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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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'The human equivalent would be able to leap across London's Park Lane': The wonderful world of insectsBe they bioluminescent, possessed of inbuilt violins or builders of Gaudí-esque cathedrals, the insects beneath our feet are worthy of closer inspection, says Charles Harris.
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Pigeons are too successful for their own good — that's why we hate them so muchSpare a thought for these much maligned birds with their soft, crooning seven-note song, writes Mark Cocker.
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Bugs bugs, glorious bugs: 'The little things that run the world'This week's leader celebrates the many merits of the humble insect, from the bumblebee to the butterfly.
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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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Riding a wave: is the tide turning for seaside heritage?Britain's coastal areas aren't totally washed up just yet, finds Emma Hughes, who discovers how lidos, piers and promenades are riding a new wave of regeneration.
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The ultimate noisy neighbours: The antisocial squawking seabirds whose screams have been heard in ParliamentMany of us have heard the shrill cackle of a herring gull at 4am, writes Mark Cocker, but these birds have an ethereal beauty.
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When every drop counts: Eight stories to help understand the water that surrounds usWe are ‘sleepwalking into an ecological disaster’ due to a modern disconnection from the water cycle, warns one campaigner. Here, eight people whose lives involve working around water talk to Kate Green and Mary Skipwith about how we need to rediscover a fundamental relationship with our most precious resource.
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Rights flow to more threatened rivers facing further pollutionFollowing the Ouse, more rivers across the UK are receiving charters to protect their integrity and ecosystems
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Why have the songbirds that protect the Tower of London been branded 'trickster Gods' and 'butcher crows'?Considering that it was Edgar Allan Poe’s avian muse, the raven has a bloodthirsty reputation that isn’t entirely deserved.
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The Country Life team's favourite wild swimming spots in England, Scotland, Ireland and WalesYour indispensable summer swimming guide.
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If the Unloved Birds’ Club has an apex predator in its midst, then it is surely the white-tailed eagleWhat part–if any–did the white-tailed eagle play in the mysterious disappearance of a group of Shetland foals? Mark Cocker investigates
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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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Britain's gamebird of choice is more exotic in origin than you might thinkThe pheasant’s gradual triumph over the sporting imagination belies this striking gamebird’s hotly contested impact on flora and fauna, writes Mark Cocker.
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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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The Prince of Wales to guest edit Country Life in NovemberThe November 11 issue will see Prince William join a long line of royal Guest Editors and will focus on His Royal Highness’s advocacy for improving access to mental-health services in the countryside.
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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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Cheerio Churchill, hello hedgehogs: The British animals Country Life wants to see on our banknotesAs the nation votes on the British wildlife that will appear on the next series of banknotes, our writers argue their case for their favourite animals.
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What is everyone talking about this week: Why Britain's county shows are thrivingAs Labour continues to sideline those in the countryside, seven million people are flocking to county shows this summer to sample rural life at its most tangible.
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These iridescently beautiful birds can slow time, reproduce the human voice and sing like angels — so why have we nicknamed them ‘stinker’ and ‘scootie’?A surprising members of the Unloved Birds Club is the starling. Mark Cocker explains why.
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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.
