Country Life 22 May 2024
Country Life 22 May 2024 is our West Country special, looking at everything from clotted cream to the joys of trips down the A303, plus 93 pages of property.
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Why we love (and hate) the A303
Julie Harding travels the long and winding road to the West Country, taking in the sights and picking out some of the best stop-offs to enrich what can often be a frustrating journey
The cream of the crop
Whether you side with Devon or Cornwall in the great cream-or-jam-first debate, you simply must go for clotted on your scones, says Julie Harding
Under the Cornish sun
Great artists were drawn to the dramatic Cornwall coastline and their colonies in St Ives and Newlyn helped to make the county famous the world over, finds Michael Prodger
Alison Weir’s favourite painting
The historian and author picks a work that reflects the beauty and mystery of a British summer
The legacy: Sir Peter Scott
The first Briton to be knighted for services to conservation, Sir Peter Scott was at the very forefront of a worldwide movement, as Kate Green discovers
A valley of delightful beauty
In the first of two articles, David Robinson investigates the remarkable history of medieval Hartland Abbey in Devon
Claws for celebration
From coastlines to constellations, crabs are a constant on Britain’s craggy shores. Helen Scales has a word in your shell-like
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Romancing the stone
Dry-stone waller Tom Trouton is a master of the craft, as his innovative tree, fruit and animal creations show, says Annie Gatti
Walking with giants
Manjit Dhillon strides across Dartmoor in the sizeable footsteps of gargantuan Gogmagog
Why do people like fishing?
A cast of thousands enjoy the sport of fly-fishing, from Coco Chanel to Eric Clapton, so what is the lure, asks David Profumo
The good stuff
There’s hysteria over wisteria as Hetty Lintell goes all-out floral
Interiors
Giles Kime and Arabella Youens are dazzled by bright, light white
The contented garden
George Plumptre admires the beauty of a mature garden as he revisits Chilcombe House, Dorset
Kitchen garden cook
Melanie Johnson celebrates the definitive spring herb: tarragon
Native herbs
There’s so much more to nettles than their painful sting, reveals forager extraordinaire John Wright
A game of two halves
How did the humble sandwich rise to its current culinary heights? Emma Hughes eats her fill of the great British buttie
The forbidden flower
Love is in the air for John Wright as he experiences the heady scent of tuberose, reputed to ignite passions in the fairer sex
And much more
Bringing the quintessential English rural idle to life via interiors, food and drink, property and more Country Life’s travel content offers a window into the stunning scenery, imposing stately homes and quaint villages which make the UK’s countryside some of the most visited in the world.
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The need for mead: 'We can re-wild the countryside and get drunk while we’re doing it'
The oldest alcoholic beverage in the world is in the midst of a renaissance.
By Amie Elizabeth White Published
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Why are humpback whales flocking to the UK?
Humpback whales are typically infrequent visitors to the Cornish coast, but this year they've been spotted in increasing numbers in the South-West, the Isles of Scilly and as far up the Channel as Sussex.
By Rosie Paterson Published