Gardens & Interiors
The finest houses, gardens and interiors in Britain, and how to create the English country house look in your home, with advice from top experts.
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'One of the most famous rooms in England’, lovingly built by the leading Victorian artist Frederic LeightonA newly opened exhibition at Leighton House, London, charts the Arab Hall’s development and explores its enduring influence, writes Carla Passino.
By Carla Passino Published
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I pitted AI against a much-loved 1963 gardening book to see what to do with my little corner of Ireland — here's what happenedOur columnist Jonathan Self has relied on his old gardening books for decades. Can a newcomer in the form of Claude AI take their place?
By Jonathan Self Published
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Where was Guy Ritchie's Young Sherlock series filmed? In a historic Welsh home that first appeared in Country Life a century agoLlanvihangel Court has a Spanish Armada-era avenue of trees and may have been visited by Charles I. To celebrate its star turn in Guy Ritchie's new Amazon Prime television series, 'Young Sherlock', we're revisiting our feature and photographs on the house that first appeared in the magazine in 1916.
By Country Life Published
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Ancient time-telling devices — turned garden ornaments — from the Country Life ArchiveMan has been consumed by time and how to tell it for millennia. Sundials are an important part of this history and there are plenty of pictures of them — in some of Britain's most beautiful gardens — hiding in the Country Life Archive.
By Melanie Bryan Published
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'If the Chelsea Flower Show is the glitzy public face of British gardening, then the country’s amateur flower shows encapsulate its older, gentler side'Christopher Stocks looks at the origins of the local flower show while Steven Desmond provides his advice on how to secure victory.
By Christopher Stocks Published
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In search of the perfect country house games roomA country house is never truly complete without a games room. Julie Harding picks out her favourites on the market right now.
By Julie Harding Published
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Alan Titchmarsh: I'm planting a brand new garden — here's what's going in, what I'm trying out, and the plant that's sending me in search of my axeMoving to a new house means getting stuck in to a new garden — and even in his seventies that's still a huge thrill for Alan Titchmarsh.
By Alan Titchmarsh Published
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'There was the land, the money and the desire to show off both': The incomparable skill and immaculate timing of Capability BrownTiffany Daneff pays tribute to Lancelot 'Capability' Brown, the great landscape gardener who re-shaped huge swathes of Britain.
By Tiffany Daneff Published
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I'm a tulip in a bottle, baby: A very British botanical beauty contest is gaining fans of all agesLaunched by Matthew Rice to publicise his local gardening club, the annual Tulip in a Bottle contest is popular with everyone, finds Tiffany Daneff.
By Tiffany Daneff Published
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Sarah Raven: ‘I find nature very inspiring and reassuring, when things are feeling a bit dire in the world and we have world wars’The gardener and writer on her love of Cretan wild flowers, why she quit her job as a doctor, her husband’s grandmother Vita Sackville-West — and her consuming passions.
By Lotte Brundle Published
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Growing leeks: What to plant, when to to it, and how to make them thriveOur grow-your-own expert Mark Diacono shares his favourite leeks.
By Mark Diacono Published
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The best garden designers and landscape specialists in BritainA garden or landscape that's in harmony with the buildings within it is one of the great joys of life — and something that the landscape designers and garden designers on our list of the best in Britain understand.
By Country Life Last updated
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The best country house specialists in Britain, from artists, stonemasons and joiners to builders and paint specialistsThere's been a huge amount of change among the specialists listed in the Country Life Top 100 for 2026. These are the inspiring people and companies which made it.
By Country Life Last updated
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A cheat's guide to bulbous irises and top tips for growing themIsabel Bannerman is bewitched and bewildered by bulbous irises.
By Isabel Bannerman Published
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The best interior designers in BritainThe classic English Country House style is perennially popular. Here's our pick of the best interior designers in Britain, fully revised and updated for 2026.
By Country Life Last updated
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The new entries in the Country Life Top 100 for 2026Our Country Life Top 100 has once again been entirely revised and updated. These are the new names that appear.
By Country Life Published
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Colour photographs of Gertrude Jekyll’s garden, rediscovered in the Country Life Archive, offer a rare glimpse of what it looked like at the peak of her fameIn 1997, Country Life published a set of chromatic photographs of Gertrude Jekyll’s Munstead Wood garden that had lain undisturbed in our archive for nearly a century. We have reproduced the pictures, corresponding feature and captions here.
By Country Life Published
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A dream built in glass, for herbs, flowers and 'lots of fancy tomatoes'Gentle curves ensure that this greenhouse fits seamlessly into the corner of an Oxfordshire garden, finds Tiffany Daneff. Photography by Clive Nichols.
By Tiffany Daneff Published
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No garden should be without a winter-flowering daphne, so we've picked the bestThere is no such thing as a disappointing daphne, Charles Quest-Ritson
By Charles Quest-Ritson Published
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Reader Event: An eye to the future at Daylesford Heritage HouseSponsor Content Created With Daylesford
What changes to a house do most to enhance its aesthetics, function, comfort, sustainability and longevity? On March 24, leading experts in architecture, interior design, craft and restoration will share the secrets to maximising possibilities and protecting value at Daylesford’s magnificent Heritage House in Gloucestershire.
By Giles Kime Last updated
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'It was the only design that spoke the same language as the house. It immediately felt right': An Oxfordshire home where house and garden work in perfect, asymmetrical harmonyUnderstanding the language of this house in the Chilterns was the key to creating a garden that would complement it. Tiffany Daneff takes a closer look, and speaks to both the owner and garden designer Angus Thompson to discover how it came about. Photography by Rachel Warne.
By Tiffany Daneff Published


