Country Life December 7 goes backstage at the Nativity; explores a deconstructed fairytale castle and offers up hampers of delight. Find out more here:
ARCHITECTURE: Evelyn Waugh’s vivid, wistful portraits of country houses foreshadowed their decline and fall, says Jeremy Musson
GARDENS: George Plumptre learns how the proximity of a motorway turned round the fortunes of the gardens around the historic hotel at Great Fosters in Egham, Surrey
WILDLIFE: The crafty cormorant, or ‘sea crow’, can dive to 30ft and swallow an entire eel, gulps David Profumo
SHEPHERDS: They may not receive angelic visits, but these shepherds feel blessed with their lot, says Adrian Dangar
THE NATIVITY: Rupert Uloth witnesses the delightful telling of the Christmas story that takes place every year in the Surrey Hills with a 100-strong cast, including donkeys and horses
BRITISH LETTERBOX: Andrew Martin hopes the jolly red British letterbox won’t be consigned to the same fate as the telephone box
COOKING: Melanie Johnson ensures we’ll eat our Brussels sprouts
HAMPERS: Jeremy Taylor unpacks the perennial excitement of the traditional Christmas hamper
INTERIORS: A dream dressing room and the joy of a second kitchen
PROPERTY: Penny Churchill on the Varsity Line and Annunciata Walton seeks the sun
** If you loved this issue, why not subscribe to Country Life and get your copy delivered to your door every week? Or subscribe to the digital edition on your tablet and download your copy every Wednesday. Back issues of Country Life magazine can be ordered online here.
-
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.
-
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.
