ESTABLISHED 2006

About Countrylook

Countrylook is Britain’s independent guide to the places, people and experiences worth seeking out.

We began with the countryside because that was where our attention naturally fell: on landscape, old places, local knowledge, good hospitality and the small details through which somewhere becomes itself. Twenty years later, the geography has widened. Countrylook now follows those qualities across the coast, villages, market towns, historic cities and particular corners of London, without losing the eye that first shaped the publication.

Explore the Countrylook AwardsHow we judge

Countrylook in brief

  • Established 2006

    Twenty years of looking closely at Britain.

  • 60+ contributors

    Journalists, critics, editors, specialists and cultural voices across the wider network.

  • Around one million

    The audience Countrylook now reaches across its channels.
Loose hand-painted watercolour of St Ives harbour in Cornwall

OUR SUBJECT

Britain, understood through place.

Countrylook is not an attempt to cover every part of British life. We are interested in the places and experiences through which people discover it: where they stay, eat, walk, look, listen and spend their time, and in the artists, photographers, makers and traditions that give somewhere a character of its own.

That is why a fishing town, a country inn, a museum, a city garden, a photographer and a village pub can all belong within the same publication. The connection is not postcode. It is place, quality and the particularity of the experience.

Loose hand-painted watercolour of Arlington Row in the Cotswolds

TWENTY YEARS OF COUNTRYLOOK

Looking closely since 2006.

Countrylook was established in 2006 and has grown from a countryside-rooted publication into an independent guide with an audience of around one million across its channels. Our wider editorial and judging network now includes more than 60 journalists, critics, editors, specialists and cultural voices.

Those numbers matter only because they allow us to look more widely. The purpose remains much smaller and more human: to notice what is good, to understand why it matters, and to tell people when something is worth making the journey for.

Loose hand-painted watercolour of historic York and York Minster

THE COUNTRYLOOK AWARDS

Our strongest recommendation.

The Countrylook Awards are where editorial judgement becomes a public distinction. They are organised destination by destination and judged category by category because excellence takes different forms. A pub cannot be judged like an artist; a hotel cannot be assessed like a photographer. What unites them is the Countrylook test: is this exceptional at what it does, does it add something meaningful to its place, and would we send our readers to seek it out?

See the Awards

HOW WE WORK

Judgement is only useful when the method behind it can be understood.

Countrylook separates observed experience, verified fact and editorial judgement. We identify who is responsible for our work, use first-hand experience where a claim depends upon it, correct factual errors when they are found and explain the methodology behind our Awards. The detailed policies sit openly on this site.

Editorial StandardsCorrections & Updates