Country Life May 20, 2026
Country Life May 20, 2026, celebrates the wonders of the West Country, samples the cider of Somerset and asks why the British are far too polite to say what they really mean.
Here's a look at some of what you'll find inside.
The best of the West
Madeleine Silver meets the movers, shakers and makers behind the rise to prominence of their beloved Somerset
Get to the point!
Why can’t the English say what they mean? Deborah Nicholls-Lee tells it to you straight… ish
The legacy
Kate Green sheds light on the achievements of Sir Humphry Davy, inventor of the Davy lamp
The saint’s way
The country of Cornwall is a hot-bed of Celtic Christian tradition. Ian Morton profiles the leading saintly figures of the South-West
Carving her own path
Charlotte Mullins explores the colourful career curve that coincided with sculptor Barbara Hepworth’s move to Cornwall
Hannah Durkin’s favourite painting
The historian and author chooses a tender work by a pioneering African-American painter
Country-house treasure
The Victorian house organ at Cluny Castle in Aberdeenshire is music to John Goodall’s ears
A question of colour
Kathryn Ferry finds shades of the 1851 Great Exhibition singing out in St Bartholomew’s Church at Sutton Waldron in Dorset
They seek him here, they seek him there…
How did a shy, retiring flower blossom into the heroic Scarlet Pimpernel of French Revolution fame, asks Deborah Nicholls-Lee
Winging it
The unloved Canada goose has plummeted from exotic fancy to parkland pest, says Mark Cocker
Luxury
Jonathan Self feels the unearthly power of the amulet and Amie Elizabeth White dons happy hues
‘All I wanna do is have some fun’
Colin Macleod is a sought-after gillie and musician following his own beat, finds David Profumo
Interiors
Amelia Thorpe salutes the pool of British interior-design talent on show at WOW!house 2026
All in its place
Charles Quest-Ritson is struck by the perfect balance of the gardens at Conock Manor in Wiltshire
Quiche me quick
Tom Parker Bowles cooks up a classic quiche Lorraine, the custard-tart creation that is the grand maman of savoury dishes
Travel
Don’t forget to stop and smell the roses in the Swiss town of Rapperswil, advises Steven King
Arts & antiques
The diminutive James McNeill Whistler was a fiesty artist who punched well above his weight, as Carla Passino discovers
The Price is right
A septuagenarian’s performance of vaudevillian verve in a superb Arthur Miller revival catches the critical eye of Michael Billington
And much more
