Loyal toasts
Friends of COUNTRY LIFE tell Katy Birchall why they enjoy the magazine, from the riddle to rare breeds, fine architecture to Tottering-by-gently
IGREW up in London and it wasn’t until I reached 40 that I bought a house in the country; in the meantime, COUNTRY LIFE fed my dreams. I bought my first full set in 2004, having been the under-bidder for a set at Christopher Gibbs’s house sale at the Manor House, Clifton Hampden, Oxfordshire, in 2000. However, it was incomplete, so I bought a second set and combined them, using ebay to locate the last missing issues. I had them bound by Atkinson Bookbinders in Salisbury, Wiltshire. Every year, I would do another decade and, eventually, they took over the whole library. A few years later, out of the blue, I was contacted by someone wanting to buy a whole set, so I sold them and put back the books. But I missed the magazines enormously, so, in 2015, I bought my third set. These days, the first things I turn to are the bridge column and the houses and gardens. Mark Cecil, businessman and collector
I look forward to reading COUNTRY LIFE each week and have done for years. It has lots of informative articles about such interesting people. I really enjoyed the recent articles on people in trade and their specialist skills, such as a wheelwright, a hedge cutter and a drystone-waller. I collect the ‘riddle me this’ on Notebook each week and love sharing it with my grandchildren to see who is the first to solve it. I keep the Annie Tempest cartoon until the end, as it always makes me chuckle. The Duchess of Devonshire
An hour spent in the bath with COUNTRY LIFE is one of the highlights of my week, as I slip into a softer, kinder world, of glorious Grade I-listed houses, naughty dogs, exquisite artisans and the ever-honeyed words of John Lewisstempel. But it’s not all wicker baskets and brown trout. COUNTRY LIFE has the strongest of rural voices, and Agromenes can never be accused of pulling his punches. It celebrates the country, but also fights for it, and behind that elegant, glossy exterior beats a heart of pure campaigning steel.
Tom Parker Bowles, food writer
IHAVE been an avid reader and supporter of COUNTRY LIFE for many, many years. The magazine covers the pleasures and joys of rural life, which reflect my own passions. The fascinating features on animal conservation and wildlife, together with wonderful photography, make it an authentic and interesting guide to country living.
It has been my trusted source of information since moving to the Goodwood estate in West Sussex with my family during the 1960s. Having played a part in converting Goodwood into a model of progressive farming, I have always relied upon COUNTRY LIFE to keep me informed about the issues and up to date about organic farming. The countryside has undergone a huge transformation, with the recent focus returning to conservation and rewilding, and I look forward to seeing what COUNTRY LIFE has in store on these issues each week.
Susan, Duchess of Richmond
COUNTRY LIFE is a champion of many people living and working in our countryside, celebrating our passions and interests, but also giving an important voice to concerns and frustrations. It tells the stories of our native livestock and equine breeds with great warmth and knowledge, inspiring many readers to play their own crucial part in the Rare Breeds Survival Trust’s work for conservation. The countryside is changing and COUNTRY LIFE is unique in its exploration of the questions of today and tomorrow in the context of a century of people’s lived experiences. Baroness Hayman of Ullock, former shadow Defra secretary and president of the Rare Breeds Survival Trust
In an age where everyone seems to be angry or has an axe to grind of some sort, picking up a copy of COUNTRY LIFE is instantly calming. Where else would you discover that it’s been a good week for wood-burning stoves, but a bad week for beavers, or about the existence of a beetle called a cockchafer, or where to buy a 17th-century parsonage and how to grow your own kumquats? Sometimes, all in the same issue.
Picking up a new copy, or even an old copy and re-reading it, is an oasis from the fury elsewhere and very much my kind of therapy. Here’s to another 125 years.
Sophia Money-coutts, journalist
COUNTRY LIFE is an absolute must in my household, much like Hovis bread and Branston pickle. An unbeatable Great British brand that gives me enormous pleasure. I congratulate the team for bucking the trend and continuing to produce such a successful magazine, every week, filled with fantastic journalism and beautiful photography—the LONDON LIFE section has become a personal favourite. I have particularly enjoyed the very special celebratory issues published in conjunction with members of our Royal Family in recent years, which serve to underline
the enormous influence COUNTRY LIFE continues to hold. Here’s to the next 125 years. I would love to survive to see it then! Andrew Love, senior advisor, The Ritz London
COUNTRY LIFE is a window through which the reader is able to see a countryside we are striving to preserve for the next generation of country folk. Never disappointing, beautiful, inspiring, erudite and full of sound sense and unexpected gems; unlike other magazines, COUNTRY LIFE never seems to get thrown away. Baroness Mallalieu, Countryside Alliance president
IREMEMBER well the night, 25 years ago, when I stayed with friends in Staffordshire. They had, quite rightly, a copy of that week’s COUNTRY LIFE on the ottoman at the end of the bed and, thumbing through the property porn before going to sleep, I found a very pretty house that was up for sale in a town called Chipping Norton. I didn’t know it at the time, but this was the house where the Editor grew up. Anyway, I went to see it on the way home and noticed it was much bigger than the houses I’d been looking at in Chelsea, so I bought it. All my children grew up there, too, and it’s a very happy place; this year, my eldest daughter held her wedding reception there. I have COUNTRY LIFE to thank for that.
Mind you, this remarkable magazine does not always get things right. It once employed a young man called James May as a motoring correspondent, but, very quickly, it came to its senses and sacked him.
Jeremy Clarkson, television presenter, author and farmer
COUNTRY LIFE is a curious contradiction in that nothing could persuade my wife and I to leave our home, but we love the property advertisements. The magazine portrays life today in a timeless setting. It is predictable, reliable and a bridge between yesterday and tomorrow. And it has shown great photographs of our garden—that alone would make it a must buy!
Michael Heseltine, former Deputy Prime Minister and owner of Thenford Arboretum, Northamptonshire
My annual subscription to COUNTRY LIFE is always top of my Christmas wish list. As I’m not a great reader, I need visual stimulation and COUNTRY LIFE gives me this in spades: the countryside, art and architecture, without forgetting my weekly fix of property porn. Andrew Balding, racehorse trainer
I cannot believe that COUNTRY LIFE is celebrating its 125th anniversary. It is the most wonderful magazine and extremely informative. I once went to a villa in Tuscany where the same family had lived for years and they had every single COUNTRY LIFE from well before the Second World War. They were just as interesting as they are today and I came back white as a sheet, because I had sat inside completely engrossed in them. It is so important that it remains on the newsstand as it is a form of history.
Jane Churchill, interior designer
COUNTRY LIFE encapsulates all that is great about the UK —homes, the countryside, knowledge (quiz of the week), incredible people, an eclectic collection of wonderful passions and humour (Tottering-by-gently). Happy 125th Birthday!
Simon Barber, headmaster of Ludgrove School, Berkshire
There is something so incredibly unfashionable about COUN
TRY LIFE, so strange in the mix of pages, that it seems actually impossible. Can you think of another magazine that could combine fishing and fine art every week? There is an otherworldly timelessness here, yet it manages to feel unexpected and relevant. Yes, it has its frippery, but there is a seriousness, too. It holds in its pages the warp and weft of country life, a yearning for an ideal vision of what that might mean and a hard grip on the realities that more sugar-coated publications completely miss. The whole is stitched together with a profound sense of scholarship
and of curating something unique that has kept us looking and turning the pages for 125 years. May the next 125 be as fine!
Ben Pentreath, architectural designer
In a world of conflict and misinformation, COUNTRY LIFE is a haven of sensible thinking, celebrating the countryside without sentimentality and informing or reminding us of manmade beauty in the Arts, especially in architecture and craft. It reassures us of the joy of all that is true and good and holy in life in a creation that speaks of love and laughter as we totter on by. Thank you COUNTRY LIFE. Dame Sarah Goad, former Lordlieutenant of Surrey
As one of the few magazines that I subscribe to, not only has it entertained me for many years, but also we found our wonderful house through its pages. On a dark October evening, after months of searching on the internet, my wife picked up COUNTRY LIFE and found the house of our dreams. Thank you! Giles English, co-founder of Bremont
In my experience, for most men I know and for most of our male customers, COUNTRY LIFE is the only magazine they read. Customers from all over the world discover us through these beautiful pages. You just get it so right. Emma Willis, shirtmaker
How do I love thee, COUNTRY LIFE? I really am quite torn— A gentle friend in times of strife, jam-packed with property porn!
Zeb Soanes, broadcaster and children’s author
COUNTRY LIFE continually celebrates all that is captivating and beautiful about rural Britain—as well as highlighting environmental issues in an interesting and accessible way. I loved the issue that Prince Charles guestedited in 2018. As a pioneer of sustainable agriculture, the way he articulated the harm we’re causing the earth—not only as The Prince of Wales, but as a concerned father, grandfather and leading voice among the organic farming community—really struck a chord with me. We are all so inextricably bound to the rhythms of Nature and, as the future of our planet depends on the action we take now, publications that recognise this will always have an important place on our newsstands. Lady Bamford, founder of Daylesford Organic and Bamford
COUNTRY LIFE has an airspace all of its own. It combines rural living and pursuits (shooting, horse racing and vegetable gardening are three of my favourite pastimes) with appreciation of the nicest houses around, culture, art and antiques. I love it. Whenever I pick up a copy, I cannot put it down. It is timeless and will never be a victim of the internet. It is synonymous with our beautiful British countryside and the wonderful homes you find in it.
Michael Wainwright, managing director of Boodles
There is, quite simply, nothing like COUNTRY LIFE. At its heart is the finest architectural writing and photography and a profound love and understanding of all country activities, from farming to fieldsports. Deeply rooted in our heritage as it is, COUNTRY LIFE always looks forward with its wonderful coverage of interior design and the latest fashions in cooking and countrywear. And it is beautifully designed. It has soul, faith and optimism, leavened with humour. Every issue is a treat.
Loyd Grossman, author and broadcaster
COUNTRY LIFE is my favourite weekly magazine. It has a freshness despite its regularity, thanks to the wide contributions from those involved in rural Britain. Alongside this, there is the consistent structure, from the Frontispiece to Town & Country and Andrew Robson’s bridge column. I always go to the Notebook to challenge myself on the quiz and the riddle (and only occasionally get all of the answers right!), which takes me to the Letters pages and, of course, the delights and challenges posed by Agromenes. ‘The way we were’ brings our minds to past years, showing the continuity between then and now. It is a poignant reflection of where we will be in 125 years time for the 250th anniversary of COUNTRY LIFE.
Mark Tufnell, CLA president
COUNTRY LIFE is a weekly adventure to, very often, littleknown parts of the British Isles, marvelling at anything from daily life to the eccentricities of its nature, its people, the Arts and especially its architecture. From unusual words, to favourite paintings; and from exquisite libraries to an ancient craft still kindled in a small village. Everything is celebrated with style, with the articles carefully researched, beautifully written and illustrated. It deserves to be read cover to cover every week for generations to come. Cassandra Goad, jewellery designer