Country Life 26 June 2024

Here's a look at some of what you'll find inside:

Is wilding the wolf at the farmer’s door?

John Lewis-Stempel considers the theme-park alternative to a land nurtured by farmers

What drives me wild

Thoughtful management, wildlife corridors, positive conversations: Julie Harding finds out what wilding means to seven active conservationists and farmers

The beetles anthology

Glittering green, rainbow striped and fearsomely horned, a handful of our 4,000 beetles scuttles across Jack Watkins’s path

You reap what you sow

The soothing swish of the skilfully handled scythe is being heard again in British meadows. Simon Fairlie takes up an ancient tool

Country Life International

• Lawrence Alma-Tadema’s sultry depictions of the opulent life of the ancient Mediterranean world captivate Jack Watkins
• Russell Higham falls for the charm of Le Touquet, ‘the most British of French resorts’
• Harry Eyres raises a glass to 40 years of Château La Mission Haut-Brion
• Tom Parker Bowles savours the succulent cuisine of Sardinia
• Paul Henderson joins the rest of the world on the padel court
• Eileen Reid seeks the tomb of Aristotle high above the Aegean Sea

Rob Houchen’s favourite painting

The Les Miserables actor ponders human vulnerability through a revealing self-portrait

Imagining the past

The abbey of Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk rises again thanks to an illuminating project by English Heritage, reports Steven Brindle

The legacy

Agnes Stamp sets sail in the Royal Family’s wake aboard a Flying Fifteen, the creation

of yacht designer Uffa Fox

Interiors

A light-filled dining room and the welcome return of crewelwork  

Luxury

Seersucker suits, the Sloane Club, Tim Henman’s favourite things and summer scents

Doing things differently

Non Morris visits the brilliantly reinvented walled garden at Knepp Castle, West Sussex

Kitchen garden cook

Melanie Johnson savours fresh raspberries, the fruit of summer, in brioche buns and lemonade

Native herbs

Ear worms hold no fear for John Wright as he gathers watermint

Hit me with your best shot

John Lewis-Stempel remembers the respect and understanding his grandfather had for the wilds

These magic moments

Pressed flowers keep childhood memories alive for Sarah Holland. She talks to Catriona Gray

Light my fire

For centuries, artists and sculptors have turned to a muse for an idea. Matthew Dennison delves into art’s most fruitful relationships

And much more