Country Life 8 December 2021

Country Life 8 December 2021 looks at basset hounds, toy soldiers and enjoys a dish of scallops.

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BASSET HOUNDS: Incorrigible, vocal and partial to unguarded food, basset hounds are as human as a dog can be, reveals devotee Flora Watkins.

TOY SOLDIERS: Lining up Wellington’s infantry or the ‘Arabs of the desert’ was once a childhood staple, but no longer, rues Charles Harris .

WINTER CITRUS: Citrus fruits, from familiar lemons to exotic calamondins, will light up winter, advises John Hoyland.

MY FAVOURITE PAINTING: David Bradley, actor, chooses Monet’s poppy-strewn meadow .

WALKING LIFE: Fiona Reynolds tackles the steep slopes of The Wrekin .

ROBINS: The first book to be devoted to the story of a single bird, David Lack’s The Life of the Robin is still revered, says Jack Watkins.

ARCHITECTURE: The history of 16th-century Rippington Manor, Cambridgeshire, is unexpectedly complex, discovers John Goodall .

A STAINED GLASS WONDER: Heraldic stained-glass windows designed by A. W. N. Pugin for Gothic Alton Towers in Staffordshire have been triumphantly restored, finds John Goodall.

INTERIORS: A country kitchen in town and how the past is informing the new .

SCALLOPS: Tom Parker Bowles relishes the sweet succulence of scallops, a rare morsel with both pagan and pious connotations.

SAUDI ARABIA: Saudia Arabia to the South Downs via Cornwall and Milan.

CRICKET: James Fisher assesses England’s — admittedly slim — chances in the next Test against Australia.

Country Life

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.