Country Life

Published by Time Inc. (UK) Ltd Country Life, the quintessential English magazine, is undoubtedly one of the biggest and instantly recognisable brands in the UK today. It has a unique core mix of contemporary country-related editorial and top end property advertising. Editorially, the magazine comments in-depth on a wide variety of subjects, such as architecture, the arts, gardens and gardening, travel, the countryside, field-sports and wildlife. With renowned columnists and superb photography Country Life delivers the very best of British life every week.

Miss Domenica Dryer • Domenica is the philanthropy manager for Ol Pejeta Conservancy, a 90,000-acre wildlife reserve in Kenya that is home to the last two remaining northern white rhinos, and a civilian support rider for the Household Cavalry. She is engaged to Theodore Vicat, whom she will marry at St Mary’s, Hampstead Norreys, Berkshire, this month, and is the daughter of Joseph and Mary-Ann Dryer of Bothampstead, Berkshire.

Call of the wild

Country Life

Who will gain the countryside vote? • Promises, promises–with a week to go to the General Election, we compare and contrast the party manifestos on some of the issues that affect rural life. Kate Green reports

Town & Country Notebook

Letters to the Editor

Fine words don’t butter parsnips

Athena • Cultural Crusader

Rob Houchen • Standing Male Nude with Red Loincloth by Egon Schiele

Is wilding the wolf at the farmer’s door? • What do the concepts of ‘wilding’ and ‘rewilding’ really mean for the British countryside and are they compatible with our need to farm the land for food, asks John Lewis-Stempel

Imagining the past • In 1540 one of England’s wealthiest monasteries was dissolved and its buildings systematically destroyed. Steven Brindle reports on a project undertaken by English Heritage to reconstruct the appearence of this lost abbey, including its great church, a building of European stature

Uffa Fox and the Flying Fifteen

What drives me wild • Although the term ‘rewilding’ is contentious, most agree that our countryside could be better managed for wildlife. Yet what should we actually be doing to improve it? Here, seven keen conservationists offer Julie Harding their best advice

The beetles anthology • Be they shades of shimmering green, spotted or rainbow striped, be they speedy or sluggish, handsome or heinous, our wealth of British beetles is something to celebrate, says Jack Watkins

You reapwhat you sow • Unless you enjoy noise, weight, protective clothing and petrol costs, it might be time to ditch the strimmer and learn to harness the ‘severe and simple beauty’ of a scythe, says Simon Fairlie

The designer’s room • When Philippa Thorp set out to bring a house in Oxfordshire to life, a new light-filled space proved to be a magic ingredient

Crewel to be kind • Most famously used to create the Bayeux Tapestry, crewelwork is enjoying a revival

Luxury Notebook

A few of my favourite things • Born in 1974 in Oxford to a family rich in tennis history (his grandfather, grandmother and great-grandmother all played at Wimbledon), the former professional tennis player first picked up a racket aged 2½. Tim Henman held the British number-one ranking for years and ascended to the world number four. Since retiring, he has become a leading voice of the sport and was awarded an OBE in the 2004 New Year’s Honours list. He lives in Oxfordshire with his wife, Lucy, their three daughters and two labradors.

Scents of place • Glorious summer fragrances, each with notes to evoke sunshine–even on cloudy days

Bridehead revisited • An important Dorset estate and village come to the market after seven generations in the same family and two estates across the border in...