Austenland – is there such a place? If so, it’s to be found in drawing rooms and parlours, not in sweeping vistas. So it’s appropriate that the Hampshire village of Chawton, Jane Austen’s home for the

To mark half a century since Agatha Christie’s death, we welcome you inside the literary doyenne’s rural retreat – her sanctuary from the harsh world of press and public

IT was two days until Christmas and the afternoon sky was blue and crisp as Lydia’s car pulled up in front of the magnificent Bristol Hotel. Why was it called the Bristol? she wondered. It was nowhere

An old man lives at the bottom of my garden. His name is Robert Barkus, or Bakehouse, or Bagust. Nobody is quite sure. But I often sense him around when I’m gardening, and I’ve found out a fair bit ab

Christine Faughlin sings the praises of a converted chapel on the 30,000-acre Bolton Abbey estate in the Yorkshire Dales

THE PICK OF THIS WEEK’S RADIO