-
Following in the footsteps of our prehistoric ancestors on a 5,000-year-old trackwayFive decades ago, in the Somerset Levels, an ancient pathway transformed how archaeologists viewed our ancestors. Oliver Berry uncovers the tale of the Sweet Track, is celebrating its 50th year as a Scheduled Monument.
-
Find out which Country Life cover star has triumphed in the battle of the banknotes — and who we actually wanted to winThe nation has voted for the British wildlife that they want to replace Churchill with on our banknotes.
-
Sheep are getting bad press. Is any of it fair?Some blame the beasts for desiccating already arid land, while others want to ban wool. When, and how, did sheep become such scapegoats?
-
Going against the grain: Meet the British bakeries championing ancient and heritage cropsLargely beholden since the 1960s to industrially produced wheat, many British bakeries are now seeing a chance. Tom Howells meets a series of pioneering growers and makers.
-
The 'hounds of heaven' are in the skies above, and it's one of Nature's greatest sightsOur Country Mouse columnist Mark Hedges on the joys of watching the V-formations of wild geese that dot the skies above us at this time of year.
-
Meet Gerald of Wales, the medieval Bill Bryson who was Britain's first great travel writerPlagues of toads, bands of robbers and ‘remarkable’ eagles were no match for Gerald, discovers Nicholas Crane.
-
If any animal could be considered an artist, it is surely the redstartThe redstart or ‘fireflirt’s’ painterly good looks aren’t the only attribute that bewitches Mark Cocker–its extraordinary talent for mimicry brings the whole world within reach
-
Bog standard? We beg to differ. These fascinating wetlands have a fearsome historyJohn Lewis-Stempel digs in to the history of the bog.
-
In defence of sheepWhat have the ovines ever done for us? A fair bit, as it turns out.
-
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.
-
Don't bat away the fruit fly! This humble pest has six Nobel Prizes to its nameThey may be small insects with a taste for fermenting produce, but fruit flies are both a gift to scientific research and the first living creature in space, discovers Ian Morton.
-
Why the treacherous lure of quivering quicksand haunts our nightmaresThe seaside sludge has captivated the minds of writers and film-makers for centuries. Harry Pearson gets to the bottom of why.
-
We're heading for an autumn of unparalleled colour — but why?If the days stay warm and the nights are cold, Charles Quest-Ritson is optimistic.
-
The ocean is dying. Titouan Bernicot is regrowing it, one coral at a timeThe world (and Rolex and Prada) are betting on a 20-something-year-old's coral gardens.
-
What is everyone talking about this week: Is this to be the worst apple harvest in history?Record heat and next to no rainfall all summer means Britain's orchards are set to suffer devastating losses.
-
The pretty and practical art form documenting Britain’s great estatesLandowners have long documented their demesnes in finely drawn estate maps.
-
In classical times this bird was sacred to Aphrodite and for millennia served as an erotic symbolThe braying cacophony of a greylag goose flock in full chorus has made the breed unlikeable, despite their amorous connections, writes Mark Cocker.
-
Would you still charm me if I was a worm?Every summer, a quiet Cheshire village becomes the scene of one of the world’s most unusual sporting contests: the World Worm Charming Championships. Tom Howells reports.
-
Silent assassin or scapegoat: Is the sparrowhawk really to blame for Britain’s vanishing songbirds?Mark Cocker turns his attention to the surprisingly fast sparrowhawk in this instalment of his column, The Unloved Bird's Club.
-
British wool is booming, but where are all the sheep?The wooly good news is that demand for British wool is rising sharply. The wooly bad news is that global sheep numbers are declining.
-
If this drought has one upside, it's that it's revealed many of our landscape's long lost treasuresThis week's Athena notes that at Portchester Castle, and other sites, more history is on show than usual due to the heat and drought.
