Everything you might've missed last week — including the new Aston Martin
A lot has happened in the last few few days, from an Aston Martin reveal and new Rolex flagship store opening, to a case of mistaken identify at the Wallace Collection.


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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Rosie is Country Life's Digital Content Director & Travel Editor. She joined the team in July 2014 — following a brief stint in the art world. In 2022, she edited the magazine's special Queen's Platinum Jubilee issue and coordinated Country Life's own 125 birthday celebrations. She has also been invited to judge a travel media award and chaired live discussions on the London property market, sustainability and luxury travel trends. Rosie studied Art History at university and, beyond Country Life, has written for Mr & Mrs Smith and The Gentleman's Journal, among others. The rest of the office likes to joke that she splits her time between Claridge’s, Devon and the Maldives.
- Carla Passino
- James FisherDeputy Digital Editor
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