The best of Tottering-by-Gently in Country Life

It’s the 1000’th Tottering-by-Gently cartoon in this week’s Country Life magazine so we celebrate some of the classic strips from the past

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The arrival of Annie Tempest's ‘Tottering-by-Gently' cartoon strip in the Country Life office is as eagerly anticipated today as it was when the first one was published in January, 1994. Tottering Hall-the artist's own family home, Broughton Hall, in North Yorkshire-and its owners Dicky and Daffy (Lord and Lady Tottering) have moved with the times remarkably well. They've upheld the finest traditions and the most perfect manners, yet have embraced the age of technology through their hoodied, texting grandchildren-well, almost.

The good-humoured Dicky (based on Miss Tempest's father) remains the ultimate gentleman, occasionally baffled by the distaff side's thought processes. Daffy continues to dispense her singular brand of irrefutable logic: that there is no ill that can't be cured by downtime with a labrador, a herbaceous border, and a gin and tonic. (Her true alter ego, a late neighbour in East Anglia, will be revealed in a new book out this autumn: Tottering-by-Gently: The First 20 Years).

Tottering was created for Country Life and its arrival coincided with the end of an era for Miss Tempest's Daily Mail strip, ‘The Yuppies', and her move to the country and having babies. ‘I wanted a social canvas that would never run out,' she explains.

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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.

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