Countryside
The savagery and death lurking within our beautiful countryside
This is the time of year when the English countryside reaches peak incredible: when we rural folk mentally pinch ourselves…
Natural England is overwhelmed – and farmers are paying the price
Last week, on the first day of the government’s ban on farmers shooting pest birds, I walked across St James’s…
The greatest Beatle? Pete Best
Which of the Beatles would you most like to have been? Not either of the dead ones, presumably. Nor the…
Professional villagers won’t rest until they have eliminated mud from the countryside
‘Don’t touch anything sharp. Don’t saw anything or drill anything or sand anything,’ said the builder boyfriend as he left…
Surrey’s Gore-tex-collar crime wave
The frustrating thing about rights is that when you give them to people they don’t cherish and appreciate them. They…
The horrors of Soho House’s country outpost
It is summer and the listless metropolitan thinks of grass. It cannot afford to stay at Durslade Farmhouse, Somerset, a…
Snakes, kookaburras and bandicoots: a garden in Australia’s rainforest
What you can see from a tin house in the Australian rainforest
West Heslerton and other villages with one careful owner
Squire power The village of West Heslerton in Yorkshire was put up for sale at £20 million after its owner,…
Hate tax havens? Try imagining a world without them
However wicked tax evasion is and however distasteful some tax avoidance may be, people should imagine a world without tax…
Too grand for the Queen Mother: my strange life at Country Life
The remarkable life and times of Country Life
The noisy, filthy, scary glory of geese
They’re noisy, filthy, scary – and glorious. No wonder we have such complicated feelings about them
How Brexit would affect British farmers
How would British farming change without EU subsidies?
The joy of winter birdwatching (and how it’s changing)
Our harsh December days are a temperate escape for some gorgeous birds
Wrestling with the romantic glory of the Lake District
Cumberland and Westmorland Wrestling is the best thing in the Lake District. I lived near Wigton, just north of the…
The pitfalls of picnics (and how to avoid them)
Strange, isn’t it, that despite having such famously terrible weather, we Brits are so fond of a picnic. It’s something…
Country house picnics (with some ace opera attached)
I stole a blanket last night. Rather a nice one, in fact. I feel bad about it, of course, but…
Dear Mary: Should I follow Cilla Black’s lead on disabled loos?
Q. I was at the theatre recently and bumped into a well-known Liverpudlian crooner coming out of the disabled lavatory.…
A piece of primeval England reborn in Sussex
A piece of ancient England is being reborn around a castle in Sussex
Welcome to Miliband country: how Labour would wreck rural life
A ‘progressive alliance’ would be a profound threat to rural life
I went looking for a used car – and found my inner boy racer
A bit late, I know, to put in a bid for Jeremy Clarkson’s old job. But I think I might…
I know just the vicar for my parish church. Pity he’s fictional
I know just the man my parish church needs. Unfortunately he’s Catholic – and fictional
Dear Mary: What can I do to make couples split the bill fairly?
Q. I’m a single bloke now and for various reasons don’t foresee any change to that status. I have moved…
The myth of the housing crisis
The coalition is letting developers concrete over the countryside, but that won’t help young people buy houses
It takes a village (or six): the battle for rural churches
Can England’s 10,000 rural churches survive?
How long will it be before the climate forces us to change?
As the climate changes, will we? The story of the little ice age suggests that adaptation will take years of suffering
