Christmas 2013: The Country Life guide

Everything you need to know about this year's festive season

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With Christmas 2013 just around the corner, it's time to get ready for the festive season. From presents to markets and advent calendars to homemade crackers, we've put together the ultimate guide to this year's holiday...

Gifts

Christmas gifts for him

Christmas gifts for her

Christmas shopping on Sloane Street

Events

The best Christmas markets to visit 2013

The best charity Christmas carol concerts

Decorations

Top twelve Christmas crackers

Top 10 Christmas advent calendars

How to make your own Christmas crackers

Food

Delicious Christmas recipes to download

The very best festive jams and preserves

Simon Hopkinson suggests a new Christmas lunch

The best Christmas Panettone

Perfect Christmas goose recipe from Mark Hix

Perfect fruit cake recipe

How to make mince pies

Country Life

Country Life is unlike any other magazine: the only glossy weekly on the newsstand and the only magazine that has been guest-edited by HRH The King not once, but twice. It is a celebration of modern rural life and all its diverse joys and pleasures — that was first published in Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee year. Our eclectic mixture of witty and informative content — from the most up-to-date property news and commentary and a coveted glimpse inside some of the UK's best houses and gardens, to gardening, the arts and interior design, written by experts in their field — still cannot be found in print or online, anywhere else.