Country Life

Published by TI Media Limited Country Life, the quintessential English magazine, is undoubtedly one of the biggest and instantly recognisable brands in the UK today. It has a unique core mix of contemporary country-related editorial and top end property advertising. Editorially, the magazine comments in-depth on a wide variety of subjects, such as architecture, the arts, gardens and gardening, travel, the countryside, field-sports and wildlife. With renowned columnists and superb photography Country Life delivers the very best of British life every week.

Miss Sophie Cecil • Sophie (known as YumYum) is spending her summer working in Mustique before going up to Oxford Brookes University in September to read Event Management. She is the daughter of Mark and Katie Cecil of Priors Marston, Warwickshire.

The hare’s breadth

Country Life

Town & Country

Town & Country Notebook

Stuff & nonsense

Letters to the Editor

Don’t tax good works

Athena • Cultural Crusader

My favourite painting Simon Daniels

Edwardian opulence • In the second of two articles, Oliver Gerrish looks at the travel business that funded and informed the renovation of this extraordinary Edwardian country house

The legacy • Revd W. V. Awdry and the ‘Railway Series’

An ode to our wildflowers • Decorating the land with their brilliant and varied hues, our native flora–which operate as clocks, calendars and Nature’s medicine cabinet–are simply blooming brilliant, says John Lewis-Stempel

A whale of a tale • They’ve recently made headlines for interfering with boats, but intelligent, family-focused and remarkably long-lived orcas–better known as killer whales–contain multitudes, says Helen Scales

As busy as a queen bee • Bee venom and beauty might make strange bedfellows, but, as Jane Wheatley discovers, they are a combination fit for a Queen

Frill seekers • Graceful and practical in equal measure, the parasol has a long and colourful history when it comes to creating shade. Deborah Nicholls-Lee takes cover

Throw in the towelling • Terry towelling–whether it be clothing babies, adorning a poolside Bond or mopping tennis players’ brows–altered domestic life forever, discovers Matthew Dennison

Luxury Notebook

A few of my favourite things • The award-winning broadcaster, journalist and author has twice been named Best Speech Presenter by the Radio Academy and Interviewer of the Year at the British Journalism Awards. Presenter of Woman’s Hour on BBC Radio 4 from 2021–24, Emma Barnett now hosts the flagship Today programme and is an author; her latest book, Maternity Service, is out now. She is also co-founder, with her husband, Jeremy Weil, of Colour Your Streets, the UK’s largest bespoke colouring-book company (www.colouryourstreets.co.uk).

The rarest of them all • Conch pearls are highly sought after and incredibly rare. Not lustrous like a normal pearl (being non-nacreous, they are more creamy and porcelain in tone), they come from the Queen conch mollusc

Table manners • Kitchen island or table? It’s a little distinction that makes a big difference to the appearance and function of a kitchen or utility room, finds Arabella Youens

Nothing ventured, nothing gained • These four glorious properties need only a modicum of tender loving care and offer great rewards to the far-sighted

Remains of the day • Buying a property that includes a ruin carries undoubted romance, but there are caveats, reminds Lucy Denton, who advises on the help at hand

Keep summer coming • Tilly Ware visits Knoll Gardens in Dorset, which offers a masterclass in how to make your garden stay beautiful for longer

Nights in white satin

Kitchen garden cook Raspberries

Tails from the...