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 Megan Boscawen • Megan is an interiors and decorative artist who specialises in murals and furniture. She is the daughter of David and Clare Boscawen of Sandon, Hertfordshire.

Flight of winter’s birds

Country Life

Town & Country

Town & Country Notebook

Stuff & nonsense

Letters to the Editor

Budget betrayal

Athena • Cultural Crusader

My favourite painting Giorgio Locatelli • The Dream by Henri Rousseau

Country-house treasures

A fate worse than demolition? • This year is the centenary of the enlargement of the Bank of England initiated by Sir Herbert Baker. Clive Aslet asks whether the project deserves its reputation as an unforgivable act of architectural desecration

George Orwell and Nineteen Eighty-Four

Still caring for the fields and the beasts • Life at the Royal Agricultural University in Cirencester is as jolly as ever after 180 years, but the diverse degrees on offer reflect the challenges of 21st-century farming. Kate Green charts a history of seismic change for the industry and Mary Skipwith talks to students past and present

Let sleeping dogs lie • A furry hot-water bottle? Or a restless snoring pest? Sharing a bed with a dog isn’t ideal for everyone, but it certainly warms the soul, says Bethany Stone

Season’s tweetings • Jolly frock-coated robins, majestic geese and arboreal partridges make for both literal and symbolic centrepieces at Christmas, says Matthew Dennison, as he revels in the cultural history of the season’s feathered fowl and game

The Editor’s choice • Mark Hedges selects the presents that have most delighted him this year

The feel-good factor • Furniture and accessories that are soft to the touch, selected by Amelia Thorpe

Are you going soft? • Cushions, rugs, upholstered stools and sofa blankets are the ingredients in a pleasing new trend

Hidden gems of North Yorkshire • Comfortable seclusion is on offer at three historic houses, each beautifully presented and set in glorious landscapes worthy of God’s own county

Hot stuff! • Brimming with character, an inimitable Aga inevitably rules the roost and each of these houses boasts one–perfect for gathering and gossiping around and devouring whatever magic emerges from its cavernous ovens

London Life • Your indispensable guide to the capital

Need to know

Far from the madding crowd • As a lifelong Londoner, Will Hosie shares his tips on how to beat the throngs and make the most of the city this Christmas

Flowers in the frame • The search for still-life subjects led the artist Kate Friend to some of the greatest gardens and gardeners in the country, discovers Tiffany Daneff

Kale and hearty

Kitchen garden cook Carrots

The Caribbean

Paradise found • Rosie Paterson visits Mustique, the Caribbean island that has beguiled and baffled for more than half a century, to find out what the future holds

A gut feeling

That’s my boy-bishop • Held in high esteem and lavished with furs, velvet and precious stones, young male choristers-turned-bishops were all the rage at Christmas in the Middle Ages, says Matthew Dennison

Off her own...