Country Life

The housing crisis in Britain has gone on for decades almost unchecked — but it's only thanks to voices such as Nicholas Boys Smith that we can use the word 'almost' in that sentence.

Nicholas is the founder of Create Streets, a think tank and consultancy which looks at property development and town planning across Britain. He joins host James Fisher on the Country Life Podcast to explain what has been going wrong, why we've lost faith in planners, architects and developers, and what we can do to put things right.

Striking a balance between preservation and progress is right at the heart of what Nicholas has to say — for there is no reason at all why we can't make buildings which are modern and practical while also preserving the beauty of our villages, towns and cities.

Episode credits

Host: James Fisher

Guest: Nicholas Boys Smith

Producer and Editor: Toby Keel

Music: JuliusH via Pixabay

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Beyond the Monarchy and the Church, there is only one building in Britain which is designated with word 'palace': Blenheim Palace.

This UNESCO World Heritage Site is beyond any doubt one of the world's greatest, and most famous buildings. It was built to commemorate a famous battle 320 years ago: the victory in the Battle of Blenheim led by John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, in which the army of Louis XIV was beaten in what was France's first major military defeat in half a century.

Queen Anne was delighted by the outcome, and granted Churchill both the land and the funds to create a grand house which, from the start, was planned as both ancestral home and national monument.

Three centuries later, the house and gardens — designed by Sir John Vanbrugh and Capability Brown respectively — are just as magnificent today, and one of the most visited buildings in Britain, with as many as 6,000 people a day visiting.

Keeping a great house like this running is no easy feat, as Blenheim's director of operations Emily Spencer explains in this episode of the Country Life Podcast.

"It's an ongoing battle," Emily explains of the need to balance restoration, conservation and the needs of visitors, from the £40 million project in place to keep the building standing to towing visitors' cars out of muddy fields.

But the efforts are all worthwhile, Emily adds.

"The second you step across the landscape, it's everything — it all has such a power over you."

Episode credits

Host: James Fisher

Guest: Emily Spencer

Producer and editor: Toby Keel

Music: JuliusH via Pixabay

Special thanks: Adam Wilbourn

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How important an interior designer is Emma Sims-Hilditch? 'In my view, she has almost completely turned the country house aesthetic on its head, and reinvented it for the 21st century,' says Giles Kime, Country Life's Executive Editor and our resident interiors guru.

'She's a great believer in creating houses which are not just elegant, but also function brilliantly and are perfectly configured for family life.' 

Emma joined Giles for this special episode of the Country Life Podcast to discuss her ideas on design, architecture and making historic houses fit for 21st century living.

She talks through several of the projects she's worked on — not least her own. It's a former schoolhouse which she and husband — the designer John Sims-Hilditch of Neptune — took on as a complete wreck while they were still in their 20s, and turned it into a magnificent home.

At Country Life, we’ve covered many of Emma's projects over the years — this boot room, for example, and this bedroom — but you can see more of her work at the Sims Hilditch website or on Emma’s Instagram page.

Episode credits

Interviewer: Giles Kime

Guest: Emma Sims-Hilditch

Host: James Fisher

Producer and Editor: Toby Keel

Music: JuliusH via Pixabay

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kate Green isn't just the Deputy Editor of Country Life magazine. She's also one of the country's foremost equestrian journalists, having worked at four Olympic Games as well as countless other top events around the world.

With her book on the 75th anniversary of the Badminton Horse Trials just launched, Kate tells the tale of how the crushing disappointment of the 1948 Olympics paved the way for a resurgence in the sport on these shores, which has led to Britain becoming the home of eventing.

Kate joins Country Life Podcast host James Fisher to talk about Badminton, equestrian sport in general and the incomparable magic of the Olympic Games, from being chased by irate security guards while walking the showjumping course in Atlanta to the outpouring of joy shared by fans and competitors alike during the golden weeks of London 2012.

Kate's book, Badminton Horse Trials at 75, is published by Quiller (£40) — find out more about it here.

Episode credits:

Host: James Fisher

Guest: Kate Green

Editor and Producer: Toby Keel

Music: JuliusH via Pixabay

Special thanks: Adam Wilbourn

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What is it all about? It's the question that Man has been struggling to answer since the dawn if human consciousness. And while we all have to figure out our own answer, it's never less than fascinating to hear of others who've found theirs.

And in that light, this week's guest on the Country Life podcast is Colin Heber-Percy, a successful screenwriter for film and TV who, in his 40s, stepped away from a lucrative career and retrained to become an ordained minister in the Church of England. Today, Revd Dr Colin Heber-Percy is a rural vicar in Wiltshire, and while he still writes — his book Tales of a Country Parish became a bestseller — his main concern now

Colin joined James Fisher on the Country Life Podcast to talk about that change of gear in his life, and how hiw foray into the world of the clergy was less a career change and more a way of tying together all the threads of his life. Religion and ‘The Big Questions’ had long permeated his life and his work and, by becoming a vicar, he could truly focus on all of them.

Somewhat controversially, he still describes himself as an agnostic — which for a vicar, is quite the claim. Ask him why, and the answer is intriguing — how can you have faith if you claim to know everything? Is not knowing what Easter is really about?

Colin also speaks about what he would do if made Archbishop of Canterbury for a day, ponders the questions of medieval metaphysics — really — and, perhaps best of all, explains how the packaging of a Bounty Bar makes for an ideal emergency dog collar.

Episode credits

Host: James Fisher

Guest: Revd Dr Colin Heber-Percy

Producer and Editor: Toby Keel

Music: JuliusH via Pixabay

Special thanks: Adam Wilbourn

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The award-winning architect Richard Hawkes is no ordinary designer of buildings. He has made his name and forged a career by creating some of the most astonishing new homes build in Britain in the past two decades.

He joins James Fisher on the Country Life Podcast to talk about the homes he designs, many of which are built under the Paragraph 84 rules, which allow the creation of new homes in rural areas where development would otherwise be forbidden.

Richard's own house, centred beneath and around a magnificent arch, was featured in a memorable episode of the Channel 4 TV programme Grand Designs, and he talks about how appearing on the programme played its part in building his reputation.

He also tells James about the many factors that come in to play with creating such houses in the countryside — and why he regularly turns potential clients away if he feels the land in question is simply too important, ecologically speaking, to build on.

The greatest tribute of all? Not a single one of the homes he and his team have built has ever come back on to the market, each one instead still being lived in by the clients for whom he built it in the first place.

Episode credits

Host: James Fisher

Guest: Richard Hawkes

Producer and Editor: Toby Keel

Music: JuliusH via Pixabay

Special thanks: Adam Wilbourn

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Millie Pilkington is one of Britain's best-known portrait photographers, with her work regularly appearing in Country Life as well as dozens of other publications.

We were truly delighted that she joined James Fisher on the Country Life podcast this week to talk about life behind the lens.

She talks about how she turned a hobby in to a dream career, one in which she has dealt with everything from incorrigible dogs to taking private family pictures for the Prince and Princess of Wales.

The secret of a good photograph, she explains, isn't just technical — it's emotional. 'Yes, you want to have nice light, you want to have a nice composition, you want to think about how all of this marries together, how it's going to draw people in,' she says.

'But actually the real thing that takes a photograph to a different level is this mood, this emotion, this spirit. And if you can connect with whoever you're photographing, you might not have the perfect crop, or the perfect light, or the perfect something. But that photograph, if it talks to you in some way, if it brings an emotion to you, then you've got some home of someone else feeling that too.'

You can see more of Millie's work on Instagram and at her website, milliepilkington.co.uk.

Episode credits

Host : James Fisher

Guest: Millie Pilkington

Producer and Editor: Toby Keel

Music: JuliusH via Pixabay

Special thanks: Adam Wilbourn

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Country Life's Gardens Editor Tiffany Daneff is one of Britain's foremost gardening journalists, having worked at titles including The English Garden and The Daily Telegraph, where she launched the gardening supplement.

But while she's spent years writing about other people's gardens, this time she talks about her own outside spaces in this very special episode of the Country Life Podcast. From the people who influenced her love of plants and gardening in her formative years to the friends and colleagues who she now relies on to help her create her own perfect garden, she tells host James Fisher all about this great passion of her life.

You can read Tiffany's writing about gardens on the website at countrylife.co.uk/gardens, where you'll also find tips and advice from Alan Titchmarsh, Mark Diacono and many other wonderful plantsmen and women.

Episode credits

Host: James Fisher

Guest: Tiffany Daneff

Producer and Editor: Toby Keel

Music: JuliusH on Pixabay

Special Thanks: Adam Wilbourn

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For the past eight years, the Country Life Top 100 has been the essential list when it comes to finding the best architects, builders, interior and garden designers in the UK. The list is the brainchild of our Interiors Editor Giles Kime, who has used his decades of experience to showcase two of our nation’s great talents — architecture and design.

Giles joins James on the podcast for a second time, becoming the first returning guest, to discuss the history of the Top 100, what it takes to be included, who chooses what and, most importantly, why a list such as this one matters.

Country Life has had a rich tradition of promoting and maintaining our built heritage, dating from the magazine’s inception in 1897, when we were early champions of now-legendary names such as Edwin Lutyens and Gertrude Jekyll. As Giles points out, the Top 100 is more than just a directory, it’s a list designed to inspire and elevate the next generation of artisans and craftspeople. Perhaps someone in our list will be the next Edwin Lutyens or Gertrude Jekyll? 

While a lot has changed between 1897 and now (materials, sustainability implications, styles), one thing will always remain, says Giles, and that is timelessness. Not to be confused with ‘tradition’, Giles adds that ‘what is exciting about the best houses being built or restored today is that, increasingly, they combine desirable qualities both from the past and the present’. It’s that principle that has guided the best country house design and, by extension, those included on our list.

By beginning with functionality, with things that work for people in terms of comfort and practicality, timeless design grows outwards into a style and approach that is less likely to date. Timelessness is creating and restoring buildings ‘with a capacity to evolve as needs change’. You can find the Country Life Top 100 in the magazine on March 6, 2024, or on our website at www.countrylife.co.uk

Episode Credits

Host: James Fisher

Guest: Giles Kime

Producer and editor: Toby Keel

Music: JuliusH via Pixabay

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We tend to think of the British countryside as rural idyll, a patchwork of fields, farms and forests, rolling on through time until rudely interrupted by the building of a new housing estate, a dual-carriageway or some other man-man incursion.

But the landscape around us is changing constantly, has always been doing so, and always will. Fiona Stafford, professor of English at Oxford University, joins the Country Life podcast this week to talk about how, and why, we fail to recognise those shifts. Even in the space of a generation or two, vast changes can take place that we scarcely think about: from swamps drained and reservoirs created to the hundreds of Second World War airfields which once dotted so much of Britain, and which how have mostly been turned to other purposes. And how about the River Humber, crossed by a mighty suspension bridge which feels as if it will be there forever; yet the Solway Firth was once spanned by a spectacular Victorian viaduct of which almost nothing now remains.

When we talk about conservation, then, what are we conserving? If the landscape is being constantly made and re-made, how are we to say which particular moment in time we're trying to return it to? The countryside, after all, is a workplace, not a museum. Fiona tackles these ideas in her new book, Time and Tide: The Long, Long History of Landscape, and we're delighted that she was able to join our podcast host James Fisher to discuss this fascinating topic.

Episode credits

Host: James Fisher

Guest: Professor Fiona Stafford

Producer and editor: Toby Keel

Music: JuliusH via Pixabay

Special thanks: Adam Wilbourn

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Helen Rebanks went from farmer, wife and mother to publishing sensation last year when her first book, The Farmer's Wife, earned huge success and a legion of fans — not least the likes of bestselling author Raynor Winn and Times columnist Caitlin Moran. Her bestselling tale of everyday life on the Cumbrian farm which she runs alongside husband James is a wonderfully honest look at the ups and downs of what it means to raise — and feed — a family while keeping a roof over everyone's heads.

In this edition of the Country Life podcast, Helen joins host James Fisher to talk about her life in the country, and how her youthful ideals were shaped and changed as her life unfolded. She is completely candid about how she swapped a life in the city that was 'quite often very lonely, quite often very empty', to return to the country and live a quieter life which has proven immeasurably meaningful. 'I've been very proud, happy, content, fulfilled doing the work I do,' she says. 'Not to say it's easy, or that there aren't hard times... but I think writing it was reflecting on the choices I've made.'

Helen also talks with huge passion about the importance of farming, sustainability and the environment, particularly as farmers themselves are squeezed by supermarkets, government policy and a market saturated with low-quality, imported produce. 'After Brexit we had an opportunity to make things better in this country, but it's got worse and worse and worse,' she says. 'There isn't enough value put on the importance of healthy food and healthy environment together.'

Helen's book, The Farmer's Wife, is out in paperback on 29 February, 2024, (Faber, £10.99). 

Episode credits

Host: James Fisher

Guest: Helen Rebanks

Produced and editor: Toby Keel

Music: JuliusH via Pixabay

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What is a stone circle? Who made them, and how? And just as importantly, why?

This week's guest joining James Fisher on the Country Life podcast is one of Britain's foremost experts on stone circles and henges: Professor Vicki Cummings, the archaeologist who is head of the School of History, Archaeology and Religion at Cardiff University.

Vicki explains all you could wish to know about the most extraordinary stone circles in the country, from the world-famous sites such as Stonehenge and Avebury to beautiful and remote spots such as Castlerigg in Cumbria and Sunhoney in Aberdeenshire.

The result is a fascinating and entertaining chat looking at the latest knowledge we have about stone circles and henges (not to mention the difference between the two). While many of these ancient marvels had religious or celestial roles, we now believe that stone circles were, to most people who used them, the entertainment multiplexes of their day, meeting places for people to congregate from miles around to come together and share their lives with each other.

Vicki is the co-author, with Professor Colin Richards of the University of the Highlands and Islands, of the forthcoming book The Stone Circles: A Field Guide, published in April 2024 by Yale University Press.

Episode credits:

Host: James Fisher

Guest: Professor Vicki Cummings

Editor and Producer: Toby Keel

Music: JuliusH via Pixabay

Special thanks: Adam Wilbourn

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Clive Nichols is Britain's top garden photographer.

After originally starting his career in travel photography, Clive switched his focus to gardens — despite, by his own admission, knowing almost nothing about them at the time. It proved a brilliant move, however: he has since photographed thousands of gardens for publications including Country Life and The Sunday Times, to institutions such as the National Trust and the RHS, and individuals including Lord Heseltine and Hus Majesty King Charles III.

Clive joins James Fisher on this episode of the Country Life podcast to talk about his life, his photography, and his favourite gardens from around Britain — and indeed the world.

From getting the right gear to the best season for taking pictures, he shares his wisdom, experience and plenty of his tips for taking great images — among them a tolerance for early mornings, cold weather, and a car capable of being driven almost half a million miles.

You can find out more about Clive Nichols, including his photography, books and teaching, at his website, clivenichols.com — and don't forget to follow him on @clivenichols, surely one of the most beautiful accounts on Instagram.

Episode credits

Host: James Fisher

Guest: Clive Nichols

Producer and Editor: Toby Keel

Music: JuliusH via Pixabay

Special thanks: Adam Wilbourn

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Norman Foster is unarguably one of the greatest architects of the last half century. We're delighted that he joins Country Life magazine for a very special episode of the podcast.

Speaking to Country Life's Carla Passino, Lord Foster describes how he left school in Manchester at 16 before eventually working his way through university in order to forge a career as an architect, a role in which he has reshaped countless cities — not least London.

He shares his view on what makes London the city that it is, how it is a city that 'is essentially organic', and how its informality, copious green spaces and thriving neighbourhoods model can help popularise the concept of the 15-minute city across the world, and what he has to say to those who criticise how he, and his imitators, have reshaped the skyline of the British capital.

The architect also talks about his other key passion in life: flying. The 89-year-old has flown 75 different types of aircraft, including helicopters and jets.

Lord Foster also talks about the work of the Norman Foster Foundation, and how he is trying to help tomorrow's architects to plan and create cities which are as sustainable as they are vibrant and liveable.

Episode Credits

Host: James Fisher

Interviewer: Carla Passino:

Guest: Lord Foster

Editor/Producer: Toby Keel

Music: JuliusH

Special thanks: Adam Wilbourn

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Country Life magazine's Rosie Paterson has the enviable task of travelling the world in order to report on where to go, when and why. She's also — and she probably won't mind us saying this — developed something of a reputation for being incident prone.

Rosie speaks to Country Life podcast host James Fisher to share her tips on everything from the world's greatest hotels and destinations to the reason it's almost always worth trying to get an upgrade — along with a few hints on how you can manage to do so. She also explains how she's managed to fall foul of everything from natural disasters to armed insurrections in her efforts to trot the globe.

Episode credits:

Host: James Fisher

Guest: Rosie Paterson

Producer and editor: Toby Keel

Music: JuliusH via Pixabay / Epidemic Sound

Special thanks: Adam Wilbourn

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tom Kerridge is one of Britain's best-loved chefs. In 2005, after years spent working at some of finest restaurants in London and the Cotswolds under the likes of Gary Rhodes, he took over The Hand and Flowers pub in Marlow, Buckinghamshire.

He quickly earned a Michelin star, a glowing reputation and a high profile which opened up opportunities in television, where he's been a familiar sight for many years. His latest show, Tom Kerridge's More Sunday Lunch, which appears on The Food Network from January 15, 2024.

Tom speaks to Country Life's James Fisher about his life as a chef and restauranteur, but also shares his passionate views on farming, the countryside, and the restaurant industry as a whole.

Episode credits:

Host: James Fisher

Guest: Tom Kerridge

Producer and editor: Toby Keel

Music: JuliusH via Pixabay

Special thanks: Adam Wilbourn

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

'The ability to go in and specify everything for an interior might be within the powers of an interior designer,' says Giles Kime, Country Life's long-standing interiors guru. 'ButI think when we're doing on our own homes, it's really important to take your time and put a lot of thought and effort into it.'

Giles has spent 35 years writing about interiors, the last seven of which have been with Country Life magazine. During that time he has bought, refurbished and moved on from a string of characterful homes, leading to his current project: a 1630 cottage in rural Hampshire. He joined our podcast host James Fisher to share some of the tips he's picked up over the year — and to tell some of the stories behind his hugely popular article on the Country Life website, '10 things I wish I’d known about doing up old houses before I started.'

You can see more of Giles Kime's articles at the Country Life website, or can follow him on Instagram @giles.kime where you'll be able to see details of his upcoming talks and publications.

Episode credits

Host: James Fisher

Guest: Giles Kime

Producer & Editor: Toby Keel

Music: JuliusH via Pixabay

Special thanks: Adam Wilbourn

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The journalist and author Patrick Galbraith spent a week on the uninhabited island of Scarba, a speck on the map in the Inner Hebrides.

In the course of his adventure, Patrick fished and foraged, walked and wondered, and went from moments of joy and beauty to pure misery. He came to the Country Life Podcast to tell us all about it, share some of the highs and lows, and explain what motivated him to give it a go in the first place.

You can read Patrick's article about his time on Scarba on the Country Life website. You can find Patrick's book, In Search of One Last Song: Britain's Disappearing Birds and the People Trying to Save Them, from all good bookshops.

Episode credits

Host: James Fisher

Guest: Patrick Galbraith

Producer and editor: Toby Keel

Music: JuliusH

Special thanks: Adam Wilbourn

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rosamund Young, the best-selling author of The Secret Life of Cows, has been a farmer for almost half a century. She joined us at the Country Life podcast to talk about her animals, the farms she's known, how the Cotswolds has changed in the years she's called it home, and her beautiful new book, The Wisdom of Sheep.

You can read an exclusive extract from The Wisdom of Sheep on the Country Life website, you can read the full series of articles she wrote for Country Life here.

The Wisdom of Sheep & Other Animals: Observations from a Family Farm by Rosamund Young is published by Faber (£14.99 hardback).

Episode credits

Host: James Fisher

Interviewer: Toby Keel

Produced and edited by: Toby Keel

Music by: JuliusH

Special thanks: Adam Wilbourn

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week's podcast features Country Life's long-standing property correspondent Penny Churchill, who looks back on three decades of writing about Britain's finest houses.

From the ups and of the market in the past three decades to the quirkiest agents and owners, Penny speaks to host James Fisher to share her insights on the country houses that have been at the heart of her career.

Episode credits

Host: James Fisher

Producer and Editor: Toby Keel

Guest: John Goodall

Music: ‘Summertime’ by JuliusH

Special thanks: Adam Wilbourn

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Britain's landscape is dotted with quite incredible castles, from towering and imposing masterpieces to crumbling, romantic ruins.

In this week's podcast, we speak to Country Life magazine's Architectural Editor, John Goodall — the man who didn't so much write the book on castles as write a whole bookshelf's worth — to find out which five are his favourites.

John picks out five wonderful examples which show the full range of Britain's architectural legacy: Headingham, Knaresborough, Lancaster, Belvoir (pronounced 'Beaver') and Castle Drogo. And then he throws in a very special extra bonus castle at the end — arguably the greatest castle on the face of the planet, whose fate has been intertwined with that of the Royal Family for 1,000 years.

Episode credits

Host: James Fisher

Producer and Editor: Toby Keel

Guest: John Goodall

Music: 'Summertime' by JuliusH

Special thanks: Adam Wilbourn

Find out more about the podcast and see the episode notes at countrylife.co.uk/podcast

Follow Country Life on Instagram @countrylifemagazine

On Facebook @countrylifemagazine

And on Twitter @countrylifemag

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Country Life's first ever podcast sees us speak to the magazine’s Editor-in-Chief, Mark Hedges. Mark has been in charge of the magazine for 17 years, presiding over circulation which has risen year after year, bucking the trend of the publishing industry, and winning every award possible in the process. He’s done everything from writing about fishing to hob-nobbing with members of the Royal Family — several of whom he’s persuaded to guest edit the magazine, not least King Charles himself.

Episode credits:

Host: James Fisher

Producer and Editor: Toby Keel

Guest: Mark Hedges

Music: 'Summertime' by JuliusH

Special thanks: Adam Wilbourn

Find out more about the podcast and see the episode notes at countrylife.co.uk/podcast

Follow Country Life on Instagram @countrylifemagazine

On Facebook @countrylifemagazine

And on Twitter @countrylifemag

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.