There’s an array of new tomes full of inspiring north London homes and gardening for you to display on your coffee table or flick through for autumn inspiration.
English Houses: Inspirational interiors from city apartments to country manor houses, Ben Pentreath, £30, Ryland Peters & Small
Just off Lambs Conduit Street, Ben Pentreath’s interiors shop, Pentreath and Hall, is a temple to elegant, vintage-inflected homewares. With an architecture practice, interior design firm and Financial Times column to his name he is a darling of the London design scene. In English Houses he selects 12 homes in various styles that together provide a distillation of the world renowned eclectic English style, including a colourfully decked out house in King’s Cross.
House Plants: How to look after your indoor plants: with helpful advice, step-by-step projects, and inventive planting ideas, Isabelle Palmer, £14.99, CICO Books
The third book from West Hampstead small-space gardening expert (and occasional Ham & High contributor) Isabelle Palmer is a stylish overview of the art of indoor planting.
With projects in varying degrees of difficulty and maintenance levels and luscious photography, The Balcony Gardener founder certainly knows how to make house plants hip.
Along the Hackney Canal, Freya Najade, £14.95, Hoxton Mini Press, hoxtonminipress.com
Hoxton Mini Press have created something of a niche in evocative publications profiling elements of contemporary east London. This covetable little hardback is the 11th in their east London photo series, featuring images by German-born, London-based photographer Freya Najade.
Splash out on the collectors’ edition, which includes a signed edition of one of the photographs. Would make a great housewarming gift for anyone moving into the area.
Scything Handbook: Learn how to cut grass, mow meadows and harvest grain by hand, Ian Miller, £14.99, Filbert Press
An unusual one this, the Scything Handbook is both paean and manual to this traditional method of cutting grass encompassing everything from buying and maintaining your tool to the best techniques for using it. Chapters also describe how a scythe is made and offer hay-making tips and even sowing, growing, harvesting and cooking tips for small grains. With the opening chapter titled ‘How Scything Will Change Your Life’, this is an evangelical, comprehensive love letter to a bygone lifestyle.
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