Country Life

THE summer of 2022 will linger in the memory for its uninterrupted cobalt-sky days, blistering sunshine, soaring temperatures (40.3˚C was recorded for the first time ever in the UK on July 19) and a dearth of rain. Parallels have already been drawn w

Mark Girouard (right) at Mereworth Castle, Kent, with Alex Starkey (left), a staff photographer whom he greatly admired. This is one of a series of staged photographs taken in the house for some promotional purpose, now forgotten. The expressions of

Christopher Woodward is director of The Garden Museum, London SE1. The exhibition ‘Lucian Freud: The Plant Portraits’ opens there on October 14 Lucian Freud’s study of a liquorice plant (Helichrysum petiolatum) and an aspidistra is, to me, the most

OXFORD STREET, owing to much-discussed changing working patterns and consumer purchasing habits, is a poignant area to pass along now for those who remember how things used to be even as recently as 15 years ago. At least none of us was around to wit

HORSES have been central to Rupert de Mauley’s life for more than six decades, from the VWH branch of the Pony Club and showing the ponies his mother bred through a spell as an amateur jockey—he even found rides in Singapore when working there as an

CLOSE your eyes, lie back and think of Britain and its landscapes. On the screens of the eyelid come flashes of the grandeur of the Cairngorms, the misted and mysterious Fens, the sheep-nibbled Downs, the Thames meandering languidly and roses around

Which sound evokes the British countryside for you, asks Katy Birchall ‘It’s got to be the arrival of the turtle dove —the sound of the summer. I partly grew up in Africa and the sound of the doves was part of our everyday immersion into that soundsc

UNTIL 2009, Jura House, on the Isle of Jura’s Ardfin estate, was a somewhat glum shooting lodge, originally built by William Burn in the 1830s and enlarged by Alexander Ross 50 years later. Its attraction was less the Victorian architecture, which ha

THINGS may have changed since the days of spectators wearing bucket hats and sitting on straw bales in front of Badminton House in Gloucestershire, but the gracious backdrops that form the British eventing season’s USP and create an evocative pull fo

Cast, soldered, and lovingly polished by hand in Wolverhampton, the Perrin & Rowe Deco floor-mounted bath-shower mixer in nickel, £3,264, makes a classically elegant piece (01708 526361; www.perrinand rowe.co.uk), shown here with the Toulouse 1800 ba

THE new Breitling Aerospace Red Arrows Special Edition is gloriously retro and only 350 have been made to mark the watchmaker’s historical partnership with the Royal Air Force. The Red Arrows trademark Diamond Nine flight formation sits at 3 o’clock

Find the best properties at countrylife.co.uk ONE of Co Durham’s most intriguing country houses, Grade II*-listed Lartington Hall stands in seven acres of formal gardens and woodland on the edge of Lartington village, three miles north-west of Barna

With 120 miles of navigable waterways on the doorstep at Burgh St Peter and Beccles and a pond with a rowing boat in the garden, four-bedroom Walnut Barn in Toft Monks has been run as a successful holiday let by the current owners. Externally, the ho

WITH their grand scale, rare microclimate and wealth of protected glasshouse structures, the walled gardens at Holkham Hall are one of the great survivors from the days of grand horticulture and gardening in this country. They date back to the vision

AS late-summer and autumn border fillers, long-lasting cut flowers and container troopers, rudbeckias are stellar —even in all this summer’s heat. The bright golden ones are not my cup of tea, but I adore the aubergines, mahoganies, crimsons and yell

Mix together in a small bowl the ricotta, spinach, grated garlic and seasoning. Cut the chicken breasts in half and gently tenderise them with a meat hammer or rolling pin. Arrange the Parma ham on a board and place a piece of chicken on top of each

He loved birds and green places, and the wind on the heath, and saw the brightness of the skirts of God Gravestone epitaph of W. H. Hudson DO you know the name W. H. Hudson? Perhaps not. His books are largely forgotten. But then, what exactly was th

Emma J. Wells (Head of Zeus, £40) EUROPE’S cathedrals are its most uplifting treasures. They towered over their own age and have towered over ages ever since. They embody architecture’s capacity to inspire devotion and awe in people of all faiths an

GOETHE’S claim of 1787 that ‘in no country has this art’—by which he meant watercolour—‘been brought to greater perfection than in Italy’ might come as a shock to believers in the primacy of the English school. At that date, there was probably only o

A prize of £25 in book tokens will be awarded for the first correct solution opened. Solutions must reach Crossword No 4745, Country Life, 121–141 Westbourne Terrace, Paddington, London, W2 6JR, by Tuesday, September 6. UK entrants only ACROSS1 Marke

THERE is a hazard that comes with attending Roedean in East Sussex, which perches high on a cliff surveying the English Channel: Roedean Hair. ‘If you’re in the sixth-form boarding house, it’s hardly worth brushing your hair in the morning, because b

AS we wait longer than ever to be served in shops and restaurants, have one’s driving licence returned or the phone answered, today’s students are also finding that landing a job in cutthroat professions such as law, the media, marketing and finance

IDIOSYNCRATIC charm has long been a hallmark of Britain’s fine array of independent schools, but, as running costs keep rising, many of those beyond the best known—the Etons and Harrows of this world—are fighting to survive in a diminishing market wh

Visit Tottering-By-Gently on our website: www.countrylife.co.uk/tottering We are committed to only using magazine paper which is derived from responsibly managed, certified forestry and chlorine-free manufacture. The paper in this magazine was source