Country Life December 2 2015

published 2 December 2015

This week we take a look at just why we love our labradors so much, as Ben Fogle charts the complicated history of the world's favourite dog. Meanwhile, Matthew Dennison reveals the country houses where great authors found the inspiration to create classics, and our kitchen garden cook creates deliciously healthy recipes with kale.

In our interior design section, Arabella Youens discovers what’s new in the interiors world, we learn the secrets behind Janie Money’s designs and Rosie Paterson picks top-of-the-tree Christmas table settings.

In property we visit an elegant West Sussex rectory for sale, and take a trip to the sunshine in Barbados, where of course the weather is balmy at this time of year.

Country Life is unlike any other magazine: the only glossy weekly on the newsstand and the only magazine that has been guest-edited by HRH The King not once, but twice. It is a celebration of modern rural life and all its diverse joys and pleasures — that was first published in Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee year. Our eclectic mixture of witty and informative content — from the most up-to-date property news and commentary and a coveted glimpse inside some of the UK's best houses and gardens, to gardening, the arts and interior design, written by experts in their field — still cannot be found in print or online, anywhere else.