeenshire — the home of Cosmo and Bronya Linzee Gordon — is an outstanding Scottish castle that is also an architectural testimony to the exceptional wealth of its creator. John Goodall reports on its history and recent revival. Photography by Paul Highnam for Country Life.
