Perfect English Small and Beautiful

‘Ros Byam Shaw does a very good line in…exploring how exactly people live in their particular type of house and advising the rest of us how to achieve a similar decorative look in our own homes’  House & Garden



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.