Books choice

Even if you don't believe in fairies you may find this enchanting. And if you have seen these elusive little creatures at the bottom of your garden and are convinced that they exist in other parts of the country too, this is the perfect book for you as it leads the reader to magic fairy locations throughout the British countryside.

Unfortunately there are no Oxfordshire fairy sites listed, but that gives you an excuse to travel further afield to places such as Guernsey, where you will discover a fairy's cricket bat, a fairy hole and even a fairy burial chamber. The so-called Fairy Hole is, in fact, the entrance to a Neolithic passage, but stories grew up among local people that it was in fact the entrance to fairyland. Naturally, there are several sites in Somerset, and more particularly Glastonbury Tor, where the fairy king of Avalon is preserved, according to legend. This beautifully illustrated book provides a lively narrative, atmospheric photographs and paintings, also colourful maps to help the traveller.

Stately Ghosts (VisitBritian, £9.99)

Members of the Historic Houses Association say that the ghosts in Britain's historic houses are as active and busy as ever and still making their presence felt in all kinds of different ways. Compiled by members of the HHA, this offers a rich assortment of hauntings and supernatural goings-on to satisfy our growing fascination with ghostly activities and things that go bump in the night. Although ghosts are thought to be victims of violent deaths or tragic accidents, some declare their presence with laughter, or music. This book could add an extra dimension to stately home visits.

The Renaissance Palace In Florence James R Lindow (Ashgate, £55)

The beauty of Florence can't be fully appreciated unless seen from the inside. In an ideal world we would be able to verify this for ourselves by visiting Florence and viewing the interiors of its fine places. However, while many of the great palace facades survive, most of their interiors have suffered the ravages of time and been lost or, at best, been greatly altered. In Lindow's book, subtitled Magnificence and Splendour in Fifteenth-Century Italy, hitherto unpublished inventories, private documents and surviving domestic objects are used to focus on the Florentine palace as an integrated whole and show the interiors as a series of splendid spaces where virtuous expenditure was displayed. This scholarly, ground breaking book, which reflects the burgeoning interest in Italian Renaissance domestic buildings, examines the 15th century Florentine Palace from a new perspective and illustrates how goods and furnishings transcended their functional purpose and collectively enhanced the aesthetic of the Florentine palace interior.