
Lotte Brundle
Lotte is Country Life's digital writer. Before joining in 2025, she was checking commas and writing news headlines for The Times and The Sunday Times as a sub-editor. She has written for The Times, New Statesman, The Fence and Spectator World. She pens Country Life Online's arts and culture interview series, Consuming Passions.
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Sweet civilisation: What do you get when you ask architects to compete in a gingerbread competition?
The Gingerbread City is back in London’s Kings Cross. Lotte Brundle pays it a visit.
By Lotte Brundle Published
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‘Each one is different depending on what mood I’m in, how I'm feeling and how my energy is’ — meet the carver behind Westminster Hall's angel statues
Bespoke woodcarver William Barsley makes unique scale replicas of the angels that gaze over Westminster Hall, the oldest part of the palace of Westminster.
By Lotte Brundle Published
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Mark Gatiss: ‘BBC Two turned down The League of Gentlemen six times’
The actor and writer tells Lotte Brundle about his latest Christmas ghost story, discovering Benedict Cumberbatch — and his consuming passions.
By Lotte Brundle Published
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Wildhive Callow Hall hotel review: I felt like a squirrel preparing for hibernation and I loved it
The boutique treehouses at this Derbyshire getaway are the best way to unwind in nature and explore the Peak District, writes Lotte Brundle.
By Lotte Brundle Published
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Who buys flowers in the middle of the night? Boris Johnson, panicked brides, drunk people and London’s wealthiest inhabitants
Lotte Brundle visits the 24-hour central London florist where the flowers don’t sleep.
By Lotte Brundle Published
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How a floating salad farm fuelled two record-breaking rowers across the Pacific Ocean
Miriam Payne and Jess Rowe grew cabbages and radishes on their small boat while rowing more than 8000 miles from Peru to Australia.
By Lotte Brundle Published
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Better than Ozempic? 50 years of the Brompton bicycle
Owen Wilson, James May and most of the middle-aged men and condescending hipsters you know love them. As the iconic folding bike turns 50 Lotte Brundle hops on one with the company's CEO.
By Lotte Brundle Published
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Ho Ho House of Commons: A simple guide to the best Westminster gifts, featuring a duck that is also Big Ben, a cat called Attlee and an infamous jumper
The House of Common’s gift shop has got everything from a plushie of Attlee, the Speaker’s miserable looking cat, to a rubber duck that pays tribute to the mighty work of the Suffragettes.
By Lotte Brundle Published
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‘I 100% always knew that I was going to do something creative’: Petra Palumbo on her design house, love of Scotland and consuming passions
The London ‘It Girl’ turned Scotland-based designer makes tiles with men’s torsos and Henry hoovers on them, has a pug called Raisin and is married to the 16th Lord Lovat Simon Fraser. She chats to Lotte Brundle.
By Lotte Brundle Published
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The wine stash of one of Switzerland’s most secretive billionaires is up for auction
A selection from the personal cellar of the late Jörg G. Bucherer is for sale via Sotheby’s. Highlights include double magnums of Petrus, a case of Lafleur 1990, nine cases of Clos de Tart and six 12-bottle cases of Domaine Leroy.
By Lotte Brundle Published
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Madonna, David Bowie, Elizabeth II and me — this is what it’s like to have your photograph taken by Rankin
The world-renowned photographer has worked with everyone from acting royalty, to actual royalty. His next subject? Country Life’s wandering scribe, Lotte Brundle.
By Lotte Brundle Published
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‘She was absolutely extraordinary. One of my favourite things, photographing her, was the power that came through the door’: Rankin on capturing Elizabeth II, embracing artificial intelligence and almost becoming an accountant
The world-renowned photographer tells Lotte Brundle about his most memorable meal, with Liam Gallagher, Patsy Kensit, Elvis Costello and the bass player in The Pogues — along with the rest of his consuming passions.
By Lotte Brundle Published
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'People always think that, working on The Telegraph, I'll be told that things aren't right wing enough. But in 37 years, I've never, ever been told that’: The Telegraph’s cartoonist Matt on his consuming passions
The Daily Telegraph cartoonist Matt — AKA Matthew Pritchett — talks to Lotte Brundle about his career as a cartoonist, his love of Snoopy and how he ‘stole’ his wife from Laurence Llewellyn-Bowen.
By Lotte Brundle Published
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‘So many of us look at the world through our screens and forget to pay attention to the world outside’: Katy Hessel on the world’s great female artists, why free entry to museums matters and her consuming passions
The author of ‘The Story of Art Without Men’ speaks to Lotte Brundle about the dangers of AI, how she fell in love with the art world and why it’s okay that her favourite painting is by a male artist.
By Lotte Brundle Published
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‘I’m not impressed by an Oxbridge education’: Author Jessie Burton on her acting ambitions, writing ‘The Miniaturist’ and her consuming passions
The Sunday and New York Times bestselling author wrote her debut novel under her desk while temping as a PA for private equity companies. Lotte Brundle meets her.
By Lotte Brundle Published
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You can now rent King William IV’s former home in London’s Mayfair — for a princely sum
The London property — with royal lineage — is on the market with the estate agency Wetherell for £25,000 a week.
By Lotte Brundle Published
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Dream of revolution inside the 18th-century villa once occupied by Napoleon's French troops
An apartment inside historic Villa Gnecchi Ruscone is on the market and it comes with a grand ballroom rumoured to have been frequented by Napoleon.
By Lotte Brundle Published
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May the force be with you if you move into this London apartment block that Obi-Wan Kenobi (and Cher) once lived in
Oliver’s Wharf was once the residence of megastar Cher and the actor Sir Alec Guinness — as well as Mark Knopfler of the Dire Straits.
By Lotte Brundle Published
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The eclectic New York townhouse that Lily Allen sings about in her new, headline-making album is for sale
381, Union Street is on the market just days after the singer’s latest album details the alleged infidelity in her marriage.
By Lotte Brundle Published
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‘In my twenties I was asked by a newspaper to test out an orgasm machine. I said, "Absolutely"’: Elizabeth Day on her early career in journalism and consuming passions
The author and journalist chats to Lotte Brundle.
By Lotte Brundle Published
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Ashford Castle review: The fantastic five-star hotel in Ireland that the Guinness family once used to show off their wealth and influence
You’ve seen ‘The House of Guinness’ — well here’s the castle.
By Lotte Brundle Published
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Our never-ending interest in magic and the occult, from Elizabethan England to Donald Trump's presidency
As Haddon Hall’s rooms, complete with historic witches' marks, are transformed into exhibits that explore witchcraft and evil spirits, Lotte Brundle explores our continued fascination with the supernatural.
By Lotte Brundle Published
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Dire Straits' bassist John Illsley reveals why he swapped the recording studio for the art studio — and his consuming passions
John Illsley rose to fame as the bassist of the Dire Straits, but nowadays you're more likely to find him in an art studio.
By Lotte Brundle Published
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'This gaff stops you from being depressed. It’s absolutely beautiful, man' — A closer look at this year's RIBA Stirling Prize winner
The winner of this year's Royal Institute of British Architects’s Stirling Prize has been revealed. Lotte Brundle takes a closer look at the winner, as well as the other projects shortlisted for the nation's top architecture award, and the people behind them.
By Lotte Brundle Last updated
