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'The council thought it was a useless bit of scrubland and nobody would care, but we knew different': David vs Goliath in our green and pleasant landIf the Government and developers had their way, vast swathes of the countryside would be covered in new homes. Charlotte Cooper finds out which rural communities are fighting back.
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In defence of sheepWhat have the ovines ever done for us? A fair bit, as it turns out.
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The Princess Royal's horses at Gatcombe: 'They have to do something useful'HRH The Princess Royal has been involved with horses throughout her life. Kate Green went to Gatcombe Park to speak to her about the steeds which she keeps at her home estate today.
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No shirt, no shoes, no respect: Well dressed and well-behaved tourists only, pleaseAs holiday's in the UK are set to rise, we need to make sure that visitors, both domestic and foreign, are dressing the part.
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In Norfolk, life changes with an ever-shifting landscapeThe Cley Estuary is no longer the humming port of medieval times and 21st-century life progresses at a gentler pace. Patrick Galbraith spent a day observing wildlife and talking to the locals about how their home subtly continues to change.
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The modern farming festival is many things — but is it still for farmers?Has the festival saved farming — or sold it?
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Forget all about caviar and Champagne, five-star hotels now want you to forage for your own foodForaging is the luxury traveller's new activity of choice, finds Lotte Brundle on a trip to Bovey Castle in Dartmoor.
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'I can get the same sort of wellbeing from a glass of wine in the bath': A snob’s guide to pretending you like cold-water swimmingAs temperatures rise so too will the calls to go cold-water swimming — much to Sophia Money-Coutt's chagrin.
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A snob's guide to the village fêteSophia Money-Coutts waxes lyrical about the most English of summer countryside traditions. Illustration by John Holder.
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What is everyone talking about this week: How Gen Z fell in love with fly-fishingThey may look closer to Brad Pitt's Paul Maclean than to the grandfathers who taught them how to cast. But they are flocking to the sport in their hundreds, lured by Nature's bounty.
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Small-scale cut flower growers have now been formally recognised by the governmentThe UK trade body that represents more than 1,000 small-scale cut flower growers, has been awarded dedicated Standard Industrial Classification codes.
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You've got to have a lot of bottle to be an independent wine merchantIndependent wine merchants are going from strength to strength in rural communities. Gabriel Stone raises a glass to some of the best. Photographs by Millie Pilkington and Mark Williamson.
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Great black-backed gulls: Hitchcock's villain remains a formidable predator on the big screen and on our coastlines'The Birds' vilified this species of bird on the big screen. They remain instinctively wary and you can almost never get close to one — with good reason, writes Mark Cocker.
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The much unloved, many talented, quick-witted bird that inspired the Cold-War poetry of Poet Laureate Ted HughesIn the first of our new series on ‘unloved birds’, we take a beady-eyed look at the charred black carrion crow, the clever corvid with the coarse voice.
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The silent extinction crisis threatening vanilla, magnolias — and the world’s tiniest waterlilyThe world's main source of vanilla, smallest waterlily and many magnolia species could disappear entirely, according to scientists from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and others.
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'To stick it to one side and let it rot is such a waste of a valuable resource': The buildings most at risk, according to the Victorian SocietyThe Top Ten Endangered Buildings list is endorsed by the charity’s president Griff Rhys Jones.
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The battle for our countryside rages onArguments about the despoliation of the British countryside in the name of economic survival are not new, nor are they going away.
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The chalky figures festooning our landscape might be a mystery, but they delight us nonethelessThe abstract white steed of Uffington and the excitable giant of Cerne Abbas may be Britain’s most famous chalk icons, but our landscape is filled with plenty more
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The world’s heaviest flying bird flaps on to pastures new but remains endangered, says expertYou might think it a great time for the great bustards, who have been found breeding in a new location, but there is a wider problem facing the UK’s ‘big bird’, an expert says.
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Adders, Exmoor ponies and the future of the human race: Tom Hilder on the Country Life PodcastTom Hilder, winner of the 'Rising Star' category at the Schoffel Countryside Awards, joins James Fisher on the Country Life Podcast.
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The tawny owl makes a compelling case as Britain's best loved bird of preyWhether for its textbook appearance, regional ubiquity or haunting and mellifluous call, it’s no wonder we love this winged hunter.
