Here's a look at some of what you'll find inside.
The Editor’s choice
Country Life’s Editor-in-Chief Mark Hedges reveals the must-have presents that he wouldn’t be without, from wooden toaster tongs to a pair of silver cufflinks
Interiors
Arabella Youens and Giles Kime savour a tantalising, timeless vision of England in their pick of the year’s interior-design books
London Life
- Richard MacKichan finds Sir Paul Smith rockin’ around Claridge’s Christmas tree
- Catriona Gray meets the movers and shakers of the capital’s art world
- All you need to know this month in the capital
Caroline Moorehead’s favourite painting
The author selects a portrait that shows the ‘very essence of what it was to be Sicilian’
The world turned upside down
Carla Carlisle—wife of a farmer and a diversifier extraordinaire— offers an insider’s view on the Government’s ‘Great Betrayal’
What to look for in winter
Now is not the time to hibernate, suggests John Wright, as he encourages us to appreciate the countryside’s stark, intricate beauty in these colder months
Putting in a Good Word
Lucy Denton delves into the remarkable history of Stationers’ Hall, the central London home of the Worshipful Company of Stationers for the past 400 years
The legacy
Amie Elizabeth White hails Henry Cole, inventor of Christmas cards
The rocky-pool horror show
John Lewis-Stempel loves to be beside the seaside as he examines the enduring appeal of England’s glorious coastline
Bowler me over
Matthew Dennison tips his hat to the rural origins of the bowler as he celebrates its 175th birthday
A touch of frost
Beware an ill wind blowing us into 2025, warns Lia Leendertz
Piste de résistance
Joseph Phelan finds a business on an upslope when he visits the last ski-maker in Scotland
Eyes wide shut
Sleep in art is often drunken, deadly or the stuff of nightmares, but rarely is it peaceful, as Claudia Pritchard discovers
Size matters
Charles Quest-Ritson cranes his neck to take in the sheer scale of the specimens at West Sussex’s Architectural Plants
Kitchen garden cook
Melanie Johnson on sprouts
Travel
- Life in Grenada quickly grows on Rosie Paterson
- Catamarans and cabanas
- Jamaica’s Blue Mountains are heaven for Steven King
- Fine dining is the holy grail for Pamela Goodman
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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.
