Country Life December 7 goes backstage at the Nativity; explores a deconstructed fairytale castle and offers up hampers of delight. Find out more here:
ARCHITECTURE: Evelyn Waugh’s vivid, wistful portraits of country houses foreshadowed their decline and fall, says Jeremy Musson
GARDENS: George Plumptre learns how the proximity of a motorway turned round the fortunes of the gardens around the historic hotel at Great Fosters in Egham, Surrey
WILDLIFE: The crafty cormorant, or ‘sea crow’, can dive to 30ft and swallow an entire eel, gulps David Profumo
SHEPHERDS: They may not receive angelic visits, but these shepherds feel blessed with their lot, says Adrian Dangar
THE NATIVITY: Rupert Uloth witnesses the delightful telling of the Christmas story that takes place every year in the Surrey Hills with a 100-strong cast, including donkeys and horses
BRITISH LETTERBOX: Andrew Martin hopes the jolly red British letterbox won’t be consigned to the same fate as the telephone box
COOKING: Melanie Johnson ensures we’ll eat our Brussels sprouts
HAMPERS: Jeremy Taylor unpacks the perennial excitement of the traditional Christmas hamper
INTERIORS: A dream dressing room and the joy of a second kitchen
PROPERTY: Penny Churchill on the Varsity Line and Annunciata Walton seeks the sun
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Graham Norton's elegant East London home hits the market, and it's just as wonderful as you would expectThe four-bedroom home in Wapping should be studied for how well it uses two separate spaces to create a home of immense character and utility.
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Sign of the times: In the age of the selfie, what’s happening to the humble autograph?When Ringo Starr announced that he was no longer going to sign anything, he kickstarted a celebrity movement that coincided with the advent of the camera phone and selfie. Rob Crossan asks whether, in today’s world, the selfie holds more clout than an autograph?
