Paradise found

Julie and David Thompson knew that with their children grown, they could follow their hearts to the countryside and find a forever home for Christmas and beyond

Sparkling with candlelight and full of colour and pattern, the old village vicarage offers a warm welcome to Judith and Jeremy Stocker’s guests at Christmas

SARAH DITUM

On an open and windswept tract of land in Oxfordshire, where once stood some derelict barns and a lone maple tree, our guest editor has created a haven for his family and his honeybees, discovers Alan Titchmarsh

The chance to restore a stable block near their old home has given Tish Potter and Jim Down the perfect place to enjoy big family festivities

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