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 Angelica Hicks

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Country Life

Town & Country

Town & Country Notebook

Stuff & nonsense

Letters to the Editor

Help is needed for crucial water carriers

Athena • Cultural Crusader

My favourite painting Sarah Lamb

The legacy • Carl Giles and the Giles cartoons

Country-house treasures

To Manderley again • The writer Daphne du Maurier was fascinated by the English country house. Jeremy Musson explores her evocation of these buildings with the help of specially commissioned drawings by Matthew Rice

Sticking with it • Christmas stamps, as featured on this year’s COUNTRY LIFE Advent calendar cover, are a cherished annual event–but how did they become one? Emma Hughes investigates

Where there’s a will, there’s a whey • France may be synonymous with fromage, but the terroir of our green and pleasant land gives rise to all manner of magnificent varieties of our own, declares Tom Parker Bowles, who picks his favourites

Thoroughly cream crackered • They might be plain in looks, but Jacob’s Cream Crackers have had a colourful life. Tom Howells presents a bite-sized history of the Christmas cheeseboard staple

It’s crunch time • Which crisp pairs perfectly with Pinot Noir? What should you open to go with the Champagne? Can a cocktail really bring out the best in a bag of Monster Munch? Susan Low learns how to match drinks and crisps at Berry Bros & Rudd

Tipple tattle • Dust off the Dubonnet: old-fashioned drinks-cabinet staples deserve to be moved from Christmas past into Christmas present, believes Will Hosie

The royal treatment • The Bohemian King Wenceslas really was good, but his reward for gracious piety was not, discovers Ian Morton

Game on • Chess sets and backgammon boards are a familiar sight on drawing-room tables, but one expert Highland woodworker is refashioning their forms in beautiful new ways, writes Mary Miers

A lot of bottle • The nuances of modern perfumery now allow a single drop to evoke an entire landscape. Amie Elizabeth White explores the native houses hitting the right notes

Christmas gifts • From tiny tots to lady of the manor, Amie Elizabeth White has Christmas all wrapped up

Luxury Notebook

A few of my favourite things • Born in Swaziland, in 1957, Richard E. Grant moved to London in 1982 to pursue a career in acting. He was cast in Bruce Robinson’s cult classic Withnail and I in 1986 and has starred in everything from Dracula and Gosford Park to Game of Thrones. He launched his unisex perfume house, Jack, in 2014, and published his bestselling memoir, A Pocketful of Happiness, in 2022. Mr Grant divides his time between London and the Cotswolds and is the co-host of Hotels with History, a new podcast exploring the world’s most renowned hotels.

Spare a thought • Creating a room where guests want to spend time takes the pressure off busy hosts, says Arabella Youens

Treasures in the shadow of Kilburn White Horse • Three historic country houses in Yorkshire, a stone’s throw from the most northerly of Britain’s 16 white chalk horses, offer comfortable contemporary living and fascinating backstories

Deck the halls… •...