The Perfect English Country Cottage

The Country Cottage - small-scale, harmonious, rooted in the landscape - seems to sum up all that is best about Britain. In this rich anthology Lydia Greeves and John Miller have sought out a range of visual treats from Cornwall to Northumbria, and from East Anglia to Wales.
Some are unselfconscious reflections of place, showing how, for centuries, country people used the materials around them to create buildings that seem to grow out of their surroundings. These are the cottages that were built by hand, using vernacular traditions that resulted in the cob and thatch of the West Country, the half-timbering of the Weald and Welsh Borders, and the gabled golden stone of the Cotswolds. Others were built-to-order and architect-designed, forming trim terraces in a hundred estate villages; or set beside a waterway or on a remote coast for lock-keepers, coastguards and lighthouse attendants.
Some cottages were built to be lived in, others as eye-catchers, their dripping thatch, ivy-covered walls and leaded gothic windows meant to be seen in a view across the park, or from the comfort of a carriage. And then, as today, there is the cottage as retreat, sought out by writers, artists and others seeking to escape the world.
Drawing on a rich range of cottages now owned by the National Trust, Lydia Greeves explores all these themes, while John Miller's evocative photographs capture the unique appeal of what are perhaps Britain's greatest national treasures.