The ruins 7,000 years older than Stonehenge which overthrow the way we think about our common past
Jason Goodwin visited an ancient site — but he didn't even take his camera. Here's why, and what it told him about what he was seeing.
Smashing vases, feral kittens and putting ice in your wine — Country Life's agony aunt Mrs Hudson on how to deal with the lot
Our much-loved agony aunt is currently on maternity leave; we need her back, and soon. (Keep your eyes peeled this coming summer.)
Asset stripping, helicopters to Gretna Green, drinks all round and land at 5p an acre
Joe Gibbs reminisces about the Dutchmen who made a home in the Highlands — and made quite a splash.
How do you pronounce Belvoir, Featherstonhaugh and Bagehot?
Even simple-looking names like Powell and Coke can trip up the unwary, while Belvoir and Featherstonhaugh are positive linguistic land mines. Eleanor Doughty (Dowty? Dockerty? Dotty?) investigated.
‘Hang on — was I just charged 64 quid for some salad, six chicken strips and a quiche the size of a doorknob?’
Lucy Baring headed in to London and felt the cost of inflation.
Curious Questions: Why do we take Christmas decorations down on January 6th?
Our Curious Questions regular columnist Martin Fone took a look at one of the seemingly-arbitrary quirks of the season.
The day I rescued The Queen
Our long-standing contributor Carla Carlisle was lucky enough to meet the Queen. And even luckier to be able to help Her Majesty out of a bit of a spot.
The burial mounds that pre-date Stonehenge by seven centuries
Vicky Liddell did some digging — pretty much literally — into the mysterious existence of barrows.
‘The very idea of stripes on a lawn made my German friend shudder’
Centrepiece of a classic English country garden, or bourgeois construct of the machine age? Our columnist Jason Goodwin took aim at the lawn.
See Country Life's top 10s of 2022
-
How Harper Beckham created the perfect gardener's birthday present for her father's 50th — with a little help from David Austin RosesWhen Harper Beckham wanted to commission a rose for her father’s birthday, there was only one man for the job, says Charles Quest-Ritson, as he takes a closer look at the science behind creating a new David Austin bloom.
-
Oh, my gourd, it’s Hallowe’en: How best to decorate your home with pumpkins, squashes and moreAs the feast of All Hallow’s Eve approaches, Debora Robertson advises how best to decorate your home with autumn's edible bounty.
-
‘The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago; the second best time is now'Now is the time to firstly, hug a tree, and secondly, plant some more — in increasingly imaginative ways.
-
Nôtre-Dame: An over-crowded Parisian triumphAthena visits the re-built French wonder, and is more than impressed by the restoration work that has been completed so far.
-
Agromenes: Evolution, not revolution, is what we need for a green and sustainable futureThe short-term pain of a green transition will be worth it in the long run. What we need is some bold vision to get there.
-
The proposed National Gallery extension is a ray of light in a stormy sectorThe announcement of a new wing for one of the nation's top art galleries 'is a transformative initiative undertaken through private philanthropy to clear and universal benefit. What is there not to celebrate?'
-
Don't blame it on the sunshine, don't blame it on the moonlight, don't blame it on the good times, blame it on the batsBats and newts are an easy target, but can they actually be blamed for not building enough houses?
-
Agromenes: Why is our tax money not being spent on British food?A Freedom of Information request reveals that many of our local councils and government departments aren't buying British-grown food. It's an insult to our farmers.
-
Affordable, sustainable, rural: How a group of volunteers embarrassed the government and built some of the best new homes in the countryHazelmead has won almost every RIBA award going. The development on the outskirts of Bridport might be a springboard for a rural housing revolution, much like the Arts-and-Crafts movement more than a century ago.
-
William Hanson: Why etiquette must evolve to suit modern lifeNoodle slurping and the left-handed taboo. The king of modern manners details the evolution of proper conduct in his latest book.
