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Tonight we're going to party like it's 1929: A look back at Christmas Parties of the pastOffice Christmas parties have been going on as long as there have been offices, but most of us have little idea about what once went on when our great-grandparents let their hair down. Recent discoveries, however, have unearthed some details of Country Life's Christmas parties of the past – John Goodall takes a look.
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The Cathedral of Christ, Liverpool: The fascinating story of Britain's largest cathedralThe architect who created the red telephone kiosk and the London power station today occupied by Tate Modern also designed Britain’s largest cathedral. John Goodall looks at the story of this masterpiece.
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Six of Britain’s finest art and building conservationists on history, technology and the secrets of their tradesIt takes a huge amount of skill and technical expertise to restore historic objects and interiors. John Goodall speaks to six specialists about their work and its challenges.
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Amanyangyun, Shanghai: Enjoying history in luxuryA newly opened luxury resort is the product of extraordinary conservation project. It offers visitors an intriguing insight into Chinese culture, as John Goodall explains.
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Le Relais de Chambord: The hotel in the shadow of a masterpieceA new hotel opens on the grounds of the Châteax de Chambord, allowing visitors to bask in the glory of the French Renaissance castle. John Goodall reports.
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The story of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Galleries, Westminster Abbey's first major addition in 250 yearsThe architectural choices behind the recent additions to Westminster Abbey mark them out as a radical departure. John Goodall admires the success of the project, with photographs by Paul Highnam.
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Harlaxton Manor, Lincolnshire: An American evolutionOver the past half century, the care of an American university has returned one of the landmark buildings of early Victorian England to life and splendour. John Goodall reports.
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Alston Court, Suffolk: A vivid insight into Tudor living on the grand scaleOne of the most important late-medieval merchant’s houses in the country offers a vivid insight into Tudor living on the grand scale, as John Goodall discovers.
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Chenies Manor, Buckinghamshire: The Tudor estate that encompasses the ancient oak tree beneath which Elizabeth I lost a piece of jewelleryThis Tudor house was the unlikely venue for the first meeting of the founding group of The Arts Society. John Goodall tells its remarkable story.
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Titanic Hotel, Belfast review: A shipyard escapeJohn Goodall paid a visit to Belfast's recently-opened Titanic Hotel, a place full of clever themed touches to celebrate the ill-fated ocean liner.
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Plumpton Rocks, Harrogate: Heaven on earthRecent restoration work has helped re-create a celebrated landscape garden crafted in the late 18th century around a dramatic gritstone outcrop, as John Goodall explains.
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The Chapel of Trinity College, Oxford: A return to splendourOne of Oxford’s most admired interiors has been revived, as John Goodall reports.
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Ockwells Manor, Berkshire: An insight into the splendours of grand living in 15th-century EnglandA delightful timber-frame house offers insights into the realities of luxurious 15th-century living and the brutal complexities of Lancastrian politics, as John Goodall explains.
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Capheaton Hall, Northumberland: The revival of a country house that narrowly avoided demolitionA house that narrowly avoided demolition after the Second World War has been gradually revived by the family that has occupied it for the past seven centuries, as John Goodall explains.
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Broomhall, Fife: A stupendous country house restored by the Earl of Elgin after 40 years of thoughtThe Earl of Elgin, celebrated for securing the sculpture from the Parthenon, spent 40 years toying with the reconstruction of his house, which has recently been restored for the 21st century, as John Goodall explains.
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Orthopaedic shoe-making: The bridge between architecture and podiatryJohn Goodall meets Bill Bird, who, having studied architecture at the Bartlett, now makes orthopaedic shoes.
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Ghent: Belgium’s best-kept secretJohn Goodall visits Ghent, a city full of unexpected delights.
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In the cathedral’s shadow: The Cathedral Close, WellsThe splendours of Wells Cathedral can easily distract from the astonishing architecture that surrounds it. In the second of two articles, John Goodall describes the remarkable history of the precinct.
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Wells Cathedral, Somerset: A symphony of architectureIn the first of two articles, John Goodall describes the architectural development of Wells and the struggle of its late-medieval clergy to win the church its now-familiar status as a cathedral.
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Cesky Krumlov Castle's exquisite theatre: The scene of princely diversionThe object of a heroic recent restoration, the 1760s theatre at Cesky Krumlov carries the modern visitor back into the Baroque world. In the second of two articles on the castle, John Goodall examines its astonishing survival.
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Cesky Krumlov: Inside one of Europe’s greatest castlesCesky Krumlov Castle was extravagantly remodelled in the 18th-century. In the first of two articles, John Goodall considers its development and spectacular interiors.
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Thrumpton Hall, Nottinghamshire: A treasure on the TrentA surviving collection of personal letters sheds a fascinating light on 18th-century life in this fine Jacobean house. John Goodall examines the development of the building.
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'I didn't even know what a cooper was': Hanging with master cooperAlastair Simms is one of Britain’s few remaining traditional coopers. John Goodall caught up with him to talk about barrels, birthdays, and beer that tastes of plastic.
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The Country House Library: Why these rooms and their collections need to be taken much more seriouslyA new account of the country-house library will compel us all to reassess these rooms and their collections, says John Goodall.
