Country Life 3 April 2024

Country Life 3 April 2024 revels in the beauty of spring, finds out how to make a maze and enjoys a boozy business lunch.

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

Spring fever

The reawakening of Nature has inspired artists from Botticelli to David Hockney and beyond. Michael Prodger revels in the artistic beauty of the season

Prepare to be a-maze-d

Few can match the twists and turns of Adrian Fisher’s stellar career. Deborah Nicholls-Lee meets the maze designer behind the chilling climax of Saltburn

London Life

  • Tianna Williams visits a Scottish corner of the capital
  • Need to Know has all the latest happenings
  • William Sitwell welcomes back the big business lunch
  • Richard MacKichan joins the Noisenights crowd

Recommended videos for you

The icing on Nature’s cake

Poet Laureate Simon Armitage celebrates an annual explosion of pink and white blossom with excerpts from his new book

The legacy

Kate Green on how Sir Joseph Banks sowed the seeds of Kew

Leading by example

In the second of two articles, John Goodall puts the spotlight on the superb school buildings of Lancing College, West Sussex

Little April showers

Discover why a thunderous start to the month suggests a good harvest as Lia Leendertz delves into the weather lore of spring

Interiors

Green is the natural choice for a kitchen, as Amelia Thorpe and Arabella Youens discover

A garden from scratch

Caroline Donald marvels at the rapid transformation of the charming seven-acre garden at Charlton Farm in Wiltshire

Kitchen garden cook

Melanie Johnson puts British asparagus — a verdant harbinger of spring — back on the menu

Travel

  • Camilla Hewitt raises a glass to Cognac
  • Richard MacKichan explores the Alps in summer
  • Hetty Lintell falls in love with Mallorca
  • Pamela Goodman is in awe of the Alhambra

Gen Sir James Everard’s favourite painting

The president of the Army Bene-volent Fund chooses a wonderful depiction of the Battle of Waterloo

Déjà vu all over again

Carla Carlisle attempts to sort the tragedy from the farce in the baffling world of modern politics

Get the London look

Matthew Dennison charts the rise and fall of fashion label Biba

The good stuff

Mesmerising opals are having a moment — Hetty Lintell dives in

The Arts

150 years of the Impressionists