Country Life

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.

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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.