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Chillingham Castle: 'Curiosity and beauty' at a spectacular castle that survived ruin by the skin of its teeth
Chillingham Castle, Northumberland — the home of Sir Humphry Wakefield Bt and the Hon Lady Wakefield — is a castle saved from the brink of ruin that is now a memorable home. John Goodall reports; photographs by Paul Highnam.
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Gilmerton House: The great Scottish country house whose history is intertwined with a pitiful murder
Gilmerton House, Lothian — the seat of Sir David Kinloch Bt — is a handsome 18th-century house that's been developed by the same family for the past four centuries. And it has an unexpectedly dramatic story to tell, as John Goodall explains; photographs by Paul Highnam for Country Life.
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Inside Madresfield Court, the house that inspired Evelyn Waugh’s 'Brideshead Revisited'
John Goodall looks inside Madresfield Court in Worcestershire — home of Lucy and Jonathan Chenevix-Trench — and the family story that inspired Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited. Photographs by Paul Highnam for Country Life.
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900 years old, one careful owner: How Madresfield Court has come down the centuries in the hands of one family
John Goodall looks at the early evolution of Madresfield Court, Worcestershire — the home of Lucy and Jonathan Chenevix-Trench — to tell the tale of a place that has descended in the hands of one family for more than 900 years.
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10 truly breathtaking images from Country Life to celebrate the landscapes and seasons of Britain
Take a look at some of the great depictions of the seasons and landscapes of Britain, as celebrated in the new book 'Country Life: 125 Years of Countryside Living in Great Britain'.
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St Bartholomew’s Hospital: 900 years of service
This year, two connected institutions in the heart of London — St Bartholomew’s Hospital and St Bartholomew’s Church — celebrate their 900th anniversary. In the second of two articles, John Goodall looks at their foundation story. Photographs by Will Pryce For Country Life.
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St Bartholomew-the-Great: A living fossil in the City of London
In 2023, two connected institutions in the heart of London — the church of St Bartholomew-the-Great and St Bartholomew's Hospital in Smithfield, London — celebrate their 900th anniversary. In the first of two articles, John Goodall looks at their foundation story. Photographs by Will Pryce for the Country Life Picture Library.
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Shilstone House: A grand conception magnificently realised
Work to a new drawing room in the Jacobean style brings to completion the remarkable rebirth of Shilstone House in Devon, the home of Sebastian and Lucy Fenwick. John Goodall reports.
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Spetchley Park, the country house with interiors that have evolved with the centuries in breathtaking — and surprising — fashion
John Goodall looks at the stylish interior reinvention of Spetchley Park, Worcestershire, the home of Henry and Kate Berkeley, a grand Regency house on an estate that's been home to the Berkeley family for more than four centuries.
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Spetchley Park: One of Britain's best-ever architectural accidents
John Goodall tells the story of how a stable was replaced by a splendid Regency seat to create Spetchley Park, Worcestershire, the home of Henry and Kate Berkeley. Photographs by Paul Highnam for Country Life.
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Arundel Castle: The creation of one of England's great princely seats
In the first of two articles, John Goodall looks at the early development of the celebrated Arundel Castle, West Sussex, now the seat of the Duke of Norfolk, Earl Marshal, and a creation of the powerful and wealthy medieval Earls of Arundel. Photographs by Paul Highnam for Country Life.
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'The ideal of a Scottish castle': 800 years of Dunvegan Castle, one of Scotland's great fortresses
One of Scotland’s most celebrated and anciently occupied castles has undergone a decade of restoration and renovation. John Goodall reports, with photographs by Paul Highnam for Country Life.
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Powered by the wind since 1887: The past, present and future of Britain's wind turbines
Wind turbines are becoming a familiar feature of the landscape. John Goodall looks at their operation, form and future through the example of Whitelee Windfarm in East Renfrewshire, the largest onshore wind farm in the UK.
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Audley End: The 'great and splendid country house' that beguiled a king
Built to attract a visit by James I, Audley End in Essex is a hugely ambitious house that has been massively reduced, and yet remains both outstanding and magnificent. John Goodall reports; photographs by Paul Highnam for Country Life.
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Broadwoodside: A farm steading in the heart of a magical Scottish landscape
Broadwoodside — the home of Robert and Anna Dalrymple — is a modest farm steading in East Lothian that has been stylishly transformed into the heart of a magical landscape and garden. John Goodall admires the sympathy and humour of the project. Photographs by Paul Highnam for Country Life.
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Westminster Abbey: 1,000 years of coronations, from King Harold and William the Conqueror to Elizabeth II and Charles III
The setting of Charles III’s crowning in Westminster Abbey in London lends grandeur and history to this great ceremony. John Goodall considers the evolution of this remarkable building and its role in celebrating the authority and antiquity of the monarchy.
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What the Charles III coronation invitations look like — and why they'll likely be worth a fortune one day
Invitations to coronations have always been highly prized. Since the 18th century, they have also been designed to reflect the solemnity and splendour of the occasion, as John Goodall discovers.
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West Horsley Place, Surrey: The real-life country house where the BBC's Ghosts is filmed
West Horsley Place is one of the most important historic houses in Surrey — and it’s enjoying a new lease of life as a centre for the Arts, not least thanks to its starring role in Ghosts, one of the most popular BBC comedies in years. John Goodall looks at the history of this remarkable building. Photographs by Paul Highnam for Country Life.
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Westminster Abbey: How the nation's coronation church has touched our lives for 1,000 years
In anticipation of The Queen’s Jubilee Year, Country Life had the opportunity to photograph the majestic interiors of Westminster Abbey, our coronation church, amid the quiet of lockdown. In the first of two articles, John Goodall explains how, in this building, events from the deep past continue to touch our lives today. Photographs by Will Pryce for the Country Life Picture Library.
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The Reform Club: Inside 'the most magnificent club in London', almost unchanged since the days of Phileas Fogg
The Reform Club was made famous by Jules Verne as the home-from-home of Phileas Fogg in Around the World in Eighty Days. Yet it began life, as John Goodall discovers, as an attempt to unify the Radical and Whig interests as a coherent political force, prompting work to what aimed to be the most magnificent club in London.
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Vermeer at the Rijksmuseum: 'As near as my life will come to finding a golden ticket to Willy Wonka's factory'
Country Life's John Goodall managed to get hold of a ticket to one of the most eagerly-anticipated art exhibitions in years: Vermeer at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
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Chandler’s House: Style with sympathy, as 18th century architecture meets 21st century flourish
The sympathetic restoration of the delightful Chandler’s House — in Alton Barnes, Wiltshire — has created new, liveable and stylish interiors within potentially awkward constraints, as John Goodall discovers. Photography by Paul Highnam for the Country Life Picture Library.
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The fate of Ruperra Castle 'is a national scandal'
Country Life's architectural editor John Goodall is appalled at the lackadaisical approach of conservation authorities to Ruperra Castle, a Welsh gem in Caerphilly.
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Winchester College: A palace for education
John Goodall looks at the origins of Winchester College and the inspiration for its superb medieval buildings. Photographs by Paul Highnam for Country Life.
