-
A modern-day castle in grounds created by a disciple of Lutyens, accessed by an electric portcullis
Lincombe Keep was designed to blend into its unique surroundings, in turn designed to make the most of the spectacular views over the Torquay coastline.
-
The Utterly Inessential Hay Shopping List: All you'll need to thoroughly enjoy 'the Woodstock of the mind'
We've rounded up all the utterly inessential products that you absolutely do not need (top hats for Ascot aside) to enjoy this summers season of festivals, shows and races. This week: Hay Festival.
-
Jason Goodwin: 'Paris had a tideless Seine, but London’s river sinks and lunges, T. S. Eliot’s brown god breathing in the city’s heart'
Our spectator columnist fondly remembers his days of mudlarking, a practice he claims mostly unique to the rolling waters of our country's rivers and coastline, where tides are some of the fiercest in the world.
-
The newest addition to the Rolls-Royce fleet? Not a car, but a rather incredible Champagne chest
For the places that their famous cars cannot go, Rolls Royce have created the perfect dining companion, perfectly paired with the offerings of Jay-Z's own Champagne house.
-
In Focus: Henry Moore's art at Houghton Hall, where ancient architecture meets modern art
There’s no better place to appreciate sculpture made to be seen outdoors than in the British landscape, where parks and gardens have been transformed with permanent displays or temporary exhibitions. Mary Miers takes a look at one of the best.
-
The Utterly Inessential Chelsea Shopping List: What you'll need for the famed Flower Show, from chic sunglasses to an obligatory brolly
We've rounded up all the utterly inessential products that you absolutely do not need (top hats for Ascot aside) to enjoy this summers season of festivals, shows and races. This week: Chelsea Flower Show.
-
A magnificent Jacobean manor house with panels believed to come from Windsor Castle, perfectly protected by ancient trees and rolling grounds
Boys Hall is full of surprises and secrets, as well as the potential to be a rare and incredible modern family home.
-
A new mansion in the coveted Wentworth Estate that has it all... including state-of-the-art spa facilities and a car museum
Westbourn is the kind of place for someone who has everything – family and friends to fill the large bedrooms, numerous cars to stack the 'car museum' and £17 million to foot the bill...
-
The Utterly Inessential Royal Baby Shopping List: A pram fit for Balmoral, marine-issue wellington boots and the phenomenon of the baby sleeping bag
Let's face it, when it comes to our little ones, we are all inclined to go a little bit overboard.
-
Saving Ratty: The sad plight of Britain's water voles
The loss and damage of their habitats has led to the decline of water voles, beloved by Britains since the rise of Ratty in Kenneth Grahame's classic stories.
-
A fairytale cottage comes up for sale in Berkshire with quaint gardens and a fantastic location
Mistletoe Cottage is picture-perfect, with lovely period features, a wonderful Home County location and a price tag many would find surprising.
-
The Channel Tunnel: A quarter of a century old, over 200 years in the making
On the Channel Tunnel’s 25th birthday, Adam Jacot de Boinod applauds an extraordinary feat of engineering that was developed for over two centuries.
-
A classic 19th century Italianate bedroom in an Irish country house, proving that sometimes more is more
The Red Bedroom at Castle Leslie was feature in Country Life back in 1999, having been furnished over one hundred years earlier. It remains much the same today.
-
The Utterly Inessential Shopping List: Personalised picnic baskets, an extraordinary lamb gift box and the mystery of the Country Life peacock revealed
How much claret is too much claret?
-
The Utterly Inessential Marathon Shopping List: The ulitmate survival kit, headphones to drown out the pain and a marathon where one can run with wine
This week on Utterly Inessential, we admire those who take part in one of the world's biggest fundraising events as much as we balk at the concept of entering ourselves.
-
Bucket List inspiration: Okunoshima, the small island in Japan occupied by hundreds of adorable bunnies
Rabbit Island is a well-kept secret along the Japanese coastline, providing sanctuary for hundreds of wild rabbits and an exciting retreat for the bunny-lovers among us.
-
Eight charmingly British beach front properties, from the Isle of Wight to the Isle of Skye
Dreaming of a life by the sunny shore? Well, look no further than our own gorgeous coastline, where many properties currently on the market are enough to tempt Brits to do away with abroad holiday homes and lay their roots somewhere truly beautiful.
-
The Utterly Inessential Shopping List: Spring scarves, wonderful wine for your Easter lamb and Godiva's £10,000 Easter egg
As we leave the snowdrops behind and welcome the bluebells, we turn away from the world of wellies and jackets and towards a softer, lighter world, filled with silk scarves, wonderful wines and £10,000 Easter eggs. You know, just the normal things.
-
The perfect Easter pendant by Cassandra Goad, taking inspiration from the sustainably-farmed cocoa beans of the Caribbean
Cassandra Goad's latest collaboration with Islands Chocolate led to the designing of the stunning Cocoa Pod pendant, the sale of which will help support the education and wellbeing of the plantation which galvanised its creation.
-
Three bold new shades of paint inspired by the wartime country retreat of the Bloomsbury Group
Charleston inspired the likes of Bell, Grant and Keynes to produce the works that made them famous. It has since inspired Annie Sloan to add three new limited edition colours to her Chalk Paint palette.
-
The Utterly Inessential Easter List: Bunny headphones, a terrific toothbrush and eggs, from scotch to cheese to (of course) chocolate
What ho! It's time for our regularly scheduled decadence to receive its regularly scheduled seasonal edit. This week we're considering everything that springs (get it) to mind when we think of Easter and all the shopping it entails. Think food. And lots of it.
-
Three stylish homes in the musical city of Cambridge
Property writer Arabella Youens is naming her favourite small cities in Britain – under the microscope in this piece is Cambridge.
-
The luxury of an armchair which one wishes to sink into and never escape
The activity of sitting has been much-maligned, but now receives an elegant makeover in the form of a moss green armchair from The Queen of Serene.
-
The Utterly Inessential Shopping List: A bag to save lives, your house as a map and why the time might have come for fizzy red wine. Really.
This week on Utterly Inessential we bring you a selection of products to browse while you consider what happens when people need neither a house nor alcohol they can actually, reasonably drink, and thus decide to sink enough money to buy the house which owns the estate on which my dream house sits on into a breakable bottle of whisky.
