Curious Questions: Why are wine bottles all pretty much the same shape and colour?
We drink 36 billion bottles of wine a year — and almost all of them come in wine bottles that share essentially the same design. Martin Fone wonders why.
Food and Drink
Discover the latest in food and drink news, try our delicious and easy recipes using fresh seasonal produce and read our pub and restaurant reviews.
Here at Country Life we love to cook and we love to eat. Seasonality is important, whether you’re growing your own or visiting the farmers’ market for your ingredients – but we love to cook seasonally. Whether it’s our brilliant collection of elderflower recipes in the summertime, our ultimate sloe gin recipe in autumn or gorgeous roast goose recipes in the winter, we have collected the best seasonal recipes by ingredient on dedicated pages
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A drink for all seasons: Dry January? Nope. It's actually Burgundy month
You wouldn't expect our wine correspondent Harry Eyres to swear off booze for January. And you'd be exactly right — after all, why would he when there's a new batch of Burgundy to be enjoyed?
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How to make a creamy, maple pannacotta with mixed-nut brittle
Melanie Johnson figures out what to do with your leftover Christmas nuts with this delightful dessert.
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A drink for all seasons: The whisky that costs more than a brand new car
The car in question, in case you're wondering about that headline, costs £23,340.
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Recipe: Keeper's Pie, a gamey upgrade on a traditional English classic dish
This dish adds a deliciously seasonal twist on traditional shepherd's pie or cottage pie.
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A drink for all seasons: Drinks fit for royalty, including a Duchess's gin and the Queen's top tipple
If you're part of the Royal Family, chances are you could probably use a nice, stiff drink right about now. Alexandra Fraser is here to help.
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How to make a delicious chestnut chocolate cake with a fluffy meringue topping
If you still have chestnuts left over from Christmas, here's a fun way to turn them into a family favourite.
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Bar Douro restaurant review: Small plates and massive flavours in a spot which marries convenience and excellence
The restaurants around Waterloo station and London's South Bank are all easy places to meet with friends, but some are striving to be a little more than that, as Samuel Goldsmith discovered on a visit to Bar Douro.
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Curious Questions: Why are banana skins so slippery?
The deadly slipperiness of the discarded banana skin — substantially more slippery than ice — is a staple of comic sketches across the world, but what is it that makes our favourite tropical fruit such a hazard? Martin Fone investigates.
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A drink for all seaons: Dry January? Or a very wet January, featuring £1,000-a-bottle beer?
At this time of year, the decision is simple: do you cut back on the booze in the wake of the Christmas excesses, or double-down and drink your way through the cold, dark, damp month of January?
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The Art of Food in Europe exhibition review: 'All I wanted to do was to race from one delicious exhibit to the other'
A sumptuous new exhibition at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge is devoted to culinary consumption between 1500 and 1800, and draws parallels with our own relationship with food. Bronwen Riley joined the feast.
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Recipe: Confit rabbit and wholegrain-mustard pie that's sustainable and healthy
Chef Steven Ellis shares this delicious recipe for a classic winter dish: rabbit pie.
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24 Christmas disasters to make you feel better about burning the turkey, from poisoned guests to 7,000 acres of fire damage
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Country Life's top 10 recipes of 2019, from salted caramel millionaire's shortbread and tarte au citron to a classic kedgeree
We've gone through the archives from the year to find the most popular of our regular recipes from 2019. Suffice to say that putting this piece together left us VERY hungry...
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The ultimate guide to choosing, preparing and cooking a perfect Christmas turkey
The star attraction of a Christmas dinner is unfortunately often the thing that goes the most wrong. Read our top tips to avoid disaster and present a turkey cooked to perfection.
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What guests will and wont notice in your house this Christmas
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Bubbly tips for the festive season: Drink British, ignore the silver spoon and abandon the coupe
Charlie Holland, head winemaker and CEO of Gusbourne, talks to Hetty Lintell about how and what to drink this Christmas.
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Can a good pub sell a country house?
A good pub within walking distance is on most buyers’ wish lists and can even uphold an area’s value. But what makes the perfect village pub? Arabella Youens investigates.
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Perfect roast goose recipe from Mark Hix
Cooking the perfect Christmas goose, with delicious gravy, is a fantastic way to celebrate Christmas. Mark Hix explains how it's done.
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Nine things you ought to know if you're having goose for Christmas
If you're looking for a change from turkey for Christmas dinner, goose is the obvious choice – but there are a few things to think about, as Kate Green explains.
