Egg-cellent easter

As the warm days of summer give way to the fresher feel of autumn, many of us will recall with nostalgia the harvest festivals of our youth. Such festivities – often including lavish displays of crops

Our round-up of the funny, fascinating and unusual stories this fortnight

FOR JOHN KEATS, AUTUMN WAS THE SEASON OF MISTS AND MELLOW FRUITFULNESS. HERE, THE COUNTRY LIVING TEAM AND FRIENDS HIGHLIGHT WHAT THIS TIME OF YEAR MEANS TO THEM – FROM CRAFTING WREATHS TO BOTTLING SLOE GIN

Whether vestiges of paganism survived Europe’s Christianisation is a subject of enduring fascination. Scholarly debate navigates between the ‘maximalist’ position (much survived) and the ‘minimalist’

There is a story that in the 17th century, Oliver Cromwell banned Eccles cakes on the grounds that they were too indulgent: all of that melting pastry and expensive dried fruit, sugar and spice deemed

This summer, I became fascinated with one of Britain’s forgotten folklore beasties, the bogie rabbit. Now, I’d run across a few of these jokers over the years, but never taken them that seriously. I m