Inspiration

P&H Rugby St. Shop Refurbishment 17th – 20th Feb.

We’re closing our shop doors over the next couple of days for a spring clean and a fresh lick of paint. Any guesses as to what the colour might be? Answers on...

Meandering by the river

We were in London for the weekend. On Friday night we had our office Christmas Party. It’s become a bit of a tradition at Ben P towers that Christmas Parties...

Quiet days are the best right now

We’ve had the quietest weekend. Nothing happened at all. Bliss. Today, it’s rained all day – great swathes of rain washing over the valley, the skies dark and wintry. I’ve...

Morning and Evening

A bonus blog this week. Today, Charlie and I were down in Dorset – heading to Devon for my great-uncle’s funeral, where it was a sad but wonderful day learning...

Prelude

This blog starts with a prelude to great things. We went to Bridport early on Saturday morning. The market was quiet but Charlie and I came away with a haul...

New Lacquer Trays

The materials used are the same as those that have been used for centuries, but every craftsman's technique differs slightly, according to his own instincts and experience. The post New...

Melancholia

This was the first ever photograph I took of Percy….  and so, so sadly – this is the last. Taken the day before New Year. On Monday, a week ago, very...

Something Old, Something New

It’s not blue Monday yet; that’s next week. So we can still say, Happy New Year! But if you’re like me, the holidays seem a slightly distant memory. Suddenly, this...

New Year Sale Now On!

P&H Christmas Holiday Opening Hours

Looking back, and forward

Yay! Charlie’s back, after a wonderful but so-quick-trip to NZ, and we’ve had the quietest week down in Dorset with Henry, Percy and Mavis. The day he arrived home, he was knocked...

Into the mist

This week has been about not very much at all. The time has flown by. It’s Monday morning in Dorset; Monday night in New Zealand, and I’ve just spoken to...

NEW! Ionic Column Creamware Candlesticks

Ben and Bridie have been working on this special project for the best part of 2016, taking a very rare, very fine piece of C19th creamware back to Stoke-on-Trent to...

Quiet times

Mavis and I don’t entirely know what to do with ourselves. Yesterday afternoon we drove Charlie to the airport and said a sad goodbye as he headed off to New...

Book Signing At Pentreath & Hall – Thursday 1st...

Join us on Thursday 1st December for the Lamb’s Conduit & Rugby Street annual Christmas Shopping Evening. Along with our usual special discounts we will be offering mulled cider and...

In Preparation

I’m afraid this is going to be the shortest blog ever, partly because the week has whizzed by quicker than ever.  Here’s a photo of the house this evening, a...

The best things never change

We had Bridie, and our friend and neighbour Gabby Deeming (of House & Garden fame) staying for the weekend… and had the quietest time you could imagine. The kitchen sofa...

The Fruits Of Our Labour & News For November

Save the date! Christmas Shopping Evening

In a New York State of Mind

Charlie and I are back from the most wonderful trip to New York – we arrived home on Wednesday night, but it already feels like a dream. I’m sure I’ll...

New Baskets! Handwoven and Fairtrade.

From The Basket Room, these one of a kind baskets are handmade by the most talented weaving groups in Kenya, who are given complete creative freedom. They strip & hand...

Home and Away

I think I wrote in my last blog, about Lisbon, how a hidden purpose of travelling to new places is to realise how much you love the familiar.  A couple...

A weekend on the tiles

LAST WEEKEND Last weekend Charlie and I went to Lisbon. It had been high on our lists for a while.  We got in late on Friday afternoon and rolled into...

Modern art on a hangover is not a good combination

We had our friends Brandon and Will staying.  Friday night was quiz night in the village hall. No-one was very good at the answers but as usual we were good...

Pictures not words

PART I Hanging on the wall of my office is a poster I bought a few years ago at the Museum of Modern Art in Stockholm, by Andy Warhol. I...

English Houses: Ben’s New Book Is Here!

In this timeless and beautiful book, renowned architectural and interior designer, writer, shop-keeper and blogger Ben Pentreath presents a fresh and insightful overview of the classic English style. Visiting 12...

The Melplash Show

I have that feeling that I am taking a step back in time, and yet only by a two or three weeks. How quickly summer slips in to Autumn, but...

The Great Fire Bonfire….

I was planning to blog about the Melplash show, and Charlie’s dahlias, this week – but that is going to have to wait a night or two. Tonight – an...

Introducing the P&H Regency Caning Collection

  Introducing the P&H Regency Caning Collection The unmistakable six-way weave of traditional chair caning was the starting point for our latest collection of patterned paper. The resulting faux Regency...

NEW! P&H Regency Caning Collection

The unmistakable six-way weave of traditional chair caning was the starting point for our latest collection of patterned paper. The resulting faux Regency Caning pattern, in three different colourways, could...

A month in the country

I’m back in London for the first time tonight in a month. I realised, when I was chatting with Charlie this morning, at the end of our wonderful month in Dorset, that...

Be inspired by a Grand Tour

Classical Landscapes

This, too, is a blog in parts, so that you can dip in and out when you wish. I F O R D Last week, Charlie and I were in...

New Lamps!

Colour is at the very heart of everything Bridie produces. Formerly a specialist painter of interiors, she has continued to keep up the practice through her homeware range. The latest...

The joy of the everyday

Last week was one of those weeks (as some of you will have noticed) where I entirely ran out of time to post a blog. Events had conspired. No matter....

NEW STOCK! BRIDIE HALL AT HOME.

NEW STOCK! BRIDIE HALL AT HOME.  Bridie is pleased to present the latest additions to her eponymous homeware range, Bridie Hall at Home, all showcased in the Pentreath & Hall...

High Summer

Time is flying at the moment…. but I suppose the way to calm it down is to stay still, in one place, for more than a minute.  I got down...

End Of Day Confetti Lamps

Colour is at the very heart of everything Bridie produces. Formerly a specialist painter of interiors, she has continued to keep up the practice through her homeware range. The latest...

Too nice to leave

It was a lovely weekend. I’m writing a day late – it was that nice. We had our friends Jamie and Richard staying, who are themselves old friends of one...

A year ago today….

Charlie and I were throwing our wedding party down in Dorset. Rather than writing something new this morning, I’ve been enjoying just thinking about what really was one of the...

Business as usual

In the interests of business as usual, here is a blog about nothing particular at all. I’m glad to say that some things don’t change in Dorset…. Charlie’s huge flower...

Shop Our Summer Essentials

Back home

I arrived in Dorset late-ish on Friday night, at the end of a very long week. There is nothing in the world more happy than being met by Charlie at...

The P&H Commemorative EU Referendum Tea Towel

We love a commemorative tea towel and never wanting to miss an opportunity we thought the EU referendum is an event worth marking. Haven’t decided which way to vote yet?...

West Coasting

We’ve just got back from a wonderful, happy few days North. We called in on the way up with our friend Issy in the Scottish Borders.  Heaven. June feels like...

Village Celebration, in Seven Acts

This is a story in seven acts. It was the village celebration for the Queen’s 90th Birthday this weekend.  Okay, okay, a week earlier than everyone else in the Country,...

High Summer, already

It’s been a rare bank holiday of beautiful weather from start to end. When did that last happen? Dorset has fallen headlong in to summer. 

Great Dog Show!

Calling all Dog Owners and Admirers! Pentreath & Hall proudly present the first ever Rugby Street Great Dog Show to celebrate the 90th birthday of HM Queen Elizabeth II in...

Weekend in Rutland

We’ve been in Rutland for the weekend – for a wonderful wedding of our friends Connie and Tom.  In a strange sense, Connie is familiar to every one of our...

Early summer days

The sun has shone on Dorset this weekend. I’m writing on a quiet Sunday evening after the most fantastic couple of days. We’ve had our friends Will and Brandon (and...

Pottering about in West Dorset

After the washout of the Bank Holiday weekend in Cornwall…. enjoyable as it was…. it was nonetheless rather a rare and lovely feeling to be arriving in Dorset on Friday...

Happy times in Cornwall

You might have been wondering where I went again….. but in this case it was just another manic week. I can’t tell you what a relief it was to get...

The Queen’s 90th Birthday Commemorative Tea Towel

Slow recovery

Some of you may have been wondering where I’d gone. The day before we were meant to go to Lisbon, I came down with a really horrible flu. I woke that...

Make a note of our new memo blocks

Time flying

Where’s the blog gone, you’ll have been asking… and time has been rushing by. It’s been one of those moments where I have just had to get my head down...

Small details

I can’t tell you how many hours I seem to have spent being stuck in a traffic jam on the Marylebone Road. For those that don’t know London, this great...

Wighting

We’ve been on the Isle of Wight for a weekend with Mum & Dad. I know. We went on a tour of the Island to show Charlie some of the...

Days lengthening

Sorry for no blog last week. The trouble is, life’s pretty busy from time to time, as I’m sure you know. So there will be the odd intermittent delay –...

Book Cloth Boxfiles & Memo Blocks Now In!

Work in progress

Regular readers of the blog (and of a particularly lively comments page) will remember that a few weeks ago I caused minor consternation in benworld by announcing that the garden...

The Art of Interior Decoration

I’ll be honest. If you asked me on most Sunday mornings, I never have a clue what I’m going to blog about that evening (well, in fact, it’s early Monday...

We’re having a lightbulb moment!

Local museums

I don’t know what it is, but I’ve always preferred a small local museum to the big boys. Something about the charm of the displays; the often rare survivals of...

London meandering

We had such a nice day, on a walk we must have done fifty times but where you always discover something new. I’d been completely laid out this week… not...

Home time

When you’ve been away – there’s nothing nicer than getting home. And nothing nicer than being in Dorset on a crystal clear sunny morning, with a heavy frost in the...

Summertime, and the living was easy

So we got back safe and sound on Friday…. and it’s been a very quiet weekend. There’s no doubt it takes a little while for the brain to catch up...

L.A. story, in 36 hours

Happy New Year! Sorry for the strange timing but it’s been wonderful to keep my laptop shut, as I am sure you can imagine. Charlie and I are slowly floating...

New Year Sale Now On!

Christmas Holiday Opening Hours

Slow recovery

Well, we were never going to feel very well this morning – but it was BAD.  Charlie and I went to the amazing, beautiful wedding of our friends Jasper and...

Kentish Town with Ruth

Sorry for no blog last week. We still had no internet in Dorset. I can’t tell you what a joy that is. And we had no car, for various reasons,...

We are open every Sunday before Christmas

First Frost

It’s a very short blog this week. And late. Apologies! Do you know why? Because our internet is down in Dorset. Complete bliss. I didn’t so much as  up my...

Pentreath & Hall Christmas Party

Join us for our Christmas Shopping Event on Wed...

Workroom Profile XI & XII: Molly Mahon and Mr S...

It has been a delight to share our pop-up shop with Molly Mahon and Mr Smith this month. The shop has been buzzing and it’s brimming with their wonderful prints and textiles....

A Tale of Three Cities

This blog was going to be called A Tale of Two Cities; London, and Amsterdam. On Friday night, Charlie and I were in Amsterdam on a tiny break, happily celebrating my...

Workroom Profile X: Alice Pattullo

We are delighted to present to you the wonderful ‘Animal ABC’ – a series of screen prints, by Alice Patullo. Alice is an artist and friend we have long admired....

An Animal ABC in an Alphabet City

Perfect weekend, London, in two parts

BLOG PART I PERFECT SATURDAY It was the last day of Charlie’s pop up shop…. But we were closing early. At 1.45 the dresser was being packed up…. But a last...

Westward to the Malvern Hills

Charlie and I went to Ledbury for the weekend… to see our friend Phoebe Clive and, at the longest lastest, to visit (amongst other treats) her beautiful shop Tinsmiths.  We...

LINDELL & Co. Cushions Now In Stock

Workroom Profile IX: Charlie McCormick

Some of you may already be familiar with Charlie McCormick. Those who read Ben’s blog and follow Instagram will have observed the marvellous talents Charlie possesses for flowers, home cooking,...

Harvest song

The flower ladies were in the church on Saturday morning, decorating for the Harvest festival.

Pictures not words

It was a beautiful morning in Dorset… pale sunshine, filtered mist. This blog (you’ll be glad to hear) is one of those which has not very much to say –...

Indian Summer days

First up, an apology. Where was the blog last weekend, I guess you are wondering?  It was all written in my mind – but Bridie, at the last minute, got...