Classic English style is comfortable, timeless, and informal. But it can also be seen as rather grand – most appropriate for rambling rectories, manor houses and country house hotels. This book sets out to show that Perfect English style can be scaled down to work in a home of any age, size or shape. Ros Byam Shaw visits 12 pint-sized homes that are perfect examples of this ever-popular look, including a terraced townhouse in Ludlow, a gardener’s cottage in Kent, a tiny London flat and a perfect Cotswolds country cottage.  At a time when sustainability and environmental concerns are at the top of the agenda, Perfect English style prioritises reuse, recycling and upcycling, and happily accommodates objects that are worn, faded, and mended. As the inviting, characterful and compact homes that fill these pages demonstrate,  Perfect English Small and Beautiful  reveals how to downscale with perfect English panache.

We may recognise an interior as archetypally English, but putting a finger on exactly what makes it so can be tricky. One of the strengths of English style is that it isn’t prescriptive. In fact, quite the opposite. It is relaxed, laissez-faire, and endlessly adaptable – all reasons, no doubt, why it has enjoyed such longevity. You know it when you see it, but what are its essential ingredients?  In  Perfect English Style, Ros Byam Shaw looks at a range of rooms with a strong English feel to them. As it happens, they are all in England, though this is a look that travels the world, still predominantly English in flavour even when spiced with foreign ingredients. Ros explores the main rooms of a house, from hallways to bedrooms, their characteristics and furnishings, and how they achieve that mix of comfort, informality and visual charm that is the hallmark of English style. Ros also homes in on specifics; the qualities of patina, the important role of fabrics and fresh flowers, how to buy, use and include antique and vintage furnishings, and how a collection, whether of pebbles or 18th century glass, adds individuality and character.

The book looks at the decorating and design solutions that make the cottages as attractive inside as out, as well as practical and comfortable to live in. Bestselling author Ros Byam Shaw takes a fresh look at this perennially appealing style, which she divides into five chapters: Character, Holiday, Romance, Simplicity and Elegance. The featured homes are incredibly varied, from a tiny house with exposed beams to a pared-down Georgian gem, to a picture-perfect cottage with roses over the door-and plenty more adorning the interior. Each section ends with a Get The Look page with ideas for recreating the style in your own home.