Impressive horsepower
Last week, members of the public and press at Cheltenham Festival were treated to a first look of Aston Martin's new Vantage Roadster. Look out for a test drive and review on the Country Life the website in early May.
When the pupil becomes the master
When carrying out conservation work on its 18th-century Venetian paintings, staff at the Wallace Collection reappraised one of the vedute, The Grand Canal with San Simeone Piccolo, long thought to be by Canaletto, and attributed it instead to his nephew and pupil Bernardo Bellotto. He would have painted it when he was 16, making this the earliest known work by the Venetian artist.
London's right on time
The Watches of Switzerland group opened up a brand new Rolex flagship store over the weekend — one of the largest in Europe.
The new site, on London's Old Bond Street, spans four floors and includes a Rolex exhibition celebrating some of the brand's best-loved models of the last 120 years. Timepieces available to purchase include the GMT Master II, Cosmograph Daytona, and Submariner models.
Beaver or not, here I come
Last week, the National Trust released the first two pairs of Eurasian beavers into the wild, in the Purbeck area of Dorset, following Defra’s announcement in February that applications to return the semi-aquatic rodents into river catchments in England would be accepted.
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The transformative renovation of a Grade II-listed property with an 'unusual footprint'Having inherited this fine London townhouse, the new owner asked Sims Hilditch to help refresh the interiors, resulting in a youthful, yet elegant kitchen.
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‘One of the most effective pieces of propaganda ever made’: the Bayeux Tapestry heads to Britain for the first time in almost a millenniumA historic agreement between this country and France sees the 225ft-long tableau — which may have been made in Britain but has been in France since 1077 — arrive at the British Museum in Autumn 2026.
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Brideshead Revisited (again): The 10 scene-stealing British country homes from film and televisionWhat do an enigmatic Caped Crusader, a sopping-wet Mr Darcy and Lord Eddard Stark of Winterfell have in common? Believe it or not, British country houses.
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Sophia Money-Coutts: Is it ever okay to throw your dog a birthday party?Sir Lewis Hamilton did it, so why not throw a birthday party for your canine companion, Sophia Money-Coutts asks.
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Tuning in with the past: Monk music will ring out for the first time since the Dissolution after medieval manuscript is rediscoveredBuckland Abbey once thronged with monks who sang for hours every day. Now, some of their newly rediscovered medieval music will ring out once more.
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'Never willing to pardon where I had a power to revenge’: The history of the duelling classSettling a dispute with swords, pistols and, if legend is to be believed, sausages and guitars, has long been a matter of honour even among modern-day rock stars, discovers John F. Mueller.
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What everyone is talking about this week: 'People who tended to be more obedient about lockdown are now its fiercest critics'Week in, week out, Will Hosie rounds up the hottest topics on everyone's lips, in London and beyond.
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Canine muses: Lucian Freud's etchings of Pluto the whippet are among his most popular and expensive workIn the third edition of our limited series, we meet the dogs who've inspired some of our greatest artists.
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Water you're waiting for? Britain's best heritage lidos were built to save swimmers from polluted seas full of potato peelings, oil and coal — and they're still in action todayThe seaside lido continues to offer safe swimming for holidaymakers irrespective of the tide, but they're also architectural gems worthy of our admiration.
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West London's spent the last two decades as the laughing stock of the style set — here's how it got its groove backThe style set is returning to the very West London neighbourhoods it once made a habit of spurning, finds Will Hosie.
