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

The cover of Country Life January 28, 2026, featuring a cottage in the Wiltshire village of Lockeridge.

(Image credit: Future)

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Country Life January 28, 2026 looks ahead to spring and meets a legend of rose growing — plus barn owls, Bond and bathrooms.

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

The legacy

Emma Hughes celebrates the genius of Ian Fleming, the brains behind James Bond, the world’s most famous secret agent

Zinging in the rain

Telltale aromas of the seasons are Nature’s signposts for our senses. It won’t be long before spring is in the air, hopes Laura Parker

Spreads from Country Life January 28, 2026

Winging it

A barn owl’s soundless flight at dusk must rank as one of the British countryside’s signature sights, suggests Mark Cocker

Offaly good

Tom Parker Bowles makes the case for nose-to-tail eating as he savours the fantastic flavours of dishes from faggots to marrow bones and everything in between

Interiors

Amelia Thorpe picks out those little luxuries that can transform a bathroom into a relaxing haven

A budding genius

Business is blooming for Trevor White, who grows 600 varieties of roses at his Norfolk nursery. Charles Quest-Ritson reports

Beverly Joubert’s favourite painting

The conservationist and film-maker chooses an influential study of brawling big cats

Country-house treasure

John Goodall unearths a chilling reminder of England’s Civil War at Doddington Hall in Lincolnshire

A world of dreams

Aoife Caitríona Lau visits Schloss Charlottenhof at Brandenburg, a neo-Classical masterpiece built for the Kings of Prussia

Five, six, pick up sticks

John Lewis-Stempel adopts the mindset of Stone Age man as he wanders the woods gathering fuel for the winter fire

Scale model

David Profumo profiles the parasite-ridden ocean sunfish, a jellyfish-eating oddity partial to a spot of surface bathing

A study in scarlet

It is 100 years since London got its first all-red telephone box. Deborah Nicholls-Lee dials up a British design classic

Luxury

Charming jewellery and revitalising treatments with Amie Elizabeth White, plus a few of food writer Diana Henry’s favourite things

Arts & antiques

The legend and lore of Japan’s samurai warriors is charted by a major new British Museum exhibition, reveals Carla Passino

Humble, grumble, toil and scumble

An artist’s labour is never done, concludes Michael Hall when he investigates the depictions of people at work down the ages

The tragedy then the triumph

Henrietta Bredin reveals how Verdi overcame crippling grief to write his most acclaimed operas

Woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown

Michael Billington welcomes the revival of plays penned by Alan Ayckbourn and Tom Stoppard

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.