Whether you live in the town or countryside, in Country Living you’ll find a wealth of ideas for your home and garden, learn about traditional crafts, keep informed of rural issues, enjoy irresistible dishes using seasonal produce and, above all, escape the stress and strain of modern-day life.
Country Living
A note from the editor
Welcome to APRIL • This month: celebrate the season with an alfresco EASTER FEAST, awakening hibernators and spring shopping ideas. Plus, discover the treetop cabin in Derbyshire and meet FEKKY, the rapper-turned-farmer enjoying his third spring on the farm
EASTER LUNCH TABLESCAPING • Spring is in the air: make the most of it with an ALFRESCO EASTER celebration
AWAKENING HIBERNATORS • April is the time to rise and shine
Callow Hall DERBYSHIRE • Lauran Elsden escaped to a TREETOP CABIN squirrelled away in the grounds of a Gothic manor on the edge of the Derbyshire Dales
LIVE LIKE A LOCAL • Ben Edmonds’ Derbyshire highlights
EASTER TREATS for all your SEASONAL CELEBRATIONS
PLAY AND DISPLAY WITH SPRING FLOWERS • Three LOOSE NATURAL arrangements for that just-gathered look
Fekky • The rapper-turned-farmer on swapping BEATS for BIRDSONG and blazing a trail for next-gen farmers
10 tried-and-tested spots for an EASTER LUNCH • Come for the spread, stay for the stroll
OUT AND ABOUT • EASTER adventures and activities for ALL
5 places to wonder at wild daffodils
CHECKLIST April
FIELD NOTES
The Village Noticeboard • In her regular column on village life, Paula reveals that country life is incomplete without a dog, and why Lady Dashwood (a small yet mighty dachshund) rules the roost at Sutton HQ
“I love making things more starry and kapowey” Alan Cumming • He’s an award-winning actor, director and disruptor. Now, Alan Cumming wants to shake up a remote Highland town and turn it into a global theatre destination
“PEOPLE CALL ME THE CHICKEN LADY” • Think you know hen weekends? Think again. Kat Shovlin’s hen hotels are redefining luxury mini-breaks for Britain’s most pampered chickens
AN EVENING WITH LYDIA MILLEN • Join The Evergreen Journal author as she reveals her passion for seasonal journalling and how she is inspired by nature and the countryside
ARTISANS + CRAFT
“The Welsh landscape was the gateway to my imagination” • A “hedgerow” cake, a Kirstie Allsopp masterclass and a commission from Fortnum & Mason were the gamechangers for this whimsical artist from North Wales
Easter ideas for ARTISANAL GIFTS • Beautiful pieces from our favourite makers and independent businesses
The chocolatier breaking the mould • Meet the self-taught confectioners reimagining Easter with their award-winning chocolate infused and inspired by ingredients from the Jurassic Coast
How to MAKE AN EASTER WREATH • Wreaths are not just for Christmas. Florist Hannah Dyke shows you how to create your own spring garland with seasonal foliage and dried flowers
HOMES + DECORATING
BLEAK BEAUTY • On the otherworldly beachscape of Dungeness, art agent Tiggy Maconochie has created a light- and art-filled house surrounded by sea and sky
The Interiors Insider • Our decorating expert on letting go of paint charts and allowing your instinctive colour confidence to shine through
WORK & PLAY • Behind the brick-and-flint façade of this worker’s cottage in Arundel is a playful home that showcases owner Sarah Moore’s passion for upcycling and vintage collecting
Make way for the MODERN HEIRLOOMS • These investment pieces from today’s top makers are exquisitely crafted, enduringly beautiful and designed to be loved for...