From gardens and choristers to spies and Brussels sprouts, here's a look at some of what you'll find inside.
When Bethlehem is everywhere and anywhere
In a messy world, we can still find love and hope in our local church, believes the Revd Fergus Butler-Gallie
And so this is Christmas
Friends of Country Life tell Carla Passino about the paintings that symbolise the season
The Bishop of London’s favourite painting
Dame Sarah Mullally, future Archbishop of Canterbury, chooses unity in clay
The legacy
Kate Green marvels at Betjeman’s ‘most tremendous tale of all’
The heavenly city
In the first of two articles, John Goodall reveals the origins of Exeter Cathedral, Devon
Rubies for Christmas
Harry Pearson delves into jewelled pomegranate tales
Give me all your turtle-dovin’
Mark Cocker on the bird of the second day
We make Christmas happen
Jane Wheatley meets the people beavering away behind the festivities, from cake-bakers to cracker-makers
Merry Christmas, Peter Rabbit!
Beatrix Potter eschewed the abstemiousness of her childhood to embrace the festivities, finds Matthew Dennison
The spy who came in from the page
Emma Hughes ventures into John le Carré’s world in search of the real George Smiley
The Editor’s Christmas quiz
Buckle in and do your best
Relative values
Confused about your cousins? We can help
It’ll be all right on the night
Alpacas, angels and a trigger-happy Herod line up for the Nativity in Kate Green’s village yarn
Muff and nonsense
Deborah Nicholls-Lee warms her hands and hides her pistol in a furry fashion classic
Toy story
Old favourites, from soldiers to slinkies, can still enchant, says Tom Howells
Ice, ice baby
The frozen Thames allowed weeks of frivolity, reveals Deborah Nicholls-Lee
Very fetching
What designer would your dog wear? Agnes Stamp dresses the chicest canines
Green and pleasant band
Rarest and fairest of all, emeralds have beguiled Jonathan Self for decades
Luxury
Amie Elizabeth White picks festive finery and Manolo Blahnik reveals his favourite things
Celebrate the winter solstice
Tilly Ware falls for the frosty magic of the gardens of Helmingham Hall in Suffolk
Life in the slow lane
John Lewis-Stempel wanders rural byways
Deck the halls!
Spiky sanctuary or medieval motif, holly warms many hearts, says Deborah Nicholls-Lee
How to find your interior-design DNA
What kind of designer are you? Giles Kime’s quiz sorts the curators from the dramatists
Now you’ve borscht it
Beetroot is best for Tom Parker Bowles
Kitchen garden cook
Melanie Johnson on Brussels sprouts
Wholly smoke
Forget fish farms, the Secret Smokehouse is the place for salmon, urges Tom Howells
The lion’s share
Matthew Dennnison goes through the wardrobe to the dawn of the land of Narnia
Country-house treasure
John Goodall admires a copper dish at Hutton-in-the-Forest
Arts & antiques
Andy Warhol, Dickens and an ancient pine catch Carla Passino’s eye
Sing, choirs of angels
Andrew Green praises the Victorian collectors to whom we owe our familiar and uplifting Christmas carols
The good, the bad and the overblown
Michael Billington awards his Billies to the best and the worst of 2025 on the stage
The best books of the year
Country Life reviewers select their top reads, from Holbein to holy places and hedgerows
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‘You get to a point where you do not fancy sleeping alone and dogs have far better manners than men’: Do dogs belong on our beds?Records of dogs sleeping beside humans stretch back centuries — from Mary, Queen of Scots and Queen Victoria to today’s whippets, teckels and labradors — yet the debate over whether they belong in our beds remains as lively as ever.
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A magnificent old vicarage with five bedrooms, 5,000sq ft of space, and in the catchment area for the 'best state school in North Yorkshire'The wonderful village of Burton Leonard is one of the most sought-after places to live in Yorkshire, and one of its finest homes is now for sale. Penny Churchill looks inside.
