Country Living UK

Whether you live in the town or countryside, in Country Living you’ll find a wealth of ideas for your home and garden, learn about traditional crafts, keep informed of rural issues, enjoy irresistible dishes using seasonal produce and, above all, escape the stress and strain of modern-day life.

Country Living UK

A note from the editor

Welcome to OCTOBER • This month: forage AUTUMN’S natural bounty • Stay in a stylish ECO HOUSE in Somerset • Spot SEAL PUPS • Meet a trailblazing chainsaw WOOD-CARVER • Read up on the best independent BOOKSHOPS • Plus, MAGICAL STONE CIRCLES to discover

FRUITS OF THE FORAGE • October’s WOODLANDS are rich with seasonal treasures. Gather hazelnuts, SWEET CHESTNUTS, sloes and mushrooms, before returning home to PRESERVE your pickings

5 SUPPER CLUBS for savouring a foraged feast

The Ark SOMERSET • Floating like a hot air balloon above a PRETTY VALLEY near Wells, this modern house is the perfect place for a group getaway. Just watch out for the WILDLIFE

LIVE LIKE A LOCAL • The Ark’s owner Ruth Ganesh’s Somerset highlights

CELEBRATE THE HARVEST • Throw an AUTUMNAL SUPPER with foraged produce, gathered flowers and squashes, all tied together by a palette borrowed from the CHANGING TREES

4 SPOTS to see SEAL PUPS

All hail the Hunter’s Moon

HARVEST TO HOME • Seasonal buys for embracing AUTUMN’S RICHES

Chris Wood • After stealing the show at RHS Chelsea, Chris Wood’s monumental Gaia has found a very different new home. Here, the chainsaw artist tells us why the sculpture’s story is only just beginning

TO CELEBRATE BOOKSHOP DAY • Support local and independent shops on 10 October

THE BIG APPLE SEASON • Make the most of Britain’s BUMPER HARVEST with crisp autumn outings in the orchards

5 spectacular stone circles

CHECKLIST October

FIELD NOTES

The Village Noticeboard • Things are getting spooky in Paula’s corner of Norfolk. In her regular column on village life, she feels the creep of Halloween approaching

“IT WAS MORE KEN LOACH THAN ENID BLYTON” • Adored by audiences for decades, Dame Meera Syal reflects on the people and place that shaped her, from the formidable women of her lesser-known rural childhood to the humour and resilience that still guide her today

Recreating the BAYEUX TAPESTRY • With the medieval masterpiece wowing sellout crowds in Britain this autumn, meet the Cambridgeshire embroiderer who has taken a more personal approach in her appreciation of the 70-metre-long showstopper

“MY NIGHT IN BRITAIN’S MOST HAUNTED VILLAGE” • Beyond Pluckley’s picturesque cottages and country lanes lie tales of spectral schoolmasters, flying hats and a wandering monk. One brave writer put her nerves, and the Kent village’s reputation, to the test

ARTISANS + CRAFT

The lobster pots of Poldark • His willow lobster pots might have found primetime TV fame, but Nigel Legge still weaves each one by hand, using techniques unchanged for generations

Cover STORIES • Today’s makers show that upholstered pieces can bring CHARACTER to every corner

REVIVING A DYEING ART • From her Dún Laoghaire garden in Ireland, Alison Nea gathers flowers and hedgerow-foraged finds to create naturally dyed linen pieces that celebrate slow craft and nature’s beautiful unpredictability

INTO the woods • Bring the beauty of autumn inside with these easy projects inspired by seasonal foliage

HOMES + DECORATING

“This was more adventure than restoration” • Photographer and ceramicist Sarah Maingot has turned a falling-down Cotswolds cottage into a home filled with fairytale beauty and wonder

The Interiors Insider • Our decorating expert explains how the right lighting can...