Country Life April 19 2017 explores pond life, reveals the best-designed new-builds, offers an exclusive view of Waddesdon’s Flint House plus fun with the Famous Five. Find out more here:

ARCHITECTURE: The Flint House, a new building on the Waddesdon estate in Buckinghamshire, draws inspiration from the local geology, as John Goodall explains

GARDENS: Non Morris finds an exceptional woodland garden full of rare Asian plants at Ard Daraich in Inverness-shire

PICOTEE PETALS: In the first of a new series, Rachel Siegfried creates a romantic flower arrangement for spring

POND LIFE: After five years, Carole Mortimer is still delighted by the wildlife that her pond attracts

THE FAMOUS FIVE: The Famous Five are 75 this year and Flora Watkins urges us to give them another chance

INTERIORS: The four-poster bed is being reinvented for the 21st century, says Amelia Thorpe

TRAVEL: Victoria Marston has a flight of French fancy at Les Sources de Caudalie, Bordeaux, and Emma McCall takes to the water around the Caribbean island of Bequia

MOTORING: Charles Rangeley-Wilson loves the Audi Q2, but doesn’t want to be seen in it

COOKING: Melanie Johnson enjoys the new season’s asparagus

PROPERTY: Penny Churchill explores historic manor houses and Annunciata Walton rounds up new-builds and developments with a fresh outlook

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