As Country Life launches its Trees for Tomorrow campaign, to mark the magazine’s 125th anniversary, John Lewis-Stempel reflects on why these gentle giants are the key to our survival.
John Lewis-Stempel picks out his ten favourite British trees.
Assumed to be the lowest in the avian-intelligence pecking order, chickens are, in fact, more like feathered imitators of Sherlock Holmes, says John Lewis-Stempel.
Far from being ‘stupid’ or ‘silly cows’, cattle are clever and emotionally intelligent, with bags of personality, too, says John Lewis-Stempel.
Eulogised by Gilpin, Wordsworth and Coleridge and immortalised on canvas by Turner, the sylvan charm of the River Wye Valley is one of Herefordshire’s best-kept secrets, says John Lewis-Stempel.
Outnumbered yet never outfought, The Few buckled on their Spitfires and rode into the Battle of Britain like knights on their chargers. Eighty years on, their true memorial is the freedom in the air we breathe.
Condemned as dimwits, could sheep really be the brainiacs of the barnyard, capable of fear, boredom, happiness and identifying Fiona Bruce? John Lewis-Stempel delves into the secret life of these curious (in all senses) creatures.
Once believed to be summoned from slumber by birdsong, spring is a season of timeless joy for John Lewis-Stempel.
John Lewis-Stempel's dispatches from lambing season focus on the early March snows which made a tough job into an battle.
It’s 200 years since Keats penned ‘Ode to a Nightningale’, but this otherwise drab bird’s rich, sorrowful song is worth listening out for says John Lewis-Stempel.
A chance reading of George Orwell brought John Lewis-Stempel to the realisation that he'd neglected his own ponds. He explains how he has been inspired to change that.
