Country Life 26 July 2023

Country Life 26 July 2023 looks at lurchers, beavers and beach cricket.

‘There’s something regal about them’

Katy Birchall examines how the lurcher made the bounding leap from poacher’s pal to family pet

Swiftly does it

Meet the bird whose feet rarely touch the ground—Mark Cocker marvels at pure avian artistry

Rooted in tradition

Jeremy Musson experiences a 21st-century Reptonian thrill on visiting the idyllic rural setting of Wield Park in Hampshire

Are we too eager for beavers?

Friend or foe? Simon Lester weighs up whether we are truly ready for this rodent’s return after an absence of 400 years

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Native breeds

Kate Green lauds a local hero, the handsome Dartmoor pony

Eel meat again

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Nothing but sunshine and a sea breeze

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Of fish and men

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Luxury

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Interiors

Giles Kime savours a seamless blend of old and new in Jersey

Wave power

Tiffany Daneff discovers a bold and inspired new flower garden at Park House, Cambridgeshire

Kitchen garden cook

Melanie Johnson celebrates the hearty, homegrown runner bean

Oh deer, oh deer

John Lewis-Stempel ponders stags and stag beetles amid the breathing lungs of London

Weaving her magic

Laura Ellen Bacon explains the ins and outs of her mesmerising craft to a transfixed Ben Lerwill

And much more