The highly praised biography of an archetypal great house and the family who lived there for over 250 years. 'The Big House' is the biography of a great country house and the lives of the Sykes family who lived there, with varying fates, for the next two hundred and fifty years. It is a fascinating social history set against the backdrop of a changing England, with a highly individual, pugnacious and self-determining cast, including: 'Old Tat' Sykes, said to be one of the great sights of Yorkshire (the author's great-great-great-grandfather), who wore 18th-century dress to the day of his death at ninety-one in 1861. His son was similarly eccentric, wearing eight coats that he discarded gradually throughout the day in order to keep his body temperature at a constant. He was forced to marry, aged forty-eight, eighteen-year-old Jessica Cavendish-Bentick - a lively and highly intelligent woman who relieved the boredom of her marriage by acquiring a string of lovers, writing novels and throwing extravagant parties (her nickname became 'Lady Satin Tights'), all the while accumulating debts that ended in a scandalous court case. Their son, Mark, died suddenly whilst brokering the peace settlement at the Paris Peace Conference at the end of World War I; Sledmere was destroyed by fire shortly afterwards. But the rebuilt Sledmere rose from the flames to resound again with colourful, brilliant characters in the 1920s and 1930s including the author's grandmother, Lily, who had been a celebrated bohemian in Paris. 'The Big House' is vividly written and meticulously researched using the Sykes' own family's papers and photographs. In this splendid biography of place and time, Christopher Simon Sykes has resuscitated the lives of his ancestors and their glorious home from the 18th- through to the 20th-century.

Cath Kidston - queen of vintage-inspired homeware and joyously decorated spaces - grants unprecedented insight into her creative process and personal style in this lifestyle-meets-memoir-meets-interior-design book. The name 'Cath Kidston' is associated worldwide with pattern, colour, dreamlike nostalgia, and comforting, cheerful spaces. In her new book, the founder of the eponymous brand invites us on a tour of her Gloucestershire home, sharing stories, decorating tips and inspirational ideas along the way. The book is divided into four chapters, each of them focusing on the 21 featured spaces in the book, including: Entrance Hall, Sitting Room, Study, Dining Room, Office, Kitchen, Dressing Room, Attic, Greenhouse and Summer House. There are also the whimsically themed rooms such as the Castle Bedroom and Fish Bathroom. Delve into Cath's design process as she reveals the memories and motivations behind her style choices. With Cath's expertise and advice you'll discover how simple tricks make stimulating spaces; from using vintage-inspired prints to transform a quiet corner into an art gallery, to how the right rug can tie a room together and create a cosy, congenial atmosphere. Discussing colour, decor, pattern and passion in her own words, Cath will help make your house a beautiful, practical home. Filled with inspirational images, expert advice from an industry icon, and stories that reveal a remarkable life in design, this book will give you the confidence to click your heels and agree that there's no place like home.

At the age of only 36, Sir Mark Sykes was signatory to the Sykes-Picot agreement, one of the most reviled treaties of modern times. A century later, Christopher Sykes' lively biography of his grandfather reassesses his life and work, and the political instability and violence in the Middle East attributed to it. The Sykes-Picot agreement was drawn by the eponymous British and French diplomats in 1916 to determine the divide of the collapsing empire in the event of an allied victory in World War I. Excluding Arab involvement, it negated their earlier guarantee of independence made by the British - and controversy has raged around it ever since. But who was Mark Sykes? A century on, Christopher Simon Sykes reveals new facets of a misremembered diplomatic giant. Using previously undisclosed family letters and cartoons by his grandfather, he delivers a comprehensive and humbling account of the man behind one of the most impactful policies in the Middle East.