Country Life February 4, 2026
Country Life February 4, 2026 is our annual travel special, looking at the best places to go around the world — plus features on Chillingham Castle, a garden full of poets, and rugby shirts.
Here's a look at some of what you'll find inside.
Country-house treasure
A fallen ceiling pendant tells the tale of the remarkable rescue of Chillingham Castle in Northumberland, finds John Goodall
Chemistry? Set…
Deborah Nicholls-Lee uncovers chemical warfare in the animal kingdom, from the bombardier beetle’s noxious gas to the sea hare’s purple-ink ‘smokescreen’
Try and try again
Tom Howells tackles the rugby shirt’s amazing transformation from mud-spattered sports kit to 21st-century sartorial staple
Luxury
Amie Elizabeth White eyes elegant office essentials and reveals the inspiring styles in season at Men’s Fashion Week
Is this England’s year?
An 11-match winning run has the Twickenham faithful dreaming of Grand Slam glory. Owain Jones looks ahead to the Six Nations
A rock-solid legacy
George Plumptre explores Penns in the Rocks in East Sussex — a garden that was 140 million years in the making
Travel
Rosie Paterson unpacks all the latest travel news and explores Canada’s last great wilderness, Emma Love rounds up the newcomers of 2026, Country life writers check into the world’s best hotels, Rupert Uloth experiences the magic of Madagascar, Teresa Levonian Cole climbs aboard the Orient Express and Pamela Goodman enjoys an educational excursion
Veronica Henry’s favourite painting
The novelist chooses a work that evokes nostalgia and anticipation
A house to dote on
In the first of two articles, Jeremy Musson charts the remarkable evolution of historic Ampthill Park House in Bedfordshire
The legacy
Where would we be without Harry Beck’s peerless 1930s map of the London Under-ground, asks Octavia Pollock
Winging it
Mark Cocker sheds light on the short-eared owl, a breed apart that eschews darkness in favour of hunting in broad daylight
Interiors
Amelia Thorpe trips the lights fantastic with a selection of the latest designs and accessories sure to brighten up the home
London Life
Will Hosie paints the town red, yellow and blue and unearths the real story about the Cheapside Hoard, plus our writers have all you need to know this month
Arts & antiques
Carla Passino investigates the seeds of cultural exchange between Britain and China
For all the tree on China
Lucien de Guise examines how our love of Far Eastern motifs led to the 19th-century creation of Coalport’s Indian Tree ware
