Country Life 20 March 2024

Country Life 20 March 2024 looks at Spring gardens, Tolkien's Middle-earth and animal heroes.

Here’s a look at some of what you’ll find inside:

Riding to the rescue

James Alexander-Sinclair hails the remarkable revival of the gardens at Dowdeswell Court, Gloucestershire, the charming Cotswolds home of Jade Holland Cooper and Julian Dunkerton

The cutting-garden diaries

In the second of a series of articles, Oxfordshire flower grower Anna Brown shares her tips on creating a floral spring spectacular

Great nurseries

Growing sweet violets has been a family passion since 1866 at Groves Nursery in Bridport, Dorset, as Tilly Ware discovers

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Mark Cocker’s favourite painting

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Where traffic stops for sacred cows

Dairy farmer Jamie Blackett is heartened to witness cattle worship on a trip to Rajasthan

New series: The legacy

In the third instalment of this new series, Kate Green celebrates the Revd John Russell’s role in the emergence of the terrier

The very nature of Middle-earth

James Clarke visits the magical Malvern Hills to explore a land-scape that so inspired Tolkien

Planters punch

Amelia Thorpe picks garden pots that make a sizeable statement

The good stuff

Hetty Lintell ushers in spring with a selection of floral favourites

Interiors

Soak up the style with an array of elegant bathroom fittings and furnishings from Amelia Thorpe

Kitchen garden cook

Fresh spring onions steal the show, says Melanie Johnson

Grandeur in granite

The restored Cluny Castle in Aberdeenshire is equipped for a future as prosperous as its colourful past, finds John Goodall

It’s a kind of dark magic

Whitby jet and mourning go hand in hand, but is it time to reassess this beautiful heritage gemstone, asks Harry Pearson

How to revive a classic

Michael Billington puts himself in the director’s chair as he ponders spectacular remakes of plays by Ibsen and Chekhov

Back to square one

What is it about cryptic crosswords that has kept us racking our brains for the past 100 years? Rob Crossan has all the answers