Book: English Houses-Inspirational Interiors from City Apartments to Country Manor Houses

Visiting 12 very different homes, Ben explores and appraises the unique spirit of the English House - at once restrained and simple yet overflowing with a generosity of touch and a richness of colour and texture. The book is divided into three sections: London, Country, and Country House, and the interiors featured range from a 1930s pied-a-terre in London's historic St James to designer Veere Grenney's pocket-sized Palladian Temple folly in Suffolk and Wardington, a 16th-century stone manor house in North Oxfordshire. Ben's own homes, in central London and West Dorset, are also included. These homes vary greatly in architecture, size, shape and age, but they all have in common a peculiarly English style - richly-layered rooms that deftly intertwine colour and pattern and a mix of old and new furniture to create timeless and comfortable places to live.   Ben Pentreath is a leading figure in the London design world. An author, commentator and regular columnist for the Financial Times, he combines a busy architectural practice with a growing interior design studio, a popular weekly blog (pentreath-hall.com/inspiration) that boasts an army of followers and his interiors shop, Pentreath & Hall.  Hardcover. 224 pages. weight: