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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...
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‘I cannot bring myself to believe that Emily Brontë would be turning over in her grave at the idea of Jacob Elordi tightening breathless Barbie’s corset’: In defence of radical adaptationsA trailer for the upcoming adaptation of 'Wuthering Heights' has left half of Britain clutching their pearls. What's the fuss, questions Laura Kay, who argues in defence of radical adaptations of classic literature.
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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 hostYou'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, 2025Test your general knowledge in today's Quiz of the Day.
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Jane Austen's greatest scoundrel: Being Mr Wickham, with Adrian LukisThe 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.
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‘I 100% always knew that I was going to do something creative’: Petra Palumbo on her design house, love of Scotland and consuming passionsThe London ‘It Girl’ turned Scotland-based designer makes tiles with men’s torsos and Henry hoovers on them, has a pug called Raisin and is married to the 16th Lord Lovat Simon Fraser. She chats to Lotte Brundle.
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The dogs of Country Life, with Agnes StampCountry Life's deputy features editor Agnes Stamp joins the Country Life Podcast to talk all things dogs.
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The sparkling history of the match and why its inventor never got the credit he deservedWe’ve been using matches for 200 years–but, as Rob Crossan discovers, the story of how they came to be is far more colourful (and hair-raising) than we might imagine.
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Madonna, David Bowie, Elizabeth II and me — this is what it’s like to have your photograph taken by RankinThe world-renowned photographer has worked with everyone from acting royalty, to actual royalty. His next subject? Country Life’s wandering scribe, Lotte Brundle.
