Country Life

It's just over two years ago that the journalist Katharine Hay, a year into her new job as rural affairs correspondent for The Scotsman newspaper, had an epiphany.'98% of Scotland is rural,' she recalls thinking, 'and here I am sitting in the two per cent urban area. It really doesn't feel like I'm doing the role justice.'What Katharine decided next changed her life: she decided to walk the length and breadth of the country. Armed with a tent, a camping stove, solid support from her editor and a hot water bottle from her mother ('I thought she was mad — it honestly turned out to be the single best thing I took with me'), she set off on what was supposed to be a six-month trek.2,000 miles and almost two years later, 'Hay's Way' is still going — and probably will be for at least another six months. 'For a woman, or indeed anyone walking alone like this, you're in a very vulnerable situation,' she tells James Fisher on the Country Life Podcast. 'But I've been blown away by the Scottish hospitality everywhere I've been.'On this wonderful episode Katharine recounts some of her adventures, from the joys of birdsong and red squirrels on sunny, summers day to a terrifying near-death experience climbing back up a cliff after visiting The Old Man of Hoy, and from coming face-to-face with an otter (adorable, if smelly) to a fishing boat trip in the Outer Hebrides that left her with sea legs so bad that she 'couldn't walk in a straight line for two days'.We can't recommend listening to this episode strongly enough — and to hear more you can sign up for her (free) newsletter on The Scotsman website, read her journalism, or follow her on Instagram or X.Episode creditsHost: James FisherGuest: Katharine HayEditor and producer: Toby KeelMusic: JuliusH via Pixabay Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the last 20 years, the world of whisky has exploded, being transformed beyond recognition.What was once a croft industry in the Scottish Highlands and Islands has spread around the world. The Scots' craft has spread out across the world, from Ireland and Wales to Japan, India and beyond. In India alone, tens of millions of cases of whisky are made each year. And even the English have been getting on the act.What's driven the change? How has the craft of whisky-making changed, if at all? And how have we gone from a world where once your grandad laid a few bottles down under the stairs to one in which the world's finest and rarest single malts have become an investment-class commodity?This week's Country Life Podcast sees James Fisher joined by Kevin Balmforth, cask master at Glenlivet, and Andrew Simpson, international brand ambassador for Chivas Brothers, to talk through all this and more. From the 60-year-old bottle auctioned off at £650,000 to the astonishing image of the six million casks lying in wait for future generations to taste, it's a fascinating listen.Episode creditsHost: James FisherGuests: Kevin Balmforth and Andrew SimpsonProducer and editor: Toby KeelMusic: JuliusH via Pixabay Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Country Life's features editor Paula Minchin is a force of nature. Every week she steers her team of editors and writers through the creation of dozens of pages of magazine features, with hardly a glitch and never, ever a missed deadline.So when Country Life brings in a guest editor — something which has happened five times in the past 12 years — it's Paula who is at the helm alongside our temporary boss. It's a process of helping, guiding, steering, commissioning and editing in tandem with whoever is at the helm, a challenge which has been taken up in the past by Her Majesty Queen Camilla, Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal, His Majesty The King (twice), and most recently Sir David Beckham.Paula joins James Fisher on the Country Life Podcast this week to talk about her experiences with these very special issues. The focus is on the eight-month journey with Sir David, from first contact and brainstorming through to the joyous final product, but she also talks about her experiences with our Royal guest editor. It's a fascinating and rare insight into the guest-edits of the magazine that we've been thrilled, delighted and privileged to have worked on.Episode creditsHost: James FisherGuest: Paula MinchinEditor and producer: Toby KeelMusic: JuliusH via Pixabay Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What makes Country Life? Country houses, gardens, nature, fine art — and dogs. Right from the first issue of the print magazine in 1897, Man's Best Friend has been right at the heart of Country Life — with that original edition featuring an article on Princess Alexandra and her Borzois.Almost 130 years later, dogs are just as important as ever, and September 2025 saw the publication of Country Life's Book of Dogs, written by our deputy features editor Agnes Stamp. We're delighted that Agnes — who has worked for Country Life for over a decade —was able to join James Fisher on the Country Life Podcast to talk about some of the dogs featured in the pages of this handsome tome, from labradors and bull terriers to Great Danes and Dalmatians.Country Life's Book of Dogs is out now (Rizzoli, £50) — and you can read more of Country Life's stories about dogs on the website.Episode Credits Host: James FisherGuest: Agnes StampEditor and producer: Toby KeelMusic: JuliusH via Pixabay Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A few years ago, Amelia Thomas and her husband packed up their fast-paced lives and moved to a remote farm in Nova Scotia.Faced with a desolate landscape, appalling weather and a husband who — like most Finns — abhorred small-talk, she found herself spending more and more time listening to the animals she cared for in her house and on her farm. And at that point, something magical began to happen: she began to notice and, eventually, understand the many ways in which they were communicating with her.Amelia joined James Fisher on the Country Life Podcast this week to tell her tale, and explain how she honed her skills — from interviewing world-renowned animal behaviourists, to simply understanding that sitting quietly among animals for a prolonged period can be enough to really begin to understand the messages that we, as constantly on-the-go humans, almost always miss, from the twitch of a horse's ear to the quiet stare of a cat. It's a tale that is fascinating, inspiring and entertaining — and also a little sad, as in the case of one of Amelia's beloved pets who communicated with her as he reached the end of his life. Learning to listen to animals, it turns out, can mean hearing things that you won't always like. Amelia's book about her experience, What Sheep Think about the Weather, is out on November 13 (Elliott & Thompson, £16.99), and is a fascinating read. You can find out more and order a copy here.Episode creditsHost: James FisherGuest: Amelia ThomasEditor and producer: Toby KeelMusic: JuliusH via Pixabay Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.