In Focus: The art that has broken out of London's galleries and made it onto the street
Art is breaking free from the traditional gallery and its emergence on our streets and in our parks is changing the way we live, says Clive Aslet.
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Why is most new-build housing in Britain is awful — and why it doesn't have to be this way
Housing development is conditioned by concerns that have nothing to do with creating attractive or sustainable places to live. Clive Aslet gives his take on the situation, and suggests what we might be able to do about it.
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Feargal Sharkey: From Top of the Pops to crusading for Britain's rivers
Feargal Sharkey, one of the most recognisable pop voices of the 1970s and 1980s, talks to Country Life about his life, his passion for fishing, and how campaigning for clean rivers has become an obsession.
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The secret life of bumblebees: Fighting queens, pollinating tomatoes, and the males who 'stay out all night, get drunk on nectar and look for sex'
Did you know there’s only one insect capable of pollinating tomato plants — and that the insect in question is the bumblebee? Clive Aslet finds out more.
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The story of the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior, the brainchild of a Liverpool curate that touched the world
A century on from its inauguration, the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior still has the power to move us — and the tale it tells is one of anguish, not triumphalism. Clive Aslet looks at how this monument came about.
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In Focus: How ‘Life in the freezer’ has been recorded in art
The British Museum's ‘Arctic: Culture and Climate’ exhibition prompts Clive Aslet to discover how the indigenous life and culture of the northern polar region have been shaped by Earth’s most extreme and dramatically changing climate.
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In Focus: Wood engraving, the peculiarly British artform that's 'the perfect medium for the times we are living through'
Wood engraving commands laborious attention to detail, but the effects can be entrancing and varied. A new exhibition at the Ashmolean celebrates a British phenomenon that continues to fascinate.
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The rather wise folly at Wolverton Hall: 'There isn’t a detail that I don’t think is extraordinarily deft and beautiful'
The new garden folly at Wolverton Hall in Worcestershire — owned by Nicholas and Georgia Coleridge — is inspired by Tudor and Georgian design, and provides the perfect retreat for study, entertainment and contemplation. Clive Aslet reports; all photographs by Paul Highnam for the Country Life Picture Library.
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How the architecture of the Cotswolds came to define the archetypal English country village
The architecture of the Cotswolds is almost intrinsically linked to popular conceptions of the English country village. Clive Aslet considers the people and places that contributed to bringing that about.
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Christopher Boyle on why the future is Georgian: 'It informs how we exist today and can do in the future’
Clive Aslet meets the chairman of the Georgian Group, and hears why the 18th century was best.
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Discovering Owletts, the family home of Imperial architect Sir Herbert Baker
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A tour of the trailblazing Elmley nature reserve: 'Little more than an hour from London and we feel we’ve been on safari'
One family’s steadfast commitment to Nature means the privately run Elmley National Nature Reserve in Kent teems with wildlife, including the country’s largest lowland collection of breeding waders
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In Focus: How mass tourism to the seaside produced an entire era of iconic Modern art and architecture
Clive Aslet examines how seaside resorts used Art Deco to catch the eye, spurring on a movement of Modern designs for health and beauty.
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Minterne Magna: The early 20th century transformation spearheaded by a radical architect to who turned his hand to creating a cosy, beautiful home
We delve into the archives to enjoy the tale of the early-20th century rebuilding of Minterne Magna in Dorset.
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In Focus: Osterley's lost treasures, brought together more than 70 years after the blaze that split them up
The story of the family that created one of the National Trust’s best-known houses is revealed to Clive Aslet through its collection of art and furniture.
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The ancient collection of the Rothschilds, improved by technology and open to the public
The retiring banker Jacob, 4th Baron Rothschild, on continuing his family’s tradition of artistic innovation.
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The extraordinary design festivals which spread ideas, shape our culture and leave legacies that last for centuries
From the Great Exhibition to the London Design Festival, Britain has a long tradition of celebrating creativity, says Clive Aslet.
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How a village forge became the charming family home of architect Hugh Petter
‘I am always pleased when somebody stands in front of one of my buildings and asks what I’ve done.’ Hugh Petter tells Clive Aslet how he altered his own home.
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How architect Sandra Coppin sympathetically updated a Modern house in Wiltshire
‘Every element serves a purpose,’ says Sandra Coppin of the Modern property she updated for her own home, repurposing material along the way so that nothing went to waste.
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The barn which architect Thomas Croft converted into a Postmodernist-influenced family home
‘I learnt that the best you can do is not too much,' Tom Croft tells Clive Aslet as he discusses how he adapted his own home for his family's use.
