From his east London childhood to discovering the joys of beekeeping and gardening, our guest editor, former England football captain Sir David Beckham, tells Paula Minchin why the countryside matters so much to him and his family

From a milliner inspired by topiary to a model-turned-ecological gardener and a couple who swapped jobs in telecommunications for growing vegetables, Sir David Beckham’s rural heroes tell Julie Harding why craft and the countryside are key

David Beckham looks every inch the dashing country gent as he poses in his finest tweeds for an outdoor photoshoot. The football legend, appearing in the latest issue of Country Life magazine which he

It was while filming an episode of Lewis in an Oxford college garden that Tom Simpson fell in love – and within moments decided to abandon his peripatetic life in film and retrain as a garden designer

A good time to visit The Old Rectory in Doynton is as dusk falls on a frosty December evening. Driving in through the gate, you’ll be cheered by the sight of two illuminated Portuguese laurel cylinder

In winter the bones of the formal garden at Owlpen Manor come to life. Highlighted with frost, the dark greens and greys of hedges and topiary take on the patina of an engraving. The manicured parterr