Country Life

Helena, a nutritional therapist and functional medicine practitioner, is the founder of Nourish&Be on Harley Street, London W1. She is engaged to Piergiuseppe Coppola, whom she will marry next year, and the daughter of Edward and Clare Barham of Hole

AT the risk of ‘indecency and tumultuous conduct’—the reasons given in 1813 for shutting down the Christmas market outside Canterbury Cathedral—the precincts of the Kent landmark abound with produce, merriment and song once more this year, for the fi

I SPENT 40 years in the Dorset area as an architect and found that, once the earlier generation of architect conservation officers had retired, most of the officers were in effect ‘preservation’ officers (Athena, November 20). Few of them had or have

‘I fell in love with Antonello da Messina on my first visit to Palazzo Abatellis, Palermo, Italy, many years ago, when I saw his Annunciation and his triptych of the Church Fathers, so reminiscent of both Piero della Francesca and Rogier van der Weyd

UNSURPRISINGLY, there are very few cheerful poems about winter, with Shelley’s ‘The cold earth slept below,/Above the cold sky shone’ rather setting the tone and reflecting our own sentiments towards this unforgiving season. Many profess a love of wi

Stationers’ Hall, London EC4 The home of the Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers THE year 1631 was not a good one for Robert Barker. He and his associate, Martin Lucas, Royal Printers with an exclusive licence to publish Bibles, man

‘And what is in’t, the never-surfeited sea…’William Shakespeare, ‘The Tempest’, Act III WHY do we holiday en masse at the seaside? Why not holiday by the multitude in rural parts, given that England is now overwhelmingly urban and the countryside is

SIR HENRY COLE (1808–82) was an innovative and influential civil servant. He rose through the administrative ranks to become secretary to the committee for promoting postal reform in 1838 and he helped orchestrate the introduction of the Uniform Penn

COMMISSIONED in the 1950s to illustrate Pierre Daninos’s bestselling ‘Major Thompson’ novels—affectionate caricatures of a retired British army officer—German-born cartoonist Walter Goetz equipped the character with two unmistakeable indicators of Br

ANY significant day in the year attracts weather folklore and there is none more important than Christmas Day. ‘The nearer the new moon to Christmas Day, the harder the winter’ doesn’t bode well for us this year, with the new moon following only six

RENOWNED for its ancient woodlands, rugged mountains and heather-clad moorlands, Scotland is a country committed to celebrating its traditions and protecting its cultural and natural heritage. Unsurprisingly, many Scots are passionate about safeguard

Shawarma marinade, £4, Ottolenghi (020–3227 4999; https://ottolenghi.co.uk) ‘Yotam Ottolenghi’s lamb shawarma is perhaps his greatest recipe. Making the marinade used to turn my kitchen to chaos, so I am thankful (although not as much as my wife, Rac

WITH one hand flung above her head, the other in her lap, the sleeping figure in Dod Procter’s Morning has a monumental quality. The painting’s stone-grey tones and simple solidity embody both classicism and bold modernity and, when it was displayed

Which people in the past century have had a lasting influence on English decoration? Nancy Lancaster? John Fowler? Robert Kime? Nina Campbell? Min Hogg? John Pawson? All of them had a different part to play. History is likely to relate that another n

BEFORE the introduction of 20th-century boundary changes, the tiny rural parish of Broughton Poggs in west Oxfordshire occupied a thin sliver of land between Broadwell, Langford and the county border with Gloucestershire, stretching for three miles f

MID renovation, with no working cooker and 10 arriving for dinner, the safety net of deciding to live next door to her mother in Wiltshire became obvious for insurance broker Annabel Rees. Supper appeared as if by magic for guests, a sticky toffee pu

THE gleaming lobby, the clink of cocktails in those cosy bars, delicious Art Deco details that twinkle in the glow of what always feels like candlelight: setting foot in Claridge’s is festive at any time of year. During the true festive season, if th

CREATIVE types have flocked to the capital for centuries because part of London’s ongoing attraction is its rich heritage: it’s home to world-renowned art schools, spectacular museums, famous auction houses and long-established galleries in Mayfair a

WALKING her Maltipoo on Wandsworth Common in south-west London last spring, Alice Edwards, the founder of Memo Press, noticed an empty shop front in a courtyard across from the park. Her paper-goods company, which produces bespoke stationery, as well

ARCHITECTURAL PLANTS near Pulborough in West Sussex is not merely a nursery. It is a horticultural wonderland, populated by plants of amazing size, and the first point of reference for designers, garden owners and organisations in search of full-grow

I HAVE a small table and some chairs a bleary-eyed stumble from the kitchen door that provide me with the perfect spot to enjoy an early, reviving coffee. If it isn’t raining, you’ll find me there—bed hair and all—first thing. It is a precious spot.

▶ Cook the spaghetti as per the packet instructions in a large pot of salted, boiling water until al dente. Reserve 200ml (a small cup) of the starchy pasta water. ▶ Heat a splash of olive oil in a large frying pan. Add the bacon and Brussels sprouts

ON the Caribbean island of Grenada, people often joke that if you bury a plank of wood in the ground and dig it up some six months later, you’ll likely find it transformed into a cricket bat. The saying stems from the fact that the island’s volcanic

The power-catamaran offerings from Moorings are expanding into new waters, including St Martin and St Lucia. Charter a next-generation 464PC boat with four ensuite berths and you’ll spend less time travelling and more time ‘enjoying quiet coves and w

IF you know where to look,’ says music mogul and hotelier Chris Blackwell, ‘Jamaica can be heaven.’ Might I suggest you start by looking out from Strawberry Hill, Blackwell’s hotel 3,000ft above Kingston in the Blue Mountains? To the south and west,

A SURE sign of winter in our household are evenings in front of the television. Not that we all live under one roof any more, but there are times when we happen to be together and the catch-up button is pressed to find one of our favourite shows—inva

HUBBLE, bubble, toil and trouble. There was a little bubble and a lot of trouble in the life of Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola (1503–40), better known as Parmigianino after his native city of Parma, in northern Italy. In 1539, having failed to comp

EVERY day, acts of extreme bravery take place across the world, many anonymous and unrecorded. Some are committed by people trained to deal with dangerous, frightening situations; many are not, the heroes finding themselves thrust into making split-s

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