Heralded by an envoy from Prince Charles wistfully regretting past losses of fine buildings and mentioning a handful of important properties currently at risk, this compilation opens with great promise. How far is this fulfilled? Tree’s Introduction not only offers a personal view of how the country house came to suffer desertion and dereliction: he explains how to find, buy and restore one. These invocations are full of infectious enthusiasm, promoting both the challenges and rewards awaiting the successful restorer.

The core of the book presents accounts of sixty-nine buildings (mainly houses) each written to a strange, threefold formula: ‘Description’, ‘The problem’ and ‘Future thoughts and possibilities’. Strange because, whereas most descriptions are adequate (having been visited by Baker), none is properly documented with reference to any source authority. Thus Lloyd Reference Lloyd1986, mentioned in the introduction, is the only printed work cited in the entire book. Nowhere are fellow restoration enthusiasts informed that Listed Building designation is supported by official descriptions, or told where they may be consulted. So it is impossible to know what text here, if any, may be from original research or observation. It is (sadly) possible to find uncritical repetition of statements that some may feel inadequate, if not contentious. For example the text of Talacre, Flintshire (pp 152–3), refers to a ‘banqueting hall … said to have been designed by Capability Brown’ and also to an ‘artificial rockwork grotto’ standing adjacent to and said to be ‘contemporary with the main house’ (of c 1830). This attribution to Brown from Poole Reference Poole1831 (p 67) appears not to have been accepted by Dorothy Stroud in her biographies of Brown and the grotto is not even depicted on the First Edition OS 25-inch map of 1877! Surely such points of difference or debate are worth discussing?

Oddly, there is no reference to the virtually complete coverage of Wales by the Pevsner volumes; no published work by Cadw or RCAHMW or their staff (the Listed Buildings and published Historic Gardens Registers and Smith 1988 come to mind), and readers are not told how their potential property purchase can be researched through the ‘Coflein’ online database at the NMR. Tree’s invocations sadly do not include the value of reading any of the excellent literature put out over many decades by the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings and there is not even any proper reference to the handful of Baker’s books his own website boasts have so successfully promoted the cause of house restoration in north Wales. Although the authors interestingly complain how it was necessary to invoke the Freedom of Information Act to gain access to some Buildings at Risk Registers, they do not say which of their buildings are listed therein!

If found wanting in the bibliographical department, what of the authors’ personal commentaries on these buildings’ potentials for restoration or home conversion? In very few cases is ‘The problem’ realistically spelled out. There are many flourishes of regret about abandonment and dereliction, though the law of defamation usually prevents explanation as to who may be to blame. But many of these buildings will never be available for purchase anyway, owing to problems of title and a reluctance or refusal to sell. Some are simply ruins (actually scheduled as Ancient Monuments), which could never be converted to habitation, so to suggest purchase for restoration is not realistic. Rather than advocate its readers’ ownership of property, these comments might have been better focused on schooling the concerned conservationist in how to target failing local authorities or to lobby government for better protection through the responsible national bodies and amenity groups. This could be more effective in ensuring that the value of designations is upheld and that better resources are available to arrest decay and prevent further losses through inappropriate development.

The second, much shorter part of the book includes brief entries on fifty-three more buildings considered to have restoration potential. The criteria for their inclusion are unclear. All told, among the houses there are some twenty churches, civic, garden and industrial structures, not all of which would easily lend themselves to personable conversion for habitation. Overall, this is a volume of useful photographs with text written in a whimsical, often patronizing, but factually unverifiable text, which lacks scholarly pretensions. One hopes that a second edition will address its unfortunate shortcomings, which are puzzlingly uncharacteristic of its worthy sponsors, The Georgian Group and SAVE Britain’s Heritage.