Features Archive | May 2026

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May 25th
- The enduring English vision of Midsomer Murders still captivates the world
- A Georgian mansion on the banks of the Thames, overlooking the iconic Henley Royal Regatta course
- These rarely-seen photographs of the Prince’s Palace of Monaco were taken by a world-renowned photographer and rediscovered in the Country Life Archive
- What is everyone talking about this week: A Cuban supply shock has struck the market
May 24th
- Between the vineyards and a V8: the Aston Martin DB12 S storms the South of France
- The dogs of Rivals: Every breed spotted at the Rutshire Cup polo match — and beyond
- Six of the grandest houses you'll find for sale today, from £3 million to over £40 million, as seen in Country Life
- A Notswolds manor house in a hopelessly idyllic country setting
- ‘Doctors estimated they were two hours from death’: Around the world in 20 days — in a hot air balloon
- 'A toy cut from cardboard': Glin Castle's renaissance at the hands of an elite garden designer and her A-list husband
May 23rd
- This Grade I-listed mansion — with 1,700 acres, 20 extra houses and its own racecourse — is one of the grandest privately-owned properties in Britain
- 'The Luftwaffe created plenty of space in the city that is ideal for a game': How the game of boules is taking over Britain
- Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall: ‘Nettles, grey squirrels and the occasional placenta? I’m relaxed about that’
- How the British Museum's eight million-strong artefacts inspired the interiors in the new hotel that shares a wall with it
- Forget a message in a bottle, how about a whole ecosystem? A five-minute guide to terrariums and their nasty history
May 22nd
- ‘My first introduction to her was to do with her death, which is a strange way to meet a character’: Our obsession with Ophelia
- Heatwaves, hail, hurricanes and high pressure. It's all about the weather in the Country Life Quiz of the Day, May 22, 2026
- How to have the perfect picnic in a pinch, according to Country Life
- An off-grid private island in a spectacular Scottish archipelago is for sale at just £350,000
- Why is this British bird sometimes dubbed 'the black death'?
May 21st
- An English country home that dreamt it was a château has come up for sale
- It's 5pm somewhere: The Country Life Quiz of the Day, May 21, 2026, is all about pubs
- Famous faces and moments you might've missed at the Chelsea Flower Show so far
- Engines are the stone tablets on which Rolls-Royce’s legacy was carved. So what happens when you replace them with a battery?
- Treehouses are 'catnip for the incurable romantic' — and these two on the market are as good as it gets
- ‘We thought they could be a lovely gift for our daughter-in-law’: How an unsuspecting couple found £11,000 worth of cat paintings in a skip
May 20th
- Art underfoot: How Artorius Faber brought to life the stone floor of Country Life's stand at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show
- What not to miss at the Chelsea Flower Show: Clive Nichols and Kathryn Bradley-Hole on the Country Life Podcast
- What can you remember from the Chelsea Flower Show so far? The Country Life Quiz of the Day, May 20, 2026
- 'It would be very odd to be in a room without a plant, wouldn't it?': How to decorate with houseplants, inspired by our Chelsea Flower Show stand
- Baur au Lac review: The centuries-old, family-run Swiss hotel that witnessed the imagining of the Nobel Peace Prize
- 'If you're lucky, you might experience four seasons in the space of four hours': The snob's guide to summer dressing
May 19th
- 'It felt like a private kingdom... the perfect house for our family': James Holland on his first house in the country
- Chelsea Flower Show 2026: The entirely unofficial awards, according to Country Life
- Mother Earth carved from a fallen tree, a dry-stone arch and plants sourced from fly-tipped garden waste: The story of the RHS Chelsea Garden of the Year
- Were florals for spring ever groundbreaking? The blooming romance between flowers and fashion
- Country Life May 20, 2026
- See all the medallists from the 2026 RHS Chelsea Flower Show
May 18th
- Monarchs, Rothschilds and ruin: The extraordinary tale of one of Britain’s most beautiful moated homes
- Country Life at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show: The highlights of the opening day at SW3
- What is everyone talking about this week: The secret life of plankton
May 17th
- Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio: I don't have children, but even if I did, I would love this car more than them
- Britain's rescue dogs deserve celebrating
- Five superb rural homes for sale, as seen in Country Life
- Chelsea Flower Show 2026: The art of the hand and why it is so precious
- Chavenage: The true story of the 'Rivals' house — and it's every bit as dramatic as the plots that Jilly Cooper dreamt up
May 16th
- Anyone for naked tennis? The six grandest homes for sale in the Cotswolds right now
- 'Growing is in our DNA, what we're designed to do. It helps us make sense of things': Waiting for an allotment in Belfast
- Cariad Lloyd: ‘What I would like people to get from me is a Moomin vibe’
- Earth’s own Eden: Fly-fishing, whale-watching and looking for the elusive Kiwi on the ultimate New Zealand road trip
- What you'll see at RHS Chelsea 2026: Rustic royal cottages, curvaceous designs and a taste of the Australian outback
May 15th
- Alex Hassell and Bella MacLean can’t compete with the raw sex appeal of Rivals’ real star — The Cotswolds
- A beautiful home with a secret garden that's an exquisite oasis in what was once one of the roughest corners of London
- Cornish cheeses, falcon's perches and chalky giants. It's the best of Britain in the Country Life Quiz of the Day, May 15, 2026
- The much unloved, many talented, quick-witted bird that inspired the Cold-War poetry of Poet Laureate Ted Hughes
- If you only buy one waistcoat this wedding season, please make sure it's this one
- The art of the great British summer picnic, as described by Tom Parker Bowles
- 'A rambling rose should be pruned in 2026 exactly the same as in 1926': These are the vintage gardening books worth digging out
- A house with 'privacy, elegance and unparalleled beauty' — and a medieval castle in the garden
May 14th
- A country house with a swimming lake, walled garden and a dash of style everywhere you look
- Lights, camera, action. It's all about film in the Country Life Quiz of the Day, May 14, 2026
- 'Gardeners at their best, Britain at its best — and tickets are a snip': Alan Titchmarsh on his all-time favourite flower show
- Men with beards rejoice, Lotus promises new petrol car
- How to make the most out of small spaces using bright colours, according to interior designers
- A picture-perfect windmill for sale, with working sails and magical views of the South Downs
- The silent extinction crisis threatening vanilla, magnolias — and the world’s tiniest waterlily
May 13th
- The Duke of Wellington's hearing aid, at the cutting edge of technology 200 years ago
- Country Life? More like Crunchy Life: Breakfast cereal is on the menu in the Country Life Quiz of the Day, May 13, 2026
- Holidays good for your mental health, say scientists, in surprise to absolutely no-one
- Bountiful maiden or Virgin Queen: The many faces of Elizabeth I paint a compelling portrait
- A sartorial survival guide to the RHS Chelsea Flower Show
- The best of British: How home-grown stone will be one of the stars on the Country Life stand at the Chelsea Flower Show
- Mary Berry's daughter is selling her Oxfordshire home — and it's a wild fantasy of a home, the likes of which you've never seen
- The art of the hand: George Saumarez Smith's design for Country Life at Chelsea
- Country Life's tips on how to get the most out of this year's RHS Chelsea Flower Show
May 12th
- 'Simply sustaining is not enough — we must rebuild, improve and enhance if we are going to save the planet': Meet the forward-thinking farmers of the Cotswolds
- Will you find today's quiz berry challenging? Country Life Quiz of the Day, May 12, 2026
- 'There's a reason Andie MacDowell gets chatted up by everyone at that wedding — the hat': A snob's guide to hat etiquette
- Housing in Britain has been broken for seven decades — here's how to fix it: Jonathan Glancey on the Country Life Podcast
- Country Life May 13, 2026
- Corinne Julius: Heritage craft is under serious threat because young people are discouraged from working with their hands
May 11th
- How do you like THESE apples? Country Life Quiz of the Day, May 11, 2026
- The mysterious case of one of the most important British artists of the 1990s who is back with a bang after more than 25 years
- A manor house dream with four poster beds, poolhouse, artist's studio and 17 acres of the Cotswolds to call your own
- Why one of Cornwall's oldest and most definitely haunted houses burned to the ground — 30 years after it was photographed for Country Life
- It's a Henry Moore summer in the gardens of England
May 10th
- 'I drove the tractor after coming back from testing with Peugeot recently — and it feels so slow': A brief chat with the world's fastest farmer
- The unsolved mystery of Masterpiece the toy poodle, the world’s most valuable dog
- Bertie Gregory: 'You know the cliché line people say “never meet your hero”? Those people haven’t met David Attenborough’
- Five magical country houses for sale, as seen in Country Life
- 'Well, you will have to burn me in it, boys': The remarkable tale of Glin Castle, and its unlikely survival through two centuries of turmoil
May 9th
- George Saumarez Smith: ‘My sketchbooks are full of measured drawings of buildings from all over the world’
- 'I’m always desperate to know how cold it was in those big houses or how disgusting people smelled': Artist Lyndsey Mendick on her dream time-travel destinations
- Which club is right for you?
- Callie Coles became famous for letting her horse run free in the kitchen — and now she's put her beautiful Devon home up for sale
- If you consider the collective power of the UK's gardens, the potential to make a meaningful difference for nature is extraordinary
May 8th
- An Arts-and-Crafts house with an original 1930s pub hidden within
- The most photographed house in the 'prettiest village in England' is up for sale
- Who DIDN'T say that? A world of misquotes, from Twain and Churchill to Ron Burgundy: Country Life Quiz of the Day, May 8, 2026
- An opportunity to inspect even one of the gargantuan pages of Audubon's Birds of America shouldn't be missed
- The ‘fibre of the Gods’: Why a t-shirt can cost £245
- 'I’ve sat structural engineering exams, but nothing compared with this': How to become a honey sommelier
- 'He doesn’t hold back on the fact that that life in the animal kingdom is a brutal survival of the fittest': Happy birthday Sir David Attenborough
May 7th
- Guess that city skyline in the Country Life Quiz of the Day, May 7, 2026
- 'A grotesque mixture of Frankenstein plants that no nursery has ever nurtured': What happened when an experienced gardening writer turned to AI
- Jaecoo 5: A smaller, cheaper version of that car you've been seeing everywhere lately
- How the late great Lee Alexander McQueen is supporting the next generation of fearless artists with the renovation of two listed townhouses in Tottenham
- A magnificent Cotswolds manor for sale that was home to one of Britain's best-loved — and funniest — poets
- Timeless, sustainable, and with understated style: Why go to Carrara when you can shop British stone?
May 6th
- Every park you can think of — and a few you probably can't: Country Life Quiz of the Day, May 6, 2026
- Mar Vista: 'A million miles away from the dreaded ranges of identikit suburban housing'
- Domaine de Murtoli review: The best hotel on the French Island that basks in Italian sun
- London’s only 2026 super prime development is fit for a king — and more than 100 horses
- Have you considered a dog? A snob's guide to heartbreak
- What is everyone talking about this week: Why we need more female trees
May 5th
- Happy Cinco de Mayo! The Country Life Quiz of the Day, May 5, 2026
- Should we credit the country house with the headpiece renaissance?
- 'I hadn't seen anyone who looked like me moving outdoors': Bethany Handley on nature, access, and going up mountains in a pink wheelchair
- Country Life May 6, 2026
- Heist alive! Andrew Lloyd Webber takes on the man who stole the Mona Lisa
May 4th
- The Met Gala dress code is 'Fashion is Art'. But is it?
- 'Rocco knows that the four-hours-on, two-hours-off routine of an Atlantic crossing is nothing to the sleep deprivation of Cowes Week': A spotter's guide to the Season
- I have seen the future and it is a Norwegian ski chalet
- Built for a pretender to the Scottish throne, consumed by a coalfield: The doom of Hamilton Palace
- Meet the English dandy responsible for Royal Ascot's strict and enduring dress code
May 3rd
- It's Twingo time: The world's coolest car has made a comeback
- 10 grand country houses across Britain, from Dorset to North Yorkshire, as seen in Country Life
- 'There is much to be said for decorating slowly and allowing layers to build up gradually': Country Life's Chelsea Flower Show stand designer opens the doors to his own Winchester home
- Short legs working overtime, royal connections and that famous ‘butt wiggle’: The history of the Corgi
- Calico House: A modern home in an ancient house, lovingly restored and full of history
May 2nd
- A 1,000-year-old medieval monastery that's now become a stunning waterside home on the banks of the River Thames
- How the curlew's call inspired some of Britain's best writers
- Marcus Wareing: ‘I’ve sacrificed more than any other chef’
- Queen Charlotte, Queen Victoria and the bluebells that erupt in a hidden pocket of wilderness at Kew Gardens
- The Zetter Bloomsbury: Antiques Roadshow, but make it Soho House
May 1st
- The creator of Soho House is selling his private island in Scotland — and he's offering to build you a Soho-home of your own before he leaves
- It's May Madness, featuring Brian May, James May, and May-be a few more: Country Life Quiz of the Day, May 1, 2026
- Hamish Mackie reveals his dream time-travel destination and the artist he'd most like to meet
- Scotland's leading hotel is a luxury playground and it's got a fun new way to get you off-grid
- Great halls of literature and learning: The most beautiful public libraries in the world, as chosen by Country Life
- An apartment for sale in the iconic mansion that hosted George III's coronation banquet
- What is everyone talking about this weekend: Is cider the new black?
- Three wonderful West Country waterside places to live, as chosen by the experts at Knight Frank