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'The whiff of a McDonald’s Happy Meal has them pouring in': London, where the foxes are streets ahead
The urban fox is as much a part of the city as the red bus or St Paul's. Will this elusive animal outlast us all?
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Patrick Galbraith: Lisbon, Voices of the Old Sea and some dodgy oysters
On a recent trip to Portugal, Patrick Galbraith was laid up with food poisoning. It allowed him time to reflect on tourism, tradition and the great travel writer Norman Lewis.
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Patrick Galbraith: 'What struck me is that English vineyards represent a rare example of farmland being re-peopled'
Going grape picking gives a glimpse of what the rural past would have looked like.
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Patrick Galbraith: 'For a couple of hours, I was part of a rich culture that will soon be lost'
Our columnist travels to Northumberland to 'long net' for sea trout, and laments the slow decline of a heritage craft.
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Patrick Galbraith: 'The Itchen is a place of such pastoral beauty that it’s almost too much to take in'
Patrick realises that often, it's the journey, and not the destination, that is most important.
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Patrick Galbraith: We are a brilliant and terrible species who messed it up a long time ago — and that means we have to do things we don't want to
Our columnist laments the painful decisions on culling wild animals which he argues have to be taken if we're to manage the countryside and maintain biodiversity.
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'I didn't realise quite what we were getting into': how to make cheese in Norfolk and what it says about us
Patrick Galbraith visits a cheesemaker in Norfolk and leaves wondering what 'a hard day's work' really means.
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'Somebody in North London wondered if four plump squirrels would be beyond my remit and a chef in Camberwell wants enough venison offal for a pop-up event'
It was interesting enough to study Freud, sex, gender and the English language, says Patrick Galbraith, but looking back, he wonders if it was really worth the money.
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Patrick Galbaith: If you don't keep using your local pub and butcher, you won't have a community worthy of the name
Patrick Galbraith laments those who complain about the price of beer in pubs and and beef in butchers — the real value is in keeping a sense of place.
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Patrick Galbraith: "'You sound clever, but you’re really stupit,' he told me. Buoyed by his charm, I stepped outside"
A happy Patrick Galbraith celebrates his engagement by tempting fate in inspiringly cavalier fashion.
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The Country Life columnist who ended up at an illegal rave in the Brecon Beacons
Patrick Galbraith has a night to remember.
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Patrick Galbraith: The best sport in life is free
Patrick Galbraith's trip to the Isle of Lewis shows him a new perspective on how to land a bird for your festive roast.
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Patrick Galbraith: 'The man had a blood blister on his lip, a gold earring and a Jack Russell in a crate in a pushchair. "The wife’s," he said, noticing me looking at the dog'
Anyone who laments a lack of tolerance in the country ought to visit the Appleby Horse Fair, says Patrick Galbraith.
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Patrick Galbraith: 'And so I found myself totally naked, walking 12 miles with a bunch of IT consultants, retired teachers and a Frenchman in a little red hat'
Can you truly understand the countryside if you've not walked through it in the nude? Well, probably, but our columnist wasn't taking any chances as he strips off to find out for certain.
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Patrick Galbraith: 'We both agreed that, regrettably, adulthood is merely a series of youthful illusions being shattered'
Patrick has been rubbing shoulders with communists, publishers, New York Times writers and alumni of Cheltenham Ladies' College — and sometimes several of them at once.
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Patrick Galbraith: 'Rather than asking if she could be next up for a pigeon, she quit. Her liking for oat milk should have given the game away'
Country Life's newest columnist Patrick Galbraith on car washes, dogs and the inevitable culture clashes that come with being a country boy living in London.
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The true meaning of Dumbledore, Chiggypig, Hornywink and Lang lugs, and the other old English animal names all but lost to us
The colourful and beautiful archaic names given to the animals and birds of Britain are in danger of being lost — but they won't be if Patrick Galbraith has anything to do with it. He tells the tale of peewits, pianets and King Harry's red caps, and picks out his favourite bizarre sobriquets, while Paula Lester provides an extraordinary list of the creatures who sometimes have dozens of different names.
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The dogs we lost: 10 extinct British dog breeds
When a breed no longer has a job, be it turning a meat spit, hunting or herding, it often goes the way of the dodo.
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What it's like to live for five days on an uninhabited Scottish island
Marooned on the uninhabited Scottish island of Scarba with only his terrier for company, Patrick Galbraith discovers the realities of a solitary way of life.
