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Mark Hedges: It's been an exceptional year for Country Life, but the hard work would be in vain without readers — and for that you have my very greatest thanksCountry Life's Editor-in-Chief reflects on 2025 and teases some of what's to come in 2026.
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'Herod’s catapult has been confiscated': The Nativity play that might be alright on the nightNever work with animals and children, they say, but surely it isn’t a proper Nativity without them?
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‘I wasn’t really sure that I wanted to be a ballet dancer’: The English National Ballet's prima ballerina on playing Clara in The Nutcracker and her consuming passionsLotte Brundle meets Ivana Bueno, who is dancing the role of Clara in The Nutcracker this year at the London Coliseum.
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Secrets from the world of whisky, from the 60-year-old bottle that sold for £650,000 to the tipple you get at the supermarketIn our last episode of 2025, James Fisher is joined on the Country Life Podcast by Kevin Balmforth and Andrew Simpson.
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For the first time in five centuries, Catholic worshippers in England and Wales may soon outnumber ProtestantsNew figures suggest that Britain’s youth has found God. Catholicism, in particular, is proving popular.
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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 ChristmasJessica 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 sensationBeautiful 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 fairytaleThe 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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The exquisite Christmas decorations that spark childhood joy, and the decoration-maker who creates themElizabeth 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 yearsJohn 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 shopsHannah 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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Tim Wilson of The Ginger Pig on the perfect Christmas hamA great ham is one of the joys of the Christmas period, and thus Tim Wilson of The Ginger Pig takes a spot on our list of Christmas heroes.
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Where should you go in 2026? Anywhere that you can just kick back and relaxCountry 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 passionsLotte 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 DayChristmas 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 editsCountry Life's Paula Minchin talks about the magazine's high-profile guest edits on the Country Life Podcast.
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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 DoughtyEleanor 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 theseChess 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: Seasonal depression has struck many of us down, but a bigger problem lies in our misunderstanding of happinessAs winter beckons, many of us will lament the halcyon days where the sun shone all day and we weren't glued to our screens to escape. The grass is always greener...
