Country Life (magazine)
Encyclopedia
Country Life is a British
weekly magazine
, based in London
at 110 Southwark Street
, and owned by IPC Media
, a Time Warner
subsidiary.
life, as well as the concerns of rural people. It is primarily concerned with rural communities and their environments as well as the concerns of country dwellers and landowners and has a diverse readership which, although mainly UK based is also international. Much of its success has historically been built on its coverage of country houses, architecture and gardening. The first several dozen pages of each issue are devoted to colour advertisements for upmarket residential property, which are one of the best known attractions of the magazine, and popular with everyone from the super rich looking for a country house or estate to those who can only aspire to own such a property.
The pursuits and interests covered include hunting
, shooting
, farming, equestrian
news and gardening
and there are regular news and opinion pieces as well as a firm engagement with rural politics. There are reviews of book
s, food
and wine
, art
and architecture
(also many offers) and antiques and craft
s. Illustrative material includes the Tottering-by-Gently cartoon
by Annie Tempest. The property section claims to have more prime agents than anywhere else.
Recent feature articles have included Britain's Best View, The Cream of Counties survey, England's Favourite Village, Britain's oldest inhabited dwelling (2003), and Dream Acres imaginary landscape (2009).
, the owner of Lindisfarne Castle
and various Lutyens
-designed houses including The Deanery in Sonning
. At that time golf
and racing
served as its main content, as well as the property coverage, initially of manorial estates, that has become its mainstay. Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon
, the late Queen Mother, used to appear frequently on its front cover. The frontispiece
, which usually features a young woman from a landed British family, is very well known and is called popularly "Girls in Pearls", showing upper class
British rural life in its most ideal light.
In 1997, the centenary of the magazine was celebrated by a special issue, the publishing of a book by Sir Roy Strong
, the airing of a BBC2 TV programme on a year in the life of the magazine, and staging a Gold Medal winning garden at the Chelsea Flower Show
. In 1999, the magazine launched its new website countrylife.co.uk.
In 2007, the magazine celebrated its 110th anniversary with a special souvenir issue on 4 January. Starting on Wednesday 7 May 2008 the magazine is issued each Wednesday, having been on sale each Thursday for the past 111 years, with the earlier day being achieved using electronic publishing technology, with the magazine retaining its usual Monday deadline.
Deputy Editors:
Architectural Editors [dates as Architectural Writer]:
Gardens Editors:
Staff Architectural Photographers:
a magazine called Country Life appears every September in the course of the Royal Melbourne Show
.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
weekly magazine
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
, based in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
at 110 Southwark Street
Southwark Street
Southwark Street is a major street in the London Borough of Southwark, in London England, just south of the River Thames. It runs between Blackfriars Road to the west and Borough High Street to the east. It also connects the access routes for London Bridge, Southwark Bridge and Blackfriars Bridge...
, and owned by IPC Media
IPC Media
IPC Media , a wholly owned subsidiary of Time Inc., is a consumer magazine and digital publisher in the United Kingdom, with a large portfolio selling over 350 million copies each year.- Origins :...
, a Time Warner
Time Warner
Time Warner is one of the world's largest media companies, headquartered in the Time Warner Center in New York City. Formerly two separate companies, Warner Communications, Inc...
subsidiary.
Topics
The magazine covers the pleasures and joys of ruralRural
Rural areas or the country or countryside are areas that are not urbanized, though when large areas are described, country towns and smaller cities will be included. They have a low population density, and typically much of the land is devoted to agriculture...
life, as well as the concerns of rural people. It is primarily concerned with rural communities and their environments as well as the concerns of country dwellers and landowners and has a diverse readership which, although mainly UK based is also international. Much of its success has historically been built on its coverage of country houses, architecture and gardening. The first several dozen pages of each issue are devoted to colour advertisements for upmarket residential property, which are one of the best known attractions of the magazine, and popular with everyone from the super rich looking for a country house or estate to those who can only aspire to own such a property.
The pursuits and interests covered include hunting
Hunting
Hunting is the practice of pursuing any living thing, usually wildlife, for food, recreation, or trade. In present-day use, the term refers to lawful hunting, as distinguished from poaching, which is the killing, trapping or capture of the hunted species contrary to applicable law...
, shooting
Shooting
Shooting is the act or process of firing rifles, shotguns or other projectile weapons such as bows or crossbows. Even the firing of artillery, rockets and missiles can be called shooting. A person who specializes in shooting is a marksman...
, farming, equestrian
Equestrianism
Equestrianism more often known as riding, horseback riding or horse riding refers to the skill of riding, driving, or vaulting with horses...
news and gardening
Gardening
Gardening is the practice of growing and cultivating plants. Ornamental plants are normally grown for their flowers, foliage, or overall appearance; useful plants are grown for consumption , for their dyes, or for medicinal or cosmetic use...
and there are regular news and opinion pieces as well as a firm engagement with rural politics. There are reviews of book
Book
A book is a set or collection of written, printed, illustrated, or blank sheets, made of hot lava, paper, parchment, or other materials, usually fastened together to hinge at one side. A single sheet within a book is called a leaf or leaflet, and each side of a leaf is called a page...
s, food
Food
Food is any substance consumed to provide nutritional support for the body. It is usually of plant or animal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals...
and wine
Wine
Wine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...
, art
Art
Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....
and architecture
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
(also many offers) and antiques and craft
Craft
A craft is a branch of a profession that requires some particular kind of skilled work. In historical sense, particularly as pertinent to the Medieval history and earlier, the term is usually applied towards people occupied in small-scale production of goods.-Development from the past until...
s. Illustrative material includes the Tottering-by-Gently cartoon
Cartoon
A cartoon is a form of two-dimensional illustrated visual art. While the specific definition has changed over time, modern usage refers to a typically non-realistic or semi-realistic drawing or painting intended for satire, caricature, or humor, or to the artistic style of such works...
by Annie Tempest. The property section claims to have more prime agents than anywhere else.
Recent feature articles have included Britain's Best View, The Cream of Counties survey, England's Favourite Village, Britain's oldest inhabited dwelling (2003), and Dream Acres imaginary landscape (2009).
History
Country Life was launched in 1897, incorporating Racing Illustrated. At this time it was owned by Edward HudsonEdward Hudson (magazine owner)
Edward Burgess Hudson was the founder of Country Life magazine in 1897.-Career:Country Life was an early lifestyle magazine. Edward Hudson was the owner of Lindisfarne Castle and two other Lutyens-designed houses, Deanery Gardens in Sonning , designed and built 1899–1901, and Plumpton Place,...
, the owner of Lindisfarne Castle
Lindisfarne Castle
Lindisfarne Castle is a 16th-century castle located on Holy Island, near Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland, England, much altered by Sir Edwin Lutyens in 1901. The island is accessible from the mainland at low tide by means of a causeway.-History:...
and various Lutyens
Edwin Lutyens
Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens, OM, KCIE, PRA, FRIBA was a British architect who is known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era...
-designed houses including The Deanery in Sonning
Sonning
Sonning, occasionally called Sonning-on-Thames is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Wokingham in the English county of Berkshire, a few miles east of Reading. The village is situated on the River Thames and was described by Jerome K...
. At that time golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
and racing
Horse racing
Horse racing is an equestrian sport that has a long history. Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in ancient Babylon, Syria, and Egypt. Both chariot and mounted horse racing were events in the ancient Greek Olympics by 648 BC...
served as its main content, as well as the property coverage, initially of manorial estates, that has become its mainstay. Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon
Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon
Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon was the queen consort of King George VI from 1936 until her husband's death in 1952, after which she was known as Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, to avoid confusion with her daughter, Queen Elizabeth II...
, the late Queen Mother, used to appear frequently on its front cover. The frontispiece
Book frontispiece
A frontispiece is a decorative illustration facing a book's title page. The frontispiece is the verso opposite the recto title page. Elaborate engraved frontispieces were in frequent use, especially in Bibles and in scholarly books, and many are masterpieces of engraving...
, which usually features a young woman from a landed British family, is very well known and is called popularly "Girls in Pearls", showing upper class
Upper class
In social science, the "upper class" is the group of people at the top of a social hierarchy. Members of an upper class may have great power over the allocation of resources and governmental policy in their area.- Historical meaning :...
British rural life in its most ideal light.
In 1997, the centenary of the magazine was celebrated by a special issue, the publishing of a book by Sir Roy Strong
Roy Strong
Sir Roy Colin Strong FRSL is an English art historian, museum curator, writer, broadcaster and landscape designer. He has been director of both the National Portrait Gallery and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London...
, the airing of a BBC2 TV programme on a year in the life of the magazine, and staging a Gold Medal winning garden at the Chelsea Flower Show
Chelsea Flower Show
The RHS Chelsea Flower Show, formally known as the Great Spring Show, is a garden show held for five days in May by the Royal Horticultural Society in the grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea in Chelsea, London...
. In 1999, the magazine launched its new website countrylife.co.uk.
In 2007, the magazine celebrated its 110th anniversary with a special souvenir issue on 4 January. Starting on Wednesday 7 May 2008 the magazine is issued each Wednesday, having been on sale each Thursday for the past 111 years, with the earlier day being achieved using electronic publishing technology, with the magazine retaining its usual Monday deadline.
Editors
Editors:- J E Vincent 1897-1900
- Peter Anderson Graham 1900-1925
- W E Barber 1925-1933
- Christopher HusseyChristopher HusseyChristopher Edward Clive Hussey was one of the chief authorities on British domestic architecture of the generation that also included Dorothy Stroud and Sir John Summerson.- Career :...
1933-1940 (previously Architectural Editor) - F Whitaker 1940-1958
- John Adams 1958-1973
- Michael Wright 1973-1984
- Marcus BinneyMarcus BinneyMarcus Binney, CBE is a British architectural historian and author. He is best known for his conservation work regarding Britain's heritage.-Early and family life:...
1984-1986 (previously Architectural Editor) - Jenny Green 1986-1992
- Clive AsletClive AsletClive Aslet is editor-at-large of Country Life magazine, a writer on British architecture and life, and a campaigner on countryside and other issues.-Career:...
1993-2006 (previously Deputy Editor, now Editor-at-Large) - Mark Hedges 2006-now
Deputy Editors:
- Clive AsletClive AsletClive Aslet is editor-at-large of Country Life magazine, a writer on British architecture and life, and a campaigner on countryside and other issues.-Career:...
1989-1993 (previously Architectural Editor) - Michael Hall 1998-2004 (previously Architectural Editor, Editor of ApolloApollo (magazine)Apollo is a British fine and decorative arts magazine. Founded in 1925 and based in London, it features a mixture of exhibition reviews, art-world news, profiles of collectors, and articles by scholars....
2004-now) - Jessica Fellowes c2004-2008
- Rupert Uloth 2008-now
Architectural Editors [dates as Architectural Writer]:
- provisionally Edward HudsonEdward Hudson (magazine owner)Edward Burgess Hudson was the founder of Country Life magazine in 1897.-Career:Country Life was an early lifestyle magazine. Edward Hudson was the owner of Lindisfarne Castle and two other Lutyens-designed houses, Deanery Gardens in Sonning , designed and built 1899–1901, and Plumpton Place,...
and J E Vincent 1897-1900 / Peter Graham 1900-1907 - Henry Avray TippingHenry Avray TippingHenry Avray Tipping was a French-born British writer on country houses and gardens, and a garden designer.He was born in the Château de Ville-d'Avray near Versailles, while his parents were living in France before moving into Brasted Place in Kent, where he grew up...
1907-1910, 1916-1930 [1930-1933] - Sir Lawrence WeaverLawrence WeaverSir Lawrence Weaver was a British architectural writer and civil servant.- Career :Lawrence Weaver was born and raised in Bristol. He began his career there as a sales representative at an architectural practice, selling fixtures and fittings...
1910-1916 - Christopher HusseyChristopher HusseyChristopher Edward Clive Hussey was one of the chief authorities on British domestic architecture of the generation that also included Dorothy Stroud and Sir John Summerson.- Career :...
1930-1933, 1940-1964 [1921-1930] - Arthur Oswald 1933-1940 [1928-1933, 1940-1969]
- Mark GirouardMark GirouardDr Mark Girouard MA, PhD, DipArch, FSA is a British architectural writer, an authority on the country house, leading architectural historian, and biographer of James Stirling.- Family life :...
1964-1967 [c1958-1964] - John Cornforth 1967-1977 [c1960-1967, 1977-c1990]
- Marcus BinneyMarcus BinneyMarcus Binney, CBE is a British architectural historian and author. He is best known for his conservation work regarding Britain's heritage.-Early and family life:...
1977-1984 [1968-1977] - Clive AsletClive AsletClive Aslet is editor-at-large of Country Life magazine, a writer on British architecture and life, and a campaigner on countryside and other issues.-Career:...
1984-1989 [1977-1984] - Giles WorsleyGiles WorsleyDr Giles Arthington Worsley MA, PhD, FSA was an English architectural historian, author, editor, journalist and critic, specialising in British country houses...
1989-1994 [1985-1988] - Michael Hall 1994-1998 [1989-1994]
- Jeremy MussonJeremy MussonJeremy Musson is an English author, editor and presenter, specialising in British country houses and architecture.-Career:Musson was Architectural Editor of Country Life magazine 1998-2007, and its Architectural Writer 1995-8...
1998-2007 [1995-1998] - Dr John Goodall 2007-now
Gardens Editors:
- Tim RichardsonTim RichardsonTim Richardson, author of Sweets: The History of Temptation, is the world's first international confectionery historian. He also writes about gardens, landscape and theatre, and contributes to the Daily Telegraph, Country Life, The Idler, House & Garden, Garden Design Journal and Wallpaper...
1995-1999 - Fred Whitsey
- Kathryn Bradley-Hole c2003-now
Notable contributors
- Bernard DarwinBernard DarwinBernard Richard Meirion Darwin CBE JP a grandson of the British naturalist Charles Darwin, was a golf writer and high-standard amateur golfer. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame.-Biography:...
(golf 1907-1961) - Alethea Hayter (fashion editor 1933-38)
- Claude Scudamore JarvisClaude Scudamore JarvisMajor Claude Scudamore Jarvis CMG OBE was a British colonial governor, Arabist and naturalist noted for his knowledge of and rapport with the desert Bedouin....
("A Countryman's Notes", 1939–53) - Gertrude JekyllGertrude JekyllGertrude Jekyll was an influential British garden designer, writer, and artist. She created over 400 gardens in the UK, Europe and the USA and contributed over 1,000 articles to Country Life, The Garden and other magazines.-Early life:...
(gardening) - Lucinda LambtonLucinda LambtonLady Lucinda Lambton, Lady Worsthorne is a British writer, photographer and broadcaster on architectural subjects, born 10 May 1943, in Newcastle upon Tyne.Her father was the Conservative government defence minister Lord Lambton She is married to the journalist Peregrine WorsthorneShe left school...
(architecture) - John Martin RobinsonJohn Martin RobinsonJohn Martin Robinson, FSA is a British architectural historian and officer of arms.He was born in Preston, Lancashire and educated at the Benedictine school at Fort Augustus, the University of St Andrews and matriculated to Oriel College, Oxford University for his DPhil in 1970...
(architecture) - Alistair John RowanAlistair John RowanAlistair John Rowan is an Irish architectural historian, a professor and author of Irish architectural history and current Professor of History of Art at University College Cork....
(architecture, before 1967) - Tim YeoTim YeoTimothy Stephen Kenneth Yeo is an English Conservative politician, Member of Parliament for South Suffolk and the current Chairman of the Energy and Climate Change Select Committee.-Early life:...
(politics) - Christina BroomChristina BroomChristina Broom was a British photographer, credited as "the UK's first female press photographer".-History:Born at 8 King's Road, Chelsea, London, the then-Christina Livingston married Albert Edward Broom in 1889...
(photographer)
Staff Architectural Photographers:
- Charles Latham c1897-c1909
- Frederick Evans (1853–1945) pre1906-?
- Alfred E. Henson (1885–1972) 1917-57
- Alex Starkey 1953-87 (last staff photographer)
Australian magazine
In AustraliaAustralia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
a magazine called Country Life appears every September in the course of the Royal Melbourne Show
Royal Melbourne Show
The Royal Melbourne Show is an agricultural show held at the Royal Melbourne Showgrounds every September. The Royal Show began in 1848. The focus of the show is the display of rural industry, including livestock and produce. There are associated competitions and awards...
.
See also
- Country Life booksCountry Life (books)Country Life books are publications, mostly on English country houses and gardens, compiled from the articles and photographic archives of Country Life magazine, usually published in the UK by Aurum Press and in the USA by Rizzoli....
- from the photographic and article archives of Country Life magazine (mostly architectural) - The Curious House GuestThe Curious House GuestThe Curious House Guest is a television documentary series first broadcast on BBC Two in 2005. It is written and presented by Jeremy Musson, an architectural historian and journalist with Country Life. In each episode he visits a historic private house and combines observations on architecture with...
- a 2005-6 TV series by then Architectural Editor Jeremy Musson on visiting country houses