Country Life May 14, 2025
Country Life 14 May 2025 celebrates summer gardens, previews the Chelsea Flower Show and delves in to the classic prawn cocktail.

Here's a look at some of what you'll find inside.
A whale of a show
Kathryn Bradley-Hole likes what she sees beside the seaside as she looks forward to what promises to be stellar year for the RHS Chelsea Flower Show
A rare thing
Tilly Ware admires the theatrical splendour of the restored 19th-century gardens at spectacular Somerleyton Hall in Suffolk
An open and shut case
A well-chosen gate can add depth, grandeur, mystery and storytelling to a garden, suggests James Alexander-Sinclair
Exquisite houses, the beauty of Nature, and how to get the most from your life, straight to your inbox.
Garden openings
From wrought iron to English oak, Amelia Thorpe finds there are gates for all garden settings
The late bloomers
What type of gardener are you? James Alexander-Sinclair profiles horticultural characters, from plant expert to ardent recycler
An idyll with an opera
Clive Aslet shines the spotlight on Glyndebourne House in East Sussex, a country property so often overshadowed by its opera
Spot the difference
Laura Parker explores the polka-dot patterns of the ladybird, a childhood favourite and friend to gardeners across the land
We will not be deprived of our Liberty
Gavin Plumley celebrates 150 years of Arthur Lasenby Liberty’s Aladdin’s cave in the capital
The prawn identity
Tom Parker Bowles goes retro with a grown-up, sophisticated classic—the prawn cocktail
Interiors
Amelia Thorpe explores the inspirational rooms that make up next month’s WOW!house
The call of the wild
Sculptor Hamish Mackie travels the world to capture the true spirit of an animal in bronze, as he tells Charles Harris
Sir Simon Keenlyside’s favourite painting
The baritone chooses a much-cherished 17th-century work that echoes through the ages
The legacy
Tiffany Daneff salutes Harold Peto, the landscape architect who created the Italianate garden
New series: Winging it
How can a honey buzzard defy the stingers when devouring a wasps’ nest, asks Mark Cocker
The good stuff
Hetty Lintell goes totally potty for the earthy hue of terracotta
Like the cat that got the mint
Catmint can send felines into a spin and keep insects at bay, reveals Deborah Nicholls-Lee
The sign of four
Best of luck to Ian Morton as he investigates the story behind the fortune of the four-leafed clover
Arts & antiques
Alan Titchmarsh shows his rare-book collector side as he talks tomes with Carla Passino ahead of Firsts London
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These are the 10 best places to live in the world — but nowhere in the UK or US has made the cut
London, Edinburgh, New York? Move over. Copenhagen is the place to be.
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Farms, fishing and a former owner who once bought Stonehenge. You could have it all at Bapton Manor
1,796 acres of the Cranborne Chase National Landscape. What's not to love
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Pirates, prophecy and painting: Country Life Quiz of the Day, June 19, 2025
From manatee flatulence to the first ATM, Wednesday's quiz asks the important questions.
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Name that castle, and Robin Hood's day job: Country Life Quiz of the Day, June 18, 2025
From manatee flatulence to the first ATM, Wednesday's quiz asks the important questions.
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Can you feel the quiz tonight: Country Life Quiz of the Day, June 17, 2025
The Lion King meets rhurbab and custard in today's quiz.
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I wanna quiz like common people: Country Life Quiz of the Day, June 16, 2025
Important notes about names, Pulp, world records, and moon landings make up Monday's quiz
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The greatest moment in the life of Jessie Owens: Country Life Quiz of the Day, June 13, 2025
Breathtaking athleticism and Shakespeare's birthday are among the questions in the final quiz of the week.
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The deaths of Romeo and Juliet: Country Life Quiz of the Day, June 12, 2025
A Rolling Stone and a familiar-sounding place find their way into Wednesday's Quiz of the Day.
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England's answer to New York: Country Life Quiz of the Day, June 11, 2025
A Rolling Stone and a familiar-sounding place find their way into Wednesday's Quiz of the Day.
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David Beckham to guest edit Country Life
'I am looking forward to celebrating what the countryside means to me and my family,' says David Beckham as he gets ready to edit Country Life's issue of October 22, 2025.