The dogs of Country Life, with Agnes Stamp
Country Life's deputy features editor Agnes Stamp joins the Country Life Podcast to talk all things dogs.
What makes Country Life? Country houses, gardens, nature, fine art — and dogs. Right from the first issue of the print magazine in 1897, Man's Best Friend has been right at the heart of Country Life — with that original edition featuring an article on Princess Alexandra and her Borzois.
• Subscribe to the Country Life podcast on Apple Podcasts
• Subcribe to the Country Life podcast on Spotify
• Subscribe to the Country Life podcast on Audible
Almost 130 years later, dogs are just as important as ever, and September 2025 saw the publication of Country Life's Book of Dogs, written by our deputy features editor Agnes Stamp. We're delighted that Agnes — who has worked for Country Life for over a decade —was able to join James Fisher on the Country Life Podcast to talk about some of the dogs featured in the pages of this handsome tome, from labradors and bull terriers to Great Danes and Dalmatians.
Country Life's Book of Dogs is out now (Rizzoli, £50) — and you can read more of Country Life's stories about dogs on the website.
The cover of Country Life's Book of Dogs
Episode credits
Exquisite houses, the beauty of Nature, and how to get the most from your life, straight to your inbox.
Host: James Fisher
Guest: Agnes Stamp
Editor and producer: Toby Keel
Music: JuliusH via Pixabay
Toby Keel is Country Life's Digital Director, and has been running the website and social media channels since 2016. A former sports journalist, he writes about property, cars, lifestyle, travel, nature.
-
No more froths, no more foams, no more tweezers. Classic dining is making a comeback. Thank godFrom prawn cocktail and Arctic roll to starched tablecloths and ‘nicotine cream’ on the walls, it’s out with the new and in with the old in the restaurant world
-
Is this the end of the Forever Home?The classic dream of finding a family house in which you can settle down, raise a family and grow old has never been harder to obtain. So has the concept of the 'Forever Home' had its day? Annabel Dixon reports.
-
‘I 100% always knew that I was going to do something creative’: Petra Palumbo on her design house, love of Scotland and consuming passionsThe London ‘It Girl’ turned Scotland-based designer makes tiles with men’s torsos and Henry hoovers on them, has a pug called Raisin and is married to the 16th Lord Lovat Simon Fraser. She chats to Lotte Brundle.
-
Madonna, David Bowie, Elizabeth II and me — this is what it’s like to have your photograph taken by RankinThe world-renowned photographer has worked with everyone from acting royalty, to actual royalty. His next subject? Country Life’s wandering scribe, Lotte Brundle.
-
The Falconer's Tale: Tommy Durcan on how an ancient art lives on in 21st century IrelandTommy Durcan of Ireland's School of Falcony joins the Country Life podcast.
-
‘She was absolutely extraordinary. One of my favourite things, photographing her, was the power that came through the door’: Rankin on capturing Elizabeth II, embracing artificial intelligence and almost becoming an accountantThe world-renowned photographer tells Lotte Brundle about his most memorable meal, with Liam Gallagher, Patsy Kensit, Elvis Costello and the bass player in The Pogues — along with the rest of his consuming passions.
-
'People always think that, working on The Telegraph, I'll be told that things aren't right wing enough. But in 37 years, I've never, ever been told that’: The Telegraph’s cartoonist Matt on his consuming passionsThe Daily Telegraph cartoonist Matt — AKA Matthew Pritchett — talks to Lotte Brundle about his career as a cartoonist, his love of Snoopy and how he ‘stole’ his wife from Laurence Llewellyn-Bowen.
-
Bunny Mellon: The Truman Capote ‘Swan’, muse and horticulturalist whose creations for The White House were recently lost foreverAs Tiffany & Co. pay homage to Bunny Mellon with a new Bird on a Rock collection, Owen Holmes takes a look at the most iconic garden designs of this heiress-horticulturist, from her Virginia estate to the White House to Versailles.
-
'Never has there been a more important time to publicise great Victorian and Edwardian buildings in peril': The importance of saving our historic buildingsFor the 16th year, the Victorian Society is calling on the public to nominate Victorian or Edwardian buildings in England and Wales that are in need of saving.
-
'These days, they have almost nothing to do with Advent and quite a lot to do with bath oil and mini bottles of perfume': A snob’s guide to advent calendarsSophia Money-Coutts questions whether advent calendars have gone too far.
