Country Life

Published by TI Media Limited 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.

Mrs Olga Hopkins • Olga Hopkins is a Second World War veteran and Royal British Legion ambassador. Aged 18, she trained as a wireless mechanic at the Royal Technical College in Glasgow and RAF Cranwell, Lincolnshire, before being posted to Wellesbourne Mountford Airfield, Warwickshire, where she worked with Blenheim bomber and Anson planes. After the war, she attended Cardiff University and later became a teacher. In 1952, Olga married Alun Hopkins, with whom she has four children, seven grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

They swoop to conquer

Country Life

Town & Country

Town & Country Notebook

Letters to the Editor

Over-egging the pudding

Athena • Cultural Crusader

My favourite painting Martina Droth

An estate made public • It is 70 years since Bowood assumed its modern form. John Goodall looks at the evolution of the house, the remarkable figures associated with it and its recent development

The legacy • Alan Turing and computer science

An outpouring of joy • The bell tolled for victory in Europe at one minute past midnight after victory was declared on May 8, 1945. Eighty years on, we look back at that momentous time, when jubilant crowds flooded the streets of London and bittersweet tears were shed

For her eyes only • On the 80th anniversary of VE Day, Allan Mallinson salutes five remarkable women in the shadowy world of espionage who contributed to the Allied victory

The carver, the baker and the fancy shoemaker • Long celebrated for its charming properties and gently rolling hills, the Cotswolds is also home to a wide variety of highly creative craftsmen and women, says Jane Wheatley

The Badminton A-Z • All you need to know about this weekend’s MARS Badminton Horse Trials, by Kate Green

‘I am the marquis of Marmite’ • Better known for redecorating country houses, Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen has now turned his hand to capturing them on canvas–and he’s doing it in his own inimitable style, says James Fisher

Nothing lasts forever • A withering rosebud, the brevity of blossom and the one-day wonder of the mayfly: Nature’s ephemeral beauty reminds us of our own finite existence, but melancholy transience also offers moments of magic, discovers Laura Parker

She swoops, she scores • In the first of a weekly series exploring our birds of prey, Mark Cocker examines the hobby, a falcon of elegance and rapacity that can snatch swallows in flight and catch bats after dusk

A sparkling time • Beautiful timepieces can masquerade as jewellery, says Hetty Lintell, as she chooses her favourites from last month’s Watches and Wonders fair in Geneva

Pillow talk • Bedroom furniture and accessories for a good night’s rest, selected by Amelia Thorpe

The Cotswolds never disappoints • Glorious country houses in two ‘golden triangles’, a village of woodpeckers, T. S. Eliot and a secret garden

Pretty as a picture • For those searching for a place to call home in the Cotswolds, Arabella Youens picks a selection of dream cottages for sale

London Life • Your indispensable guide to the capital

London Life Need to Know

‘As dreams are made on’ • In a rare glimpse behind the...