The best zero-waste products you need to grow a sustainable garden
Zero-waste shops can be found all over the country – I have two within a five-minute walk from my house. In fact, here in Bristol, we are…
Gnomes, grottos and tame hermits: the weirdest English gardens in history
Lamport Hall is one of Northamptonshire’s nicer mansions. Remodelled in the 1650s by Inigo Jones’s acolyte John Webb, and again by the Smiths of Warwick a hundred…
Why getting lost in the country is something that only city folk do
Is it news to anyone that country folk have a better sense of direction than their city-dwelling counterparts? I assumed it was because there are still parts of…
How to create the cottagecore look in your garden in one day
There are many reasons to stake or support plants, and certain garden situations lend themselves to certain techniques and materials. Border supports Many border stalwarts have a…
The 10 best daffodils for beautiful spring bouquets – and how to make them last longer
With the sun starting to make itself felt and the days lengthening, March is when I feel my spirits lifting. I, and it seems many gardeners, have…
The best seeds and plug plants to sow now for a spectacular summer display
My main way of preventing this is by sowing most of my annual seeds in late spring – very few seed packets are opened until the middle…
Are electric cars suited to a life in the countryside?
You will likely be charging at home regularly, perhaps every day, which is still vastly cheaper than filling up with petrol or diesel. Although do you really…
The secret history of the great British stile
Natural England is trying to push landowners into dismantling stiles and installing closing gates instead. The idea of the new Countryside Code is to make rights of…
The 10 best snowdrop varieties to plant in your garden
Another six-petalled snowdrop, but the shorter-stemmed flowers open to form Tiffany-style lamps. Margaret Owen, the late and much-missed galanthophile, found it in a Shropshire churchyard and named…
The only people who can take a joke are old Etonian toffs like me
Holm is situated in the centre of the village, adjacent to the church, round the corner from the chemist, a few doors from the pub and just…
How to prepare your garden for spring
Fergus, our painter, finished all of the outside paintwork – doors, window frames, greenhouses, water butts, plant containers and more – at the end of autumn 2021. …
Rural homes could be left behind in ultrafast broadband rollout
Boris Johnson initially pledged to spend £5 billion so that 100 per cent of the country would have access to such a connection by 2025. However, the…
Six ways to prepare your garden for spring
Fergus, our painter, finished all of the outside paintwork – doors, window frames, greenhouses, water butts, plant containers and more – at the end of last autumn. …
I may have bought my home alone, but unexpected kindness means I’m not at all lonely
It is a new year, a new house and a new beginning. In some ways, I feel like a new person too, because although my house still…
Steve Backshall: ‘I’ve never been more out of my depth than doing the cha cha cha on Strictly’
Where do I start? I don’t think I’ve ever admired anyone like I admire Helen. She is so mentally tough. What she achieved over the year and…
Why you shouldn’t move to the Cotswolds if you want the quiet life
I wonder if local aristocrat and old Etonian Robin Smith-Ryland, who hosted the annual Effrenata Lifestyle Festival for couples on his estate a few years ago, ever…
Girls in Pearls and domestic violence: Duchess of Cornwall adds true grit to Country Life
“She loves the country life, but it won’t be just horses and dogs and lovely countryside,” said a source of the Duchess’s plans for the issue. “There…
Meet the new ‘Londonshire’ set taking over the Cotswolds
Things have got so bad in Londonshire – as we now call my area of the Cotswolds – that frantic house-hunters have been reduced to dropping leaflets…
Farmers to be paid to restore natural habitats in push to rewild countryside
The initiative will be open to individual landowners and farmers or groups engaging in land management projects spanning 500 to 5,000 hectares. Applications will open shortly, with…
31 outdoorsy fashion buys inspired by The Queen’s country style
The classic country style beloved by the royals and their set hasn’t changed much over the years. Yes, their Barbours are less mud-stained now they’ve been designed…
Gardening jobs in January: what to plant and tidy in your garden
Pick sprigs Pick the occasional sprig of winter scented shrubs lonicera, sarcococca and daphne and bring them indoors, where they will fill the entire house with their…
Please do move to the countryside – just don’t expect your old life when you get here
Almost 100,000 people left London for the country in 2021. It is the greatest exodus for a generation and one of the stories of the year because…
26 of the UK’s most beautiful winter walks
Hampstead Heath tends to be the busiest walking venue in north London. Hollow Ponds, which is a few miles to the east and in Leytonstone, is just…
Rural retirees ‘can end up in unsuitable, unsafe homes’
Elderly people can end up in oversized or unsafe homes if they retire to the countryside, a think tank report has said. The Social Market Foundation warned…
‘I’m ditching the countryside after a year – cities are just better’
Despite friends saying that they were mad to do it, they are delighted with their decision. “I recognised why there was that recent surge of movement to…