Future Publishing, the current publisher of Country Life, embarked on a hugely ambitious project to digitise the Country Life Photographic Archive in celebration of the 125th Anniversary of the magazine.

The images in this treasure trove cover an unimaginable amount of subjects, from buildings, gardens and the countryside, to social events and people. Many of these photographs have appeared in the pages of the magazine but, equally, many others have never seen the light of day since they were first received and the art desk set them aside, for some long-forgotten reason.

Now, with the help of technology, we are able to bring back the past and digitally scan the various formats - glass plate negatives, large format acetates, 35mm slides.

Currently there are around 150,000 assets from the digitisation project within the Country Life Image Archive of the site, with another 50,000 being tagged and processed and will be added in monthly updates to the site for completion by summer 2025.

Featuring stunning images of recognisable historic buildings from throughout the years; such as the setting of Downtown Abbey, Highclere Castle; home of Henry VIII, Hampton Court Palace; Greenwich's Eltham Palace; the iconic Chatsworth, and even the royal country retreat Sandringham Estate. The collection is vast and wide-ranging, with images of Knowlsey Hall, Windsor Castle, St James’s Palace, Madresfield Court, Wimpole Hall and many more.

Amongst this collection are the beautiful gardens of horticulturist and garden designer Gertrude Jekyll, as well as the grand work of architects Sir Herbert Baker and Edwin Lutyens.

The image files are delivered in high resolution JPEG format.

Registration is free and various rates apply, depending on the license type requirements.

Registered users can purchase directly from the site for personal or research use, exhibition use, book publishing and various other terms.

You can register on the site here, or for more information email licensing@futurenet.com