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When it comes to heritage development, the conservation officer is king. We need more of them
A lack of funding and expertise is having a detrimental effect on our listed heritage. To survive, these buildings need to adapt, and to adapt, these buildings need more people who understand what makes them special.
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The end of deference: Why using the right title matters
It might be an 'old-world problem', but using incorrect form when addressing someone is a symptom of laziness and inaccuracy that we should all worry about.
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Minette Batters: 'There are serious questions to be asked as to whether the advice given to ministers is correct'
The former NFU President and crossbench peer worries about the effects of the latest budget, and asks why we can't test whether farmers are actually farming.
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Agromenes: A budget of betrayal
Labour has turned it's back on the farming community with its latest plans on Agricultural Property Relief.
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The law of unintended consequences is teaming up with Britain's latest tax rises — and it'll hit our historic houses hard
Country Life's cultural commentator Athena takes a closer look at last week's budget and foresees trouble ahead.
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Patrick Galbraith: 'What struck me is that English vineyards represent a rare example of farmland being re-peopled'
Going grape picking gives a glimpse of what the rural past would have looked like.
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Jonathan Self: 'one has more chance of discovering Atlantis, the Holy Grail or Lord Lucan in the local high street than getting one’s hands on a decent magazine'
He's not talking about Country Life, of course. We're great.
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Agromenes: 'It is one thing when people recognise what is the right thing to do, but it becomes really game-changing when they see that it’s also the profitable thing to do'
The Countryside Crusader celebrates more positive news about regenerative farming.
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'There are whole fields that are 100% taxpayer funded NOT to grow crops for people to eat'
Former NFU President Minette Batters has entered the House of Lords as Baroness Batters, giving her a new perspective, and a new opportunity to find ways to help British farming.
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'It all looked too good to be true — and, indeed, it was': We must face up to the real future of farming
An over-reliance on fertilisers and yields has left our farmland in a perilous state. It's only by working with nature, not against it, that we can futureproof our countryside.
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Opinion: The doom-laden terminology of conservation campaigners is dragging us down — it's time we embraced some optimism
We’re not perfect, says Kate Green, but nor are we bottom of the class — and it's time we embraced that.
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'It may be vain to think that the past was a cleaner, quieter and kinder place, but it felt pretty decent when you knew your GP and your GP knew you, and milk in glass bottles was delivered every morning'
Carla Carlisle is homesick for the olden days, when we didn’t know we had it so good.
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True craftsmanship means making things that last generations — but these skills are in danger of being lost forever
Giles Kime is worried about the state of craftsmanship in Britain.
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Alexander Darwall: Dartmoor camping case is about conservation and preservation, not denial of access
The landowner at the centre of the legal battle over wild camping on Dartmoor explains why he has chosen to go to the Supreme Court about the issue.
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Jason Goodwin: 'Ahead of the Japanese invasion of Borneo, I was told, she had memorised all the top-secret embassy codes to prevent them falling into enemy hands'
The cooing of wood pigeons in autumn reminds our columnist of his grandmother and her sisters, one of which was in a secret service in the Second World War.
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Have your say on Country Life and get a chance to win a Fortnum & Mason hamper
Take part in the 2024 Country Life Reader Survey.
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Athena: Sacrificing the Arts for 'self-imposed' fiscal rules?
Cuts to our cultural institutions will only save a minimal amount of money, but could do a significant amount of harm.
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Beware experience, lest we forget what actually makes these places important in the first place
Jousting in castles? Falconry demonstrations? That's all fine, says Athena, as long as people don't forget about the real purposes of our visitor attractions and cultural institutions.
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Minette Batters: Happiness is in the little things
The cross-bench peer and former NFU president uses some down time to reflect on the big questions, and prepares for a charity bike ride in Africa.
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Labour's new National Planning Policy Framework is a 'wolf in sheep's clothing'
We can expect fireworks: Labour’s draft plans for a new planning policy contain subtle, but devastating amendments that bear closer inspection.
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'Every month since June 2023 has now ranked as the planet’s hottest... we are challenging everything on which we rely — our weather, our health, our water and our food security'
The effects of climate change 'reach right down into every aspect of the planet’s life, from the spread of disease to the profound changes wrought by rising sea levels and intensive storms,' writes our columnist Agromenes.
