A brisk winter walk is the perfect way to shake off the blues of the cold, dark months – here are five superb spots to inspire you to get out
Places to visit
Five of Britain’s most spectacular lighthouses, as captured by a beautiful new guide
A beautiful new book collects some wonderful images of some of Britain's lighthouses – here's a selection of our favourites.
Petworth: What to do, where to stay and what to eat in one of Sussex’s most charming towns
Melanie Bryant spent a weekend in Petworth, the picture-perfect market town in the South Downs that boasts superb shopping, food and one of Britain's greatest country houses.
Britain’s most beautiful narrow-gauge railways, from Norfolk to Wales
Chris spent months travelling on many of Britain’s loveliest narrow-gauge railways while researching his book Small Island by Little Train. And exclusively for Country Life, he’s picked out his all time-favourite…
Six of the best city festivals around the world – and six amazing homes where residents are at the heart of the action
Paris: Bastille Day We can think of quite a few stupendous fireworks festivals – Madeira has a month-long pyro-musical extravaganza in June and exploding rockets litter the skies over Japan…
Celebrating 100 years since Cecil Chubb donated Stonehenge to the nation
Friday 26 October 2018 marks the centenary of Cecil Chubb's magnanimous gesture: turning Stonehenge over to the care of the nation. Annunciata Elwes explains how it came about.
Jason Goodwin: ‘I was outraged. The bones of a king I’d barely heard of five minutes earlier had been spirited away – by foreigners!’
Our columnist takes a trip which sees him discover tales of murder, treason, desecration – and some rather pleasant gardens.
The Oxford of Inspector Morse: Dreaming spires, dead bodies… and lots and lots of pubs
The Oxford of Inspector Morse: Dreaming spires, dead bodies... and lots and lots of pubs.
The secret history of ice cream from Marco Polo to the Queen of Ices, a ‘proto-Nigella in a pinny’
Ice cream is the subject of a new exhibition at the British Museum of Food. Emma Hughes went along to have a look – and, of course, a taste. It…
In Focus: The hand-drawn maps from which JRR Tolkien launched Middle-earth
'I wisely started with a map and made the story fit,' JRR Tolkien once wrote. A new exhibition in Oxford – the writer's home for so many years – shows just…
10 of Scotland’s most magical white sand beaches
What better day to celebrate some of Scotland's most stunning locations than St Andrew's Day? Here's our pick of 10 of the finest white sand beaches in the country.
Life after Downton Abbey: How Highclere Castle is moving on
Highclere Castle was made famous across the world as Downton Abbey – and the money that it generated saved this beautiful country home for future generations. But they're still moving onwards…
The North York Moors: Alive with adventure, from enchanting forests to castles, beaches and gardens
Whether you go in search of adventure, family fun or a quiet break, you will leave this hospitable land of history, nature and tradition enriched and invigorated.
12 fascinating facts about Somerset, from to King Arthur’s Avalon to the skeleton at the bottom of Cheddar Gorge
From the watery Levels and mystical Glastonbury Tor to the wild, heathery hills of Exmoor, Somerset is a vast, mainly rural county with origins that stretch back through the mists…
The original Art Deco lido that’ll soon be as warm as a bathtub, thanks to Icelandic-style geothermal energy
An Art Deco lido in Penzance will soon boast bath-temperature waters thanks to new technology that uses heat tapped from within the Earth. Julie Harding reports.
Where to go and see bluebells this spring
We round up the best gardens to visit to see carpets of bluebells this spring and explain how to tell the difference between the native flowers and foreign interlopers
The Fens: In celebration of the magic of a landscape that’s fascinated us for centuries
The Fens are unique, man-made oddity where, paradoxically, few people live – yet they exert a strange magic that had endured for centuries.
Birdsong Barn: A holiday cottage getaway set in its own private nature reserve
Birdsong Barn, in the heart of England's '1066 Country', offers a unique break: a beautifully-converted building with a private 350-acre nature reserve on its doorstep. Toby Keel paid a visit.
How Bristol’s new Brunel museum takes its cues from Hollywood film Being John Malkovich
A new museum has been opened in Bristol which tries to give an insight – almost literally – into the mind of Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
In Focus: The Degas painting full of life, movement and ‘orgies of colour’
Lilias Wigan takes a closer look at one of the key work's at the Degas exhibition at the National Gallery in London.