What you'll find in this week's issue of Country Life — and how to subscribe or get your copy

Cover of Country Life September 16, 2026. — Cover of Country Life September 16, 2026, featuring the market town of Burford in the Oxfordshire Cotswolds, photographed by Brian Jannsen / Alamy.

(Image credit: Future)

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Country Life September 16, 2026, is our Cotswolds special, with 55 pages of property plus mad museums, ancient families and the resting place of Henry VIII's youngest bride.

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

Country-house treasure

John Goodall finds a moving monument to Katherine Parr, the last wife of Henry VIII, at Sudeley Castle, Gloucestershire

Spreads from Country Life 16 September 2026

Are you local?

How many generations does it take for a dynasty to be bona fide rather than blow-in? Mary Skipwith visits five Cotswolds estates in search of the answer

Property market

Renovated Cotswold manor houses with light-filled interiors and contemporary layouts catch the eye of Penny Churchill

Properties of the week

Julie Harding scours all corners of the Cotswolds as she show-cases a selection of the latest honey-hued homes for sale

Paint your garden

Tiffany Daneff is charmed by the colourful, considered palette of an artist’s garden at Ham Court in Gloucestershire

Jeremy Finnis’s favourite painting

The GWCT chairman chooses a purple-tinged landscape that evokes the spirit of the Highlands

A golden fleece

An array of parish churches are an enduring legacy of the wealth generated by Cotswolds sheep farming, reveals John Goodall

The legacy

Julie Harding travels back in time with the poetic prose of Laurie Lee’s classic Cider with Rosie

The artist’s way

The redstart’s striking looks and talent for mimicry make it a favourite for Mark Cocker

Don’t follow the lights

John Lewis-Stempel tries to avoid that sinking feeling as he ponders the precarious future of Britain’s precious peat bogs

Luxury

Justine Picardie celebrates the enduring appeal of the Burberry trench and Amie Elizabeth White rests easy with sleep essentials

Interiors

Amelia Thorpe reveals how to cook up an elegant kitchen look

Countryside mystery

John Wright debunks the myth surrounding the water-retention miracle of manmade dew ponds

Travel

A revived Ottoman masterpiece is the perfect retreat on Teresa Levonian Cole’s Greek odyssey

In a league of their own

Claire Jackson peers into curious British collections dedicated to everything from dog collars to canals and cuddly toys to clocks

Strike a posy

The Victorians were the original experts at saying it with flowers. Ashleigh Arnott reads the signs

It’s a stitch up!

Julie Harding traces the tale of the needle, a darn good creation made with pin-point precision

Arts & antiques

Feats of clay will always catch the eye of Will Gompertz, as he explains to Carla Passino

The play’s the thing

Turgenev and Sir Alan Ayckbourn supply the on-stage standouts for Michael Billington this month

And much more

Country Life is unlike any other magazine: the only glossy weekly on the newsstand and the only magazine that has been guest-edited by His Majesty 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.