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112 of 112 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A stunning must-have for country house enthusiasts, October 11, 2009
This review is from: The English Country House: From the Archives of Country Life (Country Life Magazine) (Hardcover)
I own a great number of books on English country houses, and adding a new one to the collection comes with an ever increasing risk of redundancy. Mary Miers, however, has succeeded in creating one of the most glorious books of its kind, and moreover one that consistently highlights houses that are passed over in other works. So don't expect to find Wilton, Chatsworth, Castle Howard or Blenheim in these pages. But do expect to find a great number of smaller and/or lesser known houses, revealed in loving detail and thus shown to be every bit as beautiful and interesting as their more famous neighbours. Some of these are in fact quite famous themselves, but for some reason hardly ever shown in books on country houses, such as Wrotham Park, which featured in a substantial number of TV-series and movies.
The photography is quite simply superb and generously covers interiors, exteriors, outbuildings and gardens. There are atmospheric shots of dreamy Elizabethan manors, but there's also a breathtaking aerial view of Newby Hall. Interiors are naturally lit so that colours and atmosphere feel very true. Many of the rooms shown have inviting, lived-in look. Every image is well-considered, many are large-size, and all are razor-sharp.
Houses are covered chronologically, from Elizabethan and Jacobean times right into the twentieth century. Texts are clear, brief and to the point. On several places in the book brief topical essays are bound in, printed on smaller size pages of a heavy, textured paper, which looks very classy indeed. These illuminating texts address such specific subjects as the country house interior or its garden.
In all, an endless treasure trove (this is a brick of a book!) brimful of delights, that no country house enthusiast should miss! It may look pricey, but it's worth every penny. Put this on your coffee table and you won't have to think about a way to entertain your guests.
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29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wow! No. 1 book on English country houses today, January 17, 2010
This review is from: The English Country House: From the Archives of Country Life (Country Life Magazine) (Hardcover)
As other reviewers have commented, there are many books on the genre, quite a few stimulated by the very well-received Treasure Houses of Britain exhibition brought to the U.S. some 25 years ago, itself no doubt encouraged by the Treasures of Chatsworth show five years earlier. Mario Butta's English style was all the rage up and down Park Avenue and "new country houses" were being built by billionaires in such "shires" as Charlottesville.
On first hearing about this one, I expected another picture book on Blenheim, Wilton House, Chatsworth, etc., with a detailed discussion of John Nash's use of stucco, etc. Been there, done that. And Country Life brings to mind a stack of musty back issues with black and white photos from 1927 of Captain so-and-so and his wife Penelope with the local Hunt in front of a long-gone country house.
Instead, the book features a series of country houses you have never heard of, beautiful and virtually all still occupied today. Some are old, some are 19th century, but many were built or drastically rebuilt within the last ten or twenty years, and with tremendous success. These are practical homes, not museums, and the interior photographs reveal a very contemporary lifestyle within a heritage exterior.
And what photographs they are! An oversize book with full page, brilliantly done photographs, all in color, of exteriors, gardens and interiors with lots of helpful annotation to each photograph. They tell you who lives there now, including where the money came from, and show the adaptations they made to present day lifestyles and creature comforts. Nothing boring about any of them at all.
Highly recommended for Anglophiles who thought they had seen everything on the subject of English country houses. You haven't seen these, even in the recent books on the subject of the new country house, and you won't want to miss them.
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30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Magnificent!, December 28, 2009
This review is from: The English Country House: From the Archives of Country Life (Country Life Magazine) (Hardcover)
I have quite a few of these books on English, Scottish, and Irish homes. This is absolutely the best, hand's down. Pics are fabulous, text is excellent. Unique text interludes between chapters by "guest" authors on specialized topics related to these English Country homes is also a very good feature. But the photos are the reason for the five stars. I look forward for the next edition, since there are thousands of homes in England books like this could feature. Also, it'll take a sturdy coffee table to hold this book up, it's gotta be five pounds easy. Well worth it, and the cost. Buy it.
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