Masterpiece: Jack Watkins takes his hat off to John Buchan’s bestselling thriller The Thirty-Nine Steps, the original ‘shocker’.
Fancy is as fancy does: Far from being pampered pooches, energetic, friendly standard poodles are quite at home in the shooting field, discovers Matthew Dennison.
Who is Maris Piper?: Eleanor Doughty delves into the reasons behind familiar names, from potatoes to cars.
Blooming lovely: Sweet scented and generous, lilacs should be ubiquitous, believes Charles Quest-Ritson .
London Life: Orchids, Titanic and Muswell Hill, plus what lies behind the giant windows on the A4 and Kit Kemp’s capital secrets.
125 Notebook: Melanie Bryan reveals the concerns of the 1910s, as shown in the pages of Country Life.
Richard Anderson’s favourite painting: The Savile Row tailor chooses a picture of gentlemanly style.
The Mississippi Truth: Carla Carlisle laments the fall of clean-as-a-bone truths .
Creating the Cambridge college: The grand tradition of academic architecture begins with a parish priest and the patronage of a queen, reveals John Goodall, in the first of two articles on Queens’ College, Cambridge .
What is French for va va voom?: Owain Jones assesses the chances of the disparate teams in the Six Nations tournament.
Interiors: Getting cosy with the finest stoves and outdoor fireplaces.
Kitchen garden cook: Melanie Johnson conjures tasty treats from healthy kale.
The good stuff: Hetty Lintell is happy to be chained up in gold and silver.
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The Country Life guide to Somerset: What to do, where to stay and how to eatSomerset is rich in natural beauty and history, but it is its wealth of small-scale food and drink producers, farmers and makers that really set it apart from the competition. Find out how to make the most of it all with our indispensable guide.
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How to make a gloomy city garden into a haven of colour and natureTiffany Daneff discovers how to transform a typically dark London back garden into a light-filled green haven that is always in use. Photographs by Clive Nichols.
