Book excerpt: Cotswold Cottages have a warm beauty unequaled in rural Britain. The cottages have a character that has been determined by changes in local industry and farming, as well as by the properties of the building materials used, including the hard, honey-colored, Cotswold stone. Even the details like the tiny hinged windows, old planked doors and ironwork fittings were usually formed by local hands and have a style unique to the area. The Cotswold Cottage describes the key characteristics which define these cottages, their history and form, what they are made from, their interiors, and the colorful gardens around them. Trevor Yorke's carefully drawn diagrams and photographs, together with his easy-to-follow text, provide a wonderful introduction to these much loved Cotswold homes.