Country Life 10 April 2024

Country Life 10 April 2024 looks at how to create the perfect country house interior, otters and property names.

Here’s a look at some of what you’ll find inside:

Interiors Special

  • Arabella Youens talks to collectors about making a house a home
  • The art of layering
  • A revival in decorative painting
  • Amelia Thorpe shares new looks for a new season
  • Giles Kime reveals why old is gold — and how it’s all about you

My kingdom for The Cottage

There’s a lot more to the name of your house than meets the eye, suggests Eleanor Doughty

The legacy: Philip Wayre

Kate Green hails Philip Wayre, the man who restored otters to rivers in all of England’s counties

Recommended videos for you

Whistle down the wind

Cellist Beatrice Harrison charmed King and country by duetting with a nightingale, but was it fact or fiction, asks Julian Lloyd Webber

The sinner who painted saints

Murder, mayhem and master-pieces — Maev Kennedy looks at the short, but brutal life of the celebrated artist Caravaggio

Jenny Jefferies’s favourite painting

The author selects a captivating bronze statue that forms the focal point of a Devon garden

We need to trade on a level playing field

Now back on her Wiltshire farm, former NFU president Minette Batters is still banging the drum for British farmers

A marvel revived

Steven Brindle is dazzled by the splendour of Rochdale Town Hall, Greater Manchester, in the wake of a major restoration project

Our incomparable coastline

The battle to safeguard Britain’s natural beauty must not overlook the coast, argues Peter Waine

Happy birthday to whom?

Rob Crossan blows out the candles to mark 100 years of the ditty Happy Birthday To You

Shepherd’s delight

Ian Morton showcases the many medicinal benefits of shepherd’s purse, that most prolific of weeds

Small, but perfectly formed

George Plumptre sizes up the cleverly designed garden at Midsummer House, Oxfordshire

New series: Native herbs

Don’t dismiss the cheerful golden dandelion is John Wright’s plea

A different kettle of fish

Tom Parker Bowles pushes out the boat for a serious fish pie

The good stuff

Hetty Lintell’s magic of mono

A dog’s touch

Jeremy Cassel’s ‘reunion’ with guide dog Grady leaves Mark Hedges with a tear in his eye

Through the looking glass

Matthew Dennison gazes into the glamorous history of the mirror

Upon reflection

An antique mirror can transform a room, reveals Amelia Thorpe

And much more