Country Life 6 April 2022

Small is beautiful: Family farms, mixed, neighbourly and part of the community, are the future, avers Jason Goodwin

An absurd little bird: Devious and greedy, the cuckoo is nonetheless an integral part of spring, says Claire Jackson

What Cath did next: Giles Kime hears all about Cath Kidston’s inspiring new venture

Hooray for clay: Handmade is best for the new generation of pretty, but practical ceramics, finds Amelia Thorpe

Take me home: Robin Birley’s admired interior aesthetic is the force behind his new collection, reveals Giles Kime

Plenty more room at the inn?: The heart of a village, but under threat, pubs are being saved by their regulars, finds Jane Wheatley:

London Life: Feasting, walking and boating, plus the Necropolis Railway

1930s Notebook: Melanie Bryan explores the decade through the eyes of Country Life

Dr Frances Sands’s favourite painting: The curator picks a masterpiece of perspective from Soane’s office

Hope against hope: Carla Carlisle muses on war in Ukraine and its impact at home

English homes old and new: Shakespeare is John Goodall’s guide to late-Tudor and Jacobean English homes in the fourth of our 125th-anniversary series

Will Irish eyes be smiling again?: Marcus Armytage assesses the runners in the Grand National

Interiors: New looks, wallpaper and tables

A garden of the mind: Classically inspired Plaz Metaxu in Devon is as stimulating as it is beautiful, finds Noel Kingsbury

Kitchen garden cook: Melanie Johnson on broccoli

A blooming good show: Steven Desmond cheers 75 years of Gardeners’ Question Time

The good stuff: Hetty Lintell on jewelled beetles