Customer Reviews
A perfect coffee table book - By: L. J. Bailey, 14 Jul 2010 
This book is lovely & large. I keep itin my spare room for guests to flick through. My favourite section is the first part...so pretty!!
A treasure-trove of pictures and ideas - By: M. Alison Heal, 04 May 2010 
This book is a cut above the average homes book - the photos are charming but it is the quality of the text & the choice of homes that make it so valuable & enjoyable, as a source book as well as a coffee-table book.
The categories of different cottage styles are well-chosen & comprehensive, & the writing gives an enjoyable glimpse of the people & lives behind each home.
This is probably the best 'home style' book I own. It covers quite a variety of styles, from cheerful & kitsch to elegant & classical, via unique & characterful.
Rustic Chic - By: Rose Briers, 28 Mar 2010 A lovely book but a little too rustic for me, shabby chic can go too far & I felt it didin this book.
It's just the best! - By: lavenderlass, 23 Oct 2009 This book is fantastic! Like the other reviewer I thought the author, Ros Byam-Shaw, had reached the topin 'Perfect English' but this book is just as good. Each of the homes it features are superb, comfortable, homely, places you'll really want to spend time in. This is not a book for minimalists, or people who like contemporary homes. It shows how older, unique items, can be put together to make a delightful living collage of treasured items. You won't find anything designer here, no matching or toning touches, not even perfection. Many things do show the wear & tear accumulated by time. And it's all the better for that.
This book shows creative homes, where each item is valued for the story it tells as well as it's function. You can read the patina on ancient furniture, you can see elderly, mis-matching crockery & see the passion the owner has for it or gaze at the pictures on the wall & imagine you were talking to their creator. Each item shows a facet of their owner's life, a living manifestation of individuality & all the more interesting for that.
It's also the perfect role model of recycling, many of the items are not quite perfect, but the author shows us how this really doesn't matterin the creation of individual style. I just hope the author is working on more books!
an english pearl - By: Rapin, 07 Sep 2009 i thought that with her "perfect english", ros byam shaw had reached the top, the perfection about interior decoration books, but i see that it has now a twin brotherin this "perfect english cottage". beautifully written & with gorgeous photos of flawless (perhaps because they do have some flaws) interiors, this book is about the highest esthetical values. byam shaw is a genius, she's simply the best.
