The Country Life Podcast

Listen to all the episodes of the Country Life Podcast.

Country Life Magazine has started a podcast.

The first episode is available now; you’ll be able to get it on this page, or wherever you get your podcasts — including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and Spotify:

New episodes will appear each Friday.

An insider’s guide to travelling the world: Hot destinations, missing underwear and dodging volcanoes

Country Life magazine’s Rosie Paterson has the enviable task of travelling the world in order to report on where to go, when and why. She’s also — and she probably won’t mind us saying this — developed something of a reputation for being incident prone.

Rosie speaks to Country Life podcast host James Fisher to share her tips on everything from the world’s greatest hotels and destinations to the reason it’s almost always worth trying to get an upgrade — along with a few hints on how you can manage to do so. She also explains how she’s managed to fall foul of everything from natural disasters to armed insurrections in her efforts to trot the globe.

Episode credits:

Host: James Fisher
Guest: Rosie Paterson
Producer and editor: Toby Keel
Music: JuliusH via Pixabay / Epidemic Sound
Special thanks: Adam Wilbourn

Tom Kerridge: ‘Fish and chips out on a windy day on Brighton Beach is equally as magical as eating in a three Michelin star restaurant’

Tom Kerridge is one of Britain’s best-loved chefs, spending years training under the likes of Gary Rhodes before taking over The Hand and Flowers pub in Marlow in 2005, and making it the first pub to be awarded two Michelin stars. His reputation and high profile opened up opportunities in television, where he’s been a familiar sight for many years.

Speaking to James Fisher on the Country Life podcast, Tom discusses his life in food and beyond, from growing up on an estate in Gloucester to the state of hospitality in the country, modern farming, and his

Tom talks about his favourite dishes and food spots — from a three-Michelin star restaurant in Marseille to eating Singaporean street food on plastic chairs and tacos in Arizona. As he says, ‘fish and chips out on a windy day on Brighton Beach, in November, wrapped up warm is equally as magical as eating in a three Michelin star restaurant, anywhere in the world.’

To hear the rest of our chat, click below, or download the episode from your usual podcast platform:

Tom Kerridge’s More Sunday Lunch appears on The Food Network from January 15, 2024.

Episode credits:
Host: James Fisher
Guest: Tom Kerridge
Producer and editor: Toby Keel
Music: JuliusH via Pixabay
Special thanks: Adam Wilbourn

Giles Kime: How (not) to fix up a country house

Published on Friday, 5 January, 2024

‘The ability to go in and specify everything for an interior might be within the powers of an interior designer,’ says Giles Kime, Country Life’s long-standing interiors guru. ‘ButI think when we’re doing on our own homes, it’s really important to take your time and put a lot of thought and effort into it.’

Giles has spent 35 years writing about interiors, the last seven of which have been with Country Life magazine. During that time he has bought, refurbished and moved on from a string of characterful homes, leading to his current project: a 1630 cottage in rural Hampshire. He joined our podcast host James Fisher to share some of the tips he’s picked up over the year — and to tell some of the stories behind his hugely popular article on the Country Life website, ’10 things I wish I’d known about doing up old houses before I started.’

You can see more of Giles Kime’s articles at the Country Life website, or can follow him on Instagram @giles.kime where you’ll be able to see details of his upcoming talks and publications.

You can listen to the show wherever you get your podcasts, including:

Episode credits

Host: James Fisher
Guest: Giles Kime
Producer & Editor: Toby Keel
Music: JuliusH via Pixabay
Special thanks: Adam Wilbourn

Patrick Galbraith: My week surviving on an uninhabited Scottish island

Published on Friday, 22nd December, 2023

The journalist and author Patrick Galbraith spent a week on the uninhabited island of Scarba, a speck on the map in the Inner Hebrides.

In the course of his adventure, Patrick fished and foraged, walked and wondered, and went from moments of joy and beauty to pure misery. He came to the Country Life Podcast to tell us all about it, share some of the highs and lows, and explain what motivated him to give it a go in the first place.

You can read Patrick’s article about his time on Scarba on the Country Life website. You can find Patrick’s book, In Search of One Last Song: Britain’s Disappearing Birds and the People Trying to Save Them, from all good bookshops.

You can listen to the show wherever you get your podcasts, including:

Episode credits

Host: James Fisher
Guest: Patrick Galbraith
Produced and edited by: Toby Keel
Music: ‘Summertime’ by JuliusH
Special thanks: Adam Wilbourn

Rosamund Young: The Wisdom of Sheep

Published on Friday, 15th December, 2023

Rosamund Young, the best-selling author of The Secret Life of Cows, has been a farmer for almost half a century. She joined us at the Country Life podcast to talk about her animals, the farms she’s known, how the Cotswolds has changed in the years she’s called it home, and her beautiful new book, The Wisdom of Sheep.

You can read an exclusive extract from The Wisdom of Sheep on the Country Life website, you can read the full series of articles she wrote for Country Life here.

You can listen to the show wherever you get your podcasts, including:

Episode credits

Host: James Fisher
Interviewer: Toby Keel
Guest: Rosamund Young
Produced and edited by: Toby Keel
Music: ‘Summertime’ by JuliusH
Special thanks: Adam Wilbourn

Boom, bust and property lust: Penny Churchill on 30 years of Britain’s best houses

Published on Friday, 8th December, 2023

This week’s podcast features Country Life’s long-standing property correspondent Penny Churchill, who looks back on three decades of writing about Britain’s finest houses.

Nobody in Britain has seen more of the nation’s great country houses than Penny, who has been writing Country Life magazine’s ‘Property Market’ column since 1992.

From the ups and of the market in the past three decades to the quirkiest agents and owners, Penny speaks to host James Fisher to share her insights on the country houses that have been at the heart of her career.

You can listen to the podcast right here, or from wherever you get your podcasts — including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and Spotify.

Episode credits

Host: James Fisher
Producer and Editor: Toby Keel
Guest: John Goodall
Music: ‘Summertime’ by JuliusH
Special thanks: Adam Wilbourn

My five favourite castles, by Country Life’s architectural editor John Goodall

Published on Friday, 1st December, 2023

Britain’s landscape is dotted with quite incredible castles, from towering and imposing masterpieces to crumbling, romantic ruins. In this week’s podcast, we speak to Country Life magazine’s Architectural Editor, John Goodall — the man who literally wrote the book on castles — to find out which five are his very favourites.

John picks out five wonderful castles which show the full range of Britain’s architectural legacy: Headingham, Knaresborough, Lancaster, Belvoir (pronounced ‘Beaver’) and Castle Drogo. And then he throws in a very special extra bonus castle at the end — arguably the greatest castle on the face of the planet, whose fate has been intertwined with that of the Royal Family for 1,000 years.

Episode credits

Host: James Fisher
Producer and Editor: Toby Keel
Guest: John Goodall
Music: ‘Summertime’ by JuliusH
Special thanks: Adam Wilbourn

Tales from Country Life with The Editor, Mark Hedges

Published on Friday, 17th November, 2023

Country Life’s first ever podcast sees us speak to the magazine’s Editor-in-Chief, Mark Hedges. Mark has been in charge of the magazine for 17 years, presiding over circulation which has risen year after year, bucking the trend of the publishing industry, and winning every award possible in the process.

He’s done everything from writing about fishing to hob-nobbing with members of the Royal Family — several of whom he’s persuaded to guest edit the magazine, not least King Charles himself.

Episode credits

Host: James Fisher
Producer and Editor: Toby Keel
Guest: Mark Hedges
Music: ‘Summertime’ by JuliusH
Special thanks: Adam Wilbourn