This week’s issue of Country Life — and how to subscribe or get your copy

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Country Life 24 July 2024 visits an ancient foundry, looks at oak-framed buildings and celebrates the wonders of sheepdogs.

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

Recommended videos for you

Whistle while you work

It is mesmerising to watch one man and his dog moving a flock of sheep using a language all of their own. Katy Birchall admires the almost telepathic connection between sheepdog and handler

Who are you calling a peewit?

The pied plumage of the lapwing was once a common sight in our countryside and, as Vicky Liddell learns, moves are afoot to halt the beautiful bird’s decline

Heavy metal

The heat is on for Catriona Gray as she visits the UK’s oldest-surviving art foundry, now forging a successful future hidden away in the Hampshire countryside

The dogs that ask why

Patrick Galbraith is confounded by a case of mistaken canine identity when he embarks on a day of walked-up grouse shooting on the Isle of Lewis

The tale of the Croque Monsieur

Armed with an array of home-tied flies, David Profumo relishes pitting his wits against the wily trout of the South of England’s crystal-clear chalkstreams

From little acorns

We have been building with strong, sustainable and flexible oak since time immemorial — and the art continues to thrive, as Arabella Youens discovers

To Paris with love

The 1924 Olympics were the crowning glory of a golden age for culture in the French capital. Mary Miers looks back to an extraordinary, liberating time

Willie Hartley Russell’s favourite painting

The chairman of the Almshouse Association chooses a striking portrait of a remarkable man

Fitting like a glove

Jeremy Musson applauds the success of Woodford Hill Farm, a new country house perfect for its old Northamptonshire setting

The legacy

He is seldom given due credit, but there would be no modern Olympic Games without William Penny Brookes, finds Kate Green

As different as night and day

John Lewis-Stempel’s detour in Dorset is rewarded by an early-morning encounter with the enigmatic, elusive nightjar

The good stuff

Hetty Lintell is getting shirty with the best summer gents’ linens     

West is best

Eleanor Doughty explores the top places for London commuters to buy out west of the capital

The odd couple

Caroline Donald hails the marriage of a 200-year-old villa with a contemporary garden in Kent

Kitchen garden cook

Melanie Johnson on cherries

Bay watch

The bay leaf wins the laurels as a symbol of strength, courage and wisdom, says Ian Morton

Our daily bread

Neil Buttery examines the rise of the Anglo-Saxon Lammas loaf

And much more