-
16 things which make Scotland the beautiful place we know and love
From highland cattle to Annie Lennox, we celebrate the very best that Scotland has to offer.
-
Lucy Baring on the joy of a lost passport: 'I'll stay at home, enjoy the sweet peas in full throttle, read a thriller, drink cold wine and watch films that nobody else likes'
Lucy Baring loses her passport and finds a very different kind of holiday.
-
Curious Questions: When and why did we start bathing in the sea?
Despite the British love of seafaring, voluntarily taking a dip in the sea was almost unheard of until relatively recently. Martin Fone takes a look at how a bit of canny marketing helped change that.
-
Jonathan Self: 'To be in a foreign country is thrilling. Everything is new. One is constantly on one’s mettle. It is like being a child again'
Jonathan Self's scuppered plans force him to reflect on how the joy of travel mixes with the delicious ambivalence of wanting to go home.
-
Is it ever okay to put ice in your wine? How can you fix a broken friendship? And which cutlery do you use for fish? — Country Life's agony aunt Mrs Hudson tells all
Each week, Country Life's agony aunt Mrs Hudson answers readers' queries on everything from house parties and cutlery conundrums to wild pets and affairs of the heart.
-
Carla Carlisle: 'Nixon had a conscience. He experienced shame. I doubt if Trump does'
Carla Carlisle was a fledgling journalist when a piece of Watergate history came her way. Half a century later, she considers the parallels between Richard Nixon and Donald Trump.
-
The Duchess of Cornwall names her all-time favourite books
An avid reader, The Duchess of Cornwall has long promoted the importance of literacy via her patronages of the National Literacy Trust and BookAid International — among many other bodies — as well as her popular literary hub, The Reading Room. Here, she selects her three favourite books.
-
Jonathan Self: 'In Ireland, summer smells sweet, effervescent and damp. In Tuscany, one almost has to push one’s way through it'
Jonathan Self's recent move to Italy has brought a fresh challenge. Or rather, a hot and heavy one.
-
Curious Questions: When did the first passenger jet take off?
'Nowadays we travel to all parts of the globe, often within a day and often without changing planes,' says Martin Fone, as he muses on the birth of commercial air travel exactly 70 years ago.
-
'The monarchy is not a cold, rational, legal structure, but a living, vibrant, human creation with human weaknesses and human strengths'
The Queen's Platinum Jubilee has been and gone, but it's left an indelible memory and reminded Britain that it still has some things to be proud of, says our columnist Agromenes.
-
Curious Questions: Did a mining disaster lead to the invention of Father’s Day?
This weekend marks Father's Day across the world, prompting Martin Fone to take a look at the origins of this day of celebration. The tale he discovered is not what he expected....
-
'Hang on — was I just charged 64 quid for some salad, six chicken strips and a quiche the size of a doorknob?'
Lucy Baring heads in to London and feels the cost of inflation.
-
Curious Questions: What is it like to sing at a royal coronation in Westminster Abbey?
The choristers at the Coronation are now in their eighties, but recall vividly the day they sang for The Queen, as Andrew Green discovers.
-
Jonathan Self on switching banks after 50 years: 'I was in such a fury that it was fully an hour before I came to my senses'
Oh dear — poor Jonathan has had a bit of a time of it. We'll leave him to explain more.
-
Riling up the FBI, riding motorbikes through pubs and hosing-down amorous couples with a fire extinguisher: Farewell to a true legend of the West Highlands
Joe Gibbs waves goodbye to Chris Main, an unforgettable character who, you feel, could have a book written about him. And it's a book that would make an amazing TV series.
-
The double-decker bus specially-built to pass beneath a medieval bridge
We take a look at some of the most extraordinary letters sent to the editors of Country Life over the past 125 years.
-
Jonathan Self: What I found out when I finally read a book I'd been meaning to read for 40 years
The author finally plucked up the courage to read Montaigne — here's what he made of it.
-
Opinion: Why small family farms should be the future of agriculture in Britain
Many aspects of farming are expanding — and not always in a good way. Jason Goodwin argues that it needs re-balancing, with a return to multiple small family farms, neighbourly cooperation and a bolstering of the local community.
-
Carla Carlisle: My husband sees Zelensky as wise, passionate and a powerful force for historic change. I look at the blue-and-yellow bunting and wonder how many landmines the £1,200 we've raised will remove
An encounter with an eight-year-old diary brings Carla's past, present and future into focus.
-
The plucky villagers battling to save their local village pubs
The fight to save rural pubs is ongoing, but, as Jane Wheatley reports, communities across the country are coming together to secure theirs for the next generation.
-
Jason Goodwin: 'Never has London looked so gilded and so monstrous'
Our columnist laments how, in his opinion, the 'slew of foreign cash and universal greed' has changed the capital — and not for the better.
