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'We begin making in May and start packing and despatching in November — it’s carnage': How the Cotswolds' favourite cake-makers get ready for Christmas
Jessica White of the Meg Rivers Artisan Bakery makes it on to our list of our heroes of Christmas.
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The policeman turned goat-herder turned beautician, whose goats' milk soap became a sensation
Beautiful soaps always make a wonderful gift, and that's why the goats' milk soap-maker Nick King is one of our heroes of Christmas.
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Meg Walters: The BBC's 1995 adaptation of 'Pride and Prejudice' is the ultimate Millennial fairytale
The BBC's 1995 adaptation of Jane Austen’s 'Pride and Prejudice' adaptation is 30 years old. Beloved by Millennials everywhere, it set a benchmark for period dramas that still stands today.
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‘Someone wanted a two metre block of ice with a cardboard cutout of Michael Bublé inside’: Ice sculpting is no chilled gig
Lotte Brundle visits an industrial freezer in Surrey to get to grips with what it takes to be a master ice sculptor.
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The exquisite Christmas decorations that spark childhood joy, and the decoration-maker who creates them
Elizabeth Harbour's irresistibly pretty Christmas decorations earn her a place as one of our heroes of Christmas.
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The plants to give for Christmas which will keep flowering for years
John Massey of Ashwood Nurseries grows thousands of Christmas plants each year — making him one of our Christmas heroes. Here are his tips for the best ones to give.
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'There were 900 people in the queue and I waited three hours, but it was worth it': The Christmas cracker-maker who supplies Britain's most exclusive shops
Hannah Bidmead of Nancy & Betty is the luxury Christmas cracker maker who makes the list of our heroes of Christmas.
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How posh is your Christmas stocking?
A shooting sock makes the perfect Christmas stocking, says Sophia Money-Coutts.
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Where should you go in 2026? Anywhere that you can just kick back and relax
Country Life's Rosie Paterson joins the podcast.
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‘I have an obsession with having a good time’: Fred Sirieix on his newfound love of gardening, moving to the UK and his consuming passions
Lotte Brundle chats to the French Maître d'hôtel, best known for bringing his charming hospitality to Channel 4’s First Dates and for his antics with Gordon Ramsay and Gino D'Acampo.
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‘Not to move at all is deeply slutty, in the old-fashioned sense of the word’: A snob’s guide to surviving Christmas Day
Christmas Day is a marathon, not a sprint.
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The King, The Queen, David Beckham and me: Paula Minchin on Country Life's best guest edits
Country Life's Paula Minchin talks about the magazine's high-profile guest edits on the Country Life Podcast.
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What is everyone talking about this week: (Whisper it) is smoking back?
You’d be forgiven for thinking that young people are a bunch of mopes, who refuse to drink, go dancing or have sex and are ruining British nightlife for all — but you're wrong, says Will Hosie.
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Sophia Money-Coutts: A snob's guide to meeting your in-laws for the first time
There's little more daunting than meeting your (future) in-laws for the first time. Here's how to make the right kind of impression.
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The secret lives of the British aristocracy, with Eleanor Doughty
Eleanor Doughty has spent years getting to know the aristocracy of Britain — and she joins us on the Country Life Podcast to talk about their lives.
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If chess is 'the supreme board game', then it deserves to be played on boards like these
Chess sets and backgammon boards are a familiar sight on drawing-room tables, but one expert Highland woodworker is refashioning their forms in beautiful new ways.
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What is everyone talking about this week: Thanks to modern-day technology, people were far happier in the days when Nero was setting Rome ablaze
Was the ancient world's superior happiness down to its ‘superior production of art’?
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Mark Gatiss: ‘BBC Two turned down The League of Gentlemen six times’
The actor and writer tells Lotte Brundle about his latest Christmas ghost story, discovering Benedict Cumberbatch — and his consuming passions.
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A snob's guide: What to buy your dinner party host
You've just been invited to dinner — or to stay for the whole weekend — but what do you give to your host to say thank you?
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The unbearable lightness of being Matt Damon: Country Life Quiz of the Day, November 25, 2025
Test your general knowledge in today's Quiz of the Day.
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Jane Austen's greatest scoundrel: Being Mr Wickham, with Adrian Lukis
The actor Adrian Lukis, who played the role of Mr Wickham in the iconic 1995 BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, joins the Country Life Podcast.
