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Peregrine falcons went to the edge of extinction in the 1960s — today, there are more of them than at any time since the Middle AgesIn the latest instalment of Mark Cocker's 'Winging it' column, he looks at the peregrine, a bird of prey with astonishing speed and super strength.
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Beyond Stonehenge: The ancient moorland megaliths and grand stone rings that you can enjoy without the tourist hordesWith their potent blend of wild looks and mystery, Britain’s ancient sites have an enduring magnetism — and there are far more of them than you might imagine.
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40 miles of racket strings, 55,000 balls and 2.5 million strawberries: Wimbledon by the numbersHow many strawberries are consumed, how many petunias purchased and just how much racket string is required at the world’s oldest tennis championships? Lotte Brundle serves up the numbers.
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Chatsworth's winning £4 million Lottery ticket means it can restore beloved water featureThe Chatsworth House Trust will use the money from The National Lottery Heritage Fund to restore their Cascade — beloved by Alan Titchmarsh.
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Hope from the ashes: This new generation of ash trees is more resistant to diebackWhen ash dieback first arrived in Britain, in 2012, an emergency COBRA meeting was formed. The disease has since spread rampantly across the countryside, but there is still hope.
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From the Country Life archive: The 19th century answer to SwingballEvery Monday, Melanie Bryan, delves into the hidden depths of Country Life's extraordinary archive to bring you a long-forgotten story, photograph or advert.
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‘There are moments of formal dressing where one is humbled by the rules of it all’: A New Yorker tackles Royal Ascot for the first timeA day at the races filled with Royal processions, fantastical picnics and top hats might not sound particularly odd to us, but to visitors from America it’s a spectacle that has to be seen to be believed. One New Yorker recounts what he saw — and what he thought about it all.
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When was the first ever Glastonbury festival? Country Life Quiz of the Day, June 26, 2025Thursday's quiz looks at a landmark date at Worthy Farm.
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Critics be damned, Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral gets Grade I status on advice from Historic EnglandLooking a bit like a large piece of moon-landing equipment on which you’d best not sit, with indoor lighting that wouldn’t look out of place in a nightclub, the building has ever divided opinions.
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These rarely-seen images of Glastonbury in the 1980s capture the world’s most famous music festival in its rawest and most magical formLong before the luxury yurts, pop-up spas, and Champagne bars, Glastonbury looked like something else altogether.
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It's a cruel summer to be a bee with up to 80% of swarms dying if they cannot find a safe place to settle — but here is how you can helpCurrently, swarms of bees are taking flight to search for new homes and up to 80% of these swarms will perish if they cannot find a safe place to settle, but we can all help, says the BBKA.
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Curious questions: Why do golf balls have dimples? And why are tennis balls furry?As the weather picks up and tennis takes over the silver screen, millions of us are starting to thinking about dusting off our golf clubs and tennis rackets. Which begs the question, why aren't the balls we use for tennis and golf perfectly smooth?
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For every new stone mason, seven retire: St Paul's plan to save heritage crafts — and itself in the processAs St Paul’s Cathedral launches the Wren Centre of Excellence to train young people to repair Britain’s historic buildings, Lotte Brundle talks to restoration workers about why their industry is on a cliffs edge.
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Horses eating ice cream and buying a last-minute Ascot winner: An evening at Goffs London SaleWith some smart bidding, you could end up in the winner's circle in less than a week.
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These are the 10 best places to live in the world — and nowhere in the UK or US made the cutLondon, Edinburgh, New York? Move over. Copenhagen is the place to be.
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My piece of heaven: The Vale of Belvoir by Lady Violet MannersLady Violet Manners, who grew up in Belvoir Castle, shares her love of the area around her ancestral home.
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Hen harriers: The 'marvels of evolutionary adaptation' that are 'ballet and theatre and poetry inscribed on air'The hen harrier is one of the most glorious birds of prey in Britain — yet it provokes fierce debate. Mark Cocker unpicks why this breed is among the most controversial of all British birds.
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Clare Balding and Andrew Balding's day-by-day guide to Royal Ascot 2025Country Life caught up with Clare Balding and Andrew Balding to get their expert view as Royal Ascot 2025 gets under way.
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'We started thinking: if we were going to design a bike for Aston Martin, what would it look like? And then we simply couldn’t stop': Aston's new bike has everything you could ever dream of — except a price tagThe new Aston Martin .1R bicycle, a collaboration with manufacturer J.Laverack, leaves Paul Henderson stirred rather than shaken.
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The legacy of Dad's ArmyKate Green takes a look at Dad’s Army, the iconic BBC sitcom written by David Croft and Jimmy Perry.
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Game, set, match: Jack Draper, Lorenzo Musetti and Holger Rune to light up London's Giorgio Armani Tennis ClassicThe British number one leads the list of three top-10 players that will take to the courts at the 150-year-old Hurlingham Club in London from June 24–28.
