Country Life 20 April 2022
Country Life 20 April 2022 looks at golden retrievers, wildflower meadows, Doctor Dolittle and a beautiful old farmhouse.


Masterpiece: Jack Watkins deciphers the language of Doctor Dolittle, the man who talked to animals.
Golden retrievers: Beloved for their gentleness, admired for their picking-up skills, golden retrievers are real all-rounders, says Katy Birchall
Satan of the riverbank: The bizarre cormorant has a long-held evil reputation, but there’s plenty to admire in this tough bird
Tradition and modernity: Old and new are perfectly blended at Willards Farm in Surrey, finds Jeremy Musson
Where the wildflowers grow: Our flower-bedecked meadows may be all but lost, but there is hope in many unlikely corners, discovers Sarah Langford
Books: David Profumo admires two magnificent fishing tomes
Tessa Hadley’s favourite painting: The author chooses a sensuous, mysterious whirl of time
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The moonlight hunt: Jamie Blackett follows a terrier escapee across the sands
Kitchen garden cook: Melanie Johnson welcomes the first English asparagus spears
The good stuff: Hetty Lintell on serpentine love
Interiors: Get colourful with fresh paints, tempered with old techniques
A perfect finish: Two remarkable new gardens have grown from the renovation of an old barn in the Cotswolds, discovers Tiffany Daneff
Travel: Luxury at Lucknam, da Vinci in Milan and a new series on literary giants’ favourite hotels
Heroes and villains: Michael Billington salutes the ever-brilliant Ralph Fiennes in David Hare’s superb new play.
And much more
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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About time: The fastest and slowest moving housing markets revealed
New research by Zoopla has shown where it's easy to sell and where it will take quite a while to find a buyer.
By Annabel Dixon
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Betty is the first dog to scale all of Scotland’s hundreds of mountains and hills
Fewer than 100 people have ever completed Betty's ‘full house’ of Scottish summits — and she was fuelled by more than 800 hard boiled eggs.
By Annunciata Elwes