It was time for Operation Hoppy Hour
It was time for Operation Hoppy Hour
If you’re lucky enough to have extra space within your home, chances are that some, if not all of it, is cluttered with dusty cardboard boxes jam-packed with photos, old shoes and dusty paperbacks. But if you fancy chucking out your chintz in favour of a better use, then David Wilson Homes has put together […]
The post Best uses for extra space within a home appeared first on OnTheMarket.com blog.
Find out the latest rental terms and terminology with our jargon buster guide. Whether you are a new or an existing tenant, the world of lettings is constantly changing. Our rental jargon-busting guide explains the words and expressions that are in regular use when letting a property. We explain everything from dilapidations and deposit protection schemes to […]
The post Rental jargon buster: Simplified terms for tenants appeared first on OnTheMarket.com blog.
John Harris is absolutely right to highlight housing problems as central to debates about politics and society and to stress the need for more and better public housing as a crucial part of everyone having a decent place to live (The anxieties dividing the nation begin with housing, 28 October).
But the housing shortage that forces people to remain in unsuitable or substandard housing, or drives them into homelessness, is just one side of the coin; the other is the expectation that buying property is a one-way, sure-fire bet that delivers exceptional return on investment. Clearly this only happens because the housing market is rigged by various ways of limiting supply and because of the tax incentives given to homeowners and landlords.
Continue reading...I plan to have two lodgers while still living in the property – my only house
Q Please can you clarify for me whether I am likely to be required to pay capital gains tax on my rental income when I decide to sell my house? I plan to have two lodgers while still living in the property. It is my only house.
Is there any relief that would apply to me now or in the future that I should look out for?
KR
OnTheMarket.com explains how you can object to a planning application and what to do to try and ensure you get the result you want. Where can I find details of the application? Before you can object to a planning application, you first need to know it exists. Local councils are supposed to notify neighbours likely to […]
The post How to object to a planning application appeared first on OnTheMarket.com blog.
People think that older varieties have more flavour, but it’s often simply not true
As the leaves begin to turn, right now is the perfect time to start ordering fruit trees and bushes to plant out. However, I implore you not to fall victim to the buzzword “heritage” in the catalogues, at least if you are looking for good flavour. It sounds counterintuitive, I know, but speaking as a botanist who has tried and tested hundreds of varieties for flavour, I can give you some good reasons why to avoid these plants.
There is the popular belief that the older the variety, the better the flavour. Harking back to a time before intensive plant breeders bred all the “goodness” out of crops, according to this narrative modern crops are watery, bland, loaded with sugar and low in nutrition. Diet gurus on Twitter warn that modern fruit is now so sugary that zoo monkeys can no longer be fed bananas. Celebrity chefs will claim modern apples have seen their sugar content double, pandering to our “insatiable sweet tooth”. Food writers will even report on the “toxic truth” of grapes such as Thompson Seedless. One thing you will rarely see, however, is evidence.
Continue reading...People think that older varieties have more flavour, but it’s often simply not true
As the leaves begin to turn, right now is the perfect time to start ordering fruit trees and bushes to plant out. However, I implore you not to fall victim to the buzzword “heritage” in the catalogues, at least if you are looking for good flavour. It sounds counterintuitive, I know, but speaking as a botanist who has tried and tested hundreds of varieties for flavour, I can give you some good reasons why to avoid these plants.
There is the popular belief that the older the variety, the better the flavour. Harking back to a time before intensive plant breeders bred all the “goodness” out of crops, according to this narrative modern crops are watery, bland, loaded with sugar and low in nutrition. Diet gurus on Twitter warn that modern fruit is now so sugary that zoo monkeys can no longer be fed bananas. Celebrity chefs will claim modern apples have seen their sugar content double, pandering to our “insatiable sweet tooth”. Food writers will even report on the “toxic truth” of grapes such as Thompson Seedless. One thing you will rarely see, however, is evidence.
Continue reading...With an estimated 320,000 people homeless in Britain, charities are turning to using tiny ‘pods’ as temporary accommodation
With a single bed, a chemical toilet and a phone charger in a very tight space, a “micro sleeping pod” is very much basic living. But for those that live in the tight shelters, set up by a charity, they provide a link between living on the streets and finding more long-term accommodation. And then there is the cost – at £10,500 for the pair, the pods in Newport, Wales are significantly cheaper than building a flat, according to Amazing Grace Spaces.
From Bristol to London, architects, planners and charities are developing unique styles of accommodation to cope with the housing crisis. With private rents increasing and the local housing allowance frozen until at least 2020, homelessness continues to spiral – last year Shelter said at least 320,000 people were homeless in Britain, up 4% on the previous year.
Continue reading...A wet autumn day is the perfect time to plan for next year
A wet October afternoon. Too wet for planned seaweed-feeding. Too wet to walk on the soil. A time to stay indoors and to think about spring and seed.
There are bowls and dishes and plates of seed cluttering the bookshelves; a large dish of dried bean pods in the kitchen (not to mention stashes downstairs).
Continue reading...A wet autumn day is the perfect time to plan for next year
A wet October afternoon. Too wet for planned seaweed-feeding. Too wet to walk on the soil. A time to stay indoors and to think about spring and seed.
There are bowls and dishes and plates of seed cluttering the bookshelves; a large dish of dried bean pods in the kitchen (not to mention stashes downstairs).
Continue reading...‘Modest’ decor lets the elegant interior architecture of an 1840 rectory in Cheltenham shine
She is the designer who made bunting, table confetti and cake toppers staples of party decorating. Yet you’re unlikely to have heard of Meredithe Stuart-Smith. The US-born entrepreneur began her business at a glitter-strewn kitchen table in 1985. The luxury department store Bergdorf Goodman, in New York, was her first client and she has been quietly busy ever since. Today, Meri Meri stationery, homewares, toys and reusable party trimmings, in her trademark pastels and neons, line the shelves of stores across the world.
“I’ve always designed for parents like me, who want to add a bit of magic to their children’s lives,” says Stuart-Smith, a mother of two. Many of those designs began here in the Cheltenham home she shares with her husband and grown-up son (her daughter now works in Birmingham). The four-bedroom property is set in a stucco-fronted 1840 rectory, which was sliced into three apartments in the 1950s. “The proportions are grand, but it’s not an overly elaborate house,” says Stuart-Smith, who has kept the decor accordingly “modest”. Walls are washed in a concert of bluey-whites; the original, wonky floorboards painted a shiny cocoa brown. Like her designs, the charm of this house lies in the details: a row of Surrealist plates, the swan-shaped cushion afloat on a petite sofa. “I’m drawn to things that are clean-lined, with a bit of fun thrown in,” she enthuses. “I love wallpaper and colour, but I couldn’t live with that intensity. I like to be able to see the wood through the leaves.”
Continue reading...‘Modest’ decor lets the elegant interior architecture of an 1840 rectory in Cheltenham shine
She is the designer who made bunting, table confetti and cake toppers staples of party decorating. Yet you’re unlikely to have heard of Meredithe Stuart-Smith. The US-born entrepreneur began her business at a glitter-strewn kitchen table in 1985. The luxury department store Bergdorf Goodman, in New York, was her first client and she has been quietly busy ever since. Today, Meri Meri stationery, homewares, toys and reusable party trimmings, in her trademark pastels and neons, line the shelves of stores across the world.
“I’ve always designed for parents like me, who want to add a bit of magic to their children’s lives,” says Stuart-Smith, a mother of two. Many of those designs began here in the Cheltenham home she shares with her husband and grown-up son (her daughter now works in Birmingham). The four-bedroom property is set in a stucco-fronted 1840 rectory, which was sliced into three apartments in the 1950s. “The proportions are grand, but it’s not an overly elaborate house,” says Stuart-Smith, who has kept the decor accordingly “modest”. Walls are washed in a concert of bluey-whites; the original, wonky floorboards painted a shiny cocoa brown. Like her designs, the charm of this house lies in the details: a row of Surrealist plates, the swan-shaped cushion afloat on a petite sofa. “I’m drawn to things that are clean-lined, with a bit of fun thrown in,” she enthuses. “I love wallpaper and colour, but I couldn’t live with that intensity. I like to be able to see the wood through the leaves.”
Continue reading...Visit Tom Hart Dyke’s World Garden and keep plants moist once the central heating goes on
Plant this A tree that smells like candyfloss? This is the secret superpower of the katsura (Cercidiphyllum japonicum); as well as smelling divine, the leaves flame orange, red and yellow before falling. Stands 20m when mature; for smaller plots, katsura ‘Boyd’s Dwarf’ gets to about 3m each way.
Visit this The World Garden of modern-day plant hunter Tom Hart Dyke, at Lullingstone Castle in Kent, is delightfully eccentric: the plot is laid out like a map, with plants arranged by region. Visit tomorrow for a Halloween event, including tours by Tom himself.
Continue reading...Gerry Dalton spent decades creating his extraordinary garden dedicated to folk art. Now he’s gone, can it be saved? Photographs by Jill Mead. Words by Alys Fowler
On a thin strip of bank alongside the Grand Union Canal in west London, under the shadow of Ernö Goldfinger’s Trellick Tower, is a rather unusual garden: a double row of topiary conifers in front of a plastered wall, which is peppered with bright decorative tiles, crystal doorknobs, busts, plaques and odds and ends from nearby Golborne Road market. Standing to attention in front of the wall is a row of stately figures – kings, queens, military heroes, poets and Roman emperors – like three-feet high chess pieces. And if you glimpse behind the wall, you will see a small, paved back garden filled with more statues.
Continue reading...Our gardening expert advises on planting for a bumper crop
If it weren’t for that blasted fly, I’d be queen of onions. The allium leaf miner shreds any whiff of the enzyme alliinase – it takes down leeks, bunching onions and garlic, and the only sure way around it is to barricade your crops with the finest of mesh netting or confuse the female so thoroughly with a blanket of other plants that she can’t find her way through to your crop (mint is quite effective as long as you can keep it from taking over). For the last few years I’ve been prepared to battle only on behalf of garlic, but I miss shallots, so I’ll darn all the holes in my mesh and protect those, too.
You have two choices with growing onions and shallots: you can either sow in early spring or plant as sets. The latter are immature onions or shallots that grow into mature bulbs. These are fairly easy to grow; you just nestle them into the soil so only the neck is sticking out.
Continue reading...Visit Tom Hart Dyke’s World Garden and keep plants moist once the central heating goes on
Plant this A tree that smells like candyfloss? This is the secret superpower of the katsura (Cercidiphyllum japonicum); as well as smelling divine, the leaves flame orange, red and yellow before falling. Stands 20m when mature; for smaller plots, katsura ‘Boyd’s Dwarf’ gets to about 3m each way.
Visit this The World Garden of modern-day plant hunter Tom Hart Dyke, at Lullingstone Castle in Kent, is delightfully eccentric: the plot is laid out like a map, with plants arranged by region. Visit tomorrow for a Halloween event, including tours by Tom himself.
Continue reading...Gerry Dalton spent decades creating his extraordinary garden dedicated to folk art. Now he’s gone, can it be saved? Photographs by Jill Mead. Words by Alys Fowler
On a thin strip of bank alongside the Grand Union Canal in west London, under the shadow of Ernö Goldfinger’s Trellick Tower, is a rather unusual garden: a double row of topiary conifers in front of a plastered wall, which is peppered with bright decorative tiles, crystal doorknobs, busts, plaques and odds and ends from nearby Golborne Road market. Standing to attention in front of the wall is a row of stately figures – kings, queens, military heroes, poets and Roman emperors – like three-feet high chess pieces. And if you glimpse behind the wall, you will see a small, paved back garden filled with more statues.
Continue reading...Our gardening expert advises on planting for a bumper crop
If it weren’t for that blasted fly, I’d be queen of onions. The allium leaf miner shreds any whiff of the enzyme alliinase – it takes down leeks, bunching onions and garlic, and the only sure way around it is to barricade your crops with the finest of mesh netting or confuse the female so thoroughly with a blanket of other plants that she can’t find her way through to your crop (mint is quite effective as long as you can keep it from taking over). For the last few years I’ve been prepared to battle only on behalf of garlic, but I miss shallots, so I’ll darn all the holes in my mesh and protect those, too.
You have two choices with growing onions and shallots: you can either sow in early spring or plant as sets. The latter are immature onions or shallots that grow into mature bulbs. These are fairly easy to grow; you just nestle them into the soil so only the neck is sticking out.
Continue reading...A building society is offering 100% mortgages to 18-year-olds while at university. Spoiler: you’ll need wealthy parents
Fancy literally lording it over your college flatmates? A growing number of building societies are offering deals that let young adults buy their university home and pay the monthly mortgage with the rent they charge other students.
This week the Vernon building society in Stockport, Greater Manchester, launched a range of “buy for uni” mortgages, the third lender to do so. The other two are the Bath and Loughborough building societies, though the property can be purchased at any university town in England and Wales.
Continue reading...Its beautiful architecture is mostly down to a spot of relatively benign dictatorship
What’s going for it? What a joyful town Tavistock is. Is there something in the Tavy? Or maybe it’s the town’s geographical DNA. The up-down topography, perhaps; the rollercoaster hills, Dartmoor photobombing at the end of every street? Its position, on the “other” side of Devon, means it’s rarely rammed with tourists and too far from anywhere much to have succumbed to chainstores and Frankie & Benny’s. Instead its centre is plump with (seemingly) perky shops, pubs, cafes and all manner of enterprises, like Creber’s grocery and Warrens bakery. Every street and alley is a delight, its beautiful architecture mostly down to a spot of relatively benign dictatorship. The Dukes of Bedford dominated the town until the 20th century, and the Bedfords were very partial to a grand design; it was they who commissioned Covent Garden’s piazza in London in the 17th century, bringing classical architecture to barbarous England, and they liberally peppered Tavistock with equally exotic delights. PS: you’re too late to fatten your goose for Christmas; Tavistock’s famous Goose Fair has just finished. What about a turkey crown from Iceland?
The case against Relatively off the beaten track, which has its advantages and its disadvantages. No trains (see below).
Continue reading...Its beautiful architecture is mostly down to a spot of relatively benign dictatorship
What’s going for it? What a joyful town Tavistock is. Is there something in the Tavy? Or maybe it’s the town’s geographical DNA. The up-down topography, perhaps; the rollercoaster hills, Dartmoor photobombing at the end of every street? Its position, on the “other” side of Devon, means it’s rarely rammed with tourists and too far from anywhere much to have succumbed to chainstores and Frankie & Benny’s. Instead its centre is plump with (seemingly) perky shops, pubs, cafes and all manner of enterprises, like Creber’s grocery and Warrens bakery. Every street and alley is a delight, its beautiful architecture mostly down to a spot of relatively benign dictatorship. The Dukes of Bedford dominated the town until the 20th century, and the Bedfords were very partial to a grand design; it was they who commissioned Covent Garden’s piazza in London in the 17th century, bringing classical architecture to barbarous England, and they liberally peppered Tavistock with equally exotic delights. PS: you’re too late to fatten your goose for Christmas; Tavistock’s famous Goose Fair has just finished. What about a turkey crown from Iceland?
The case against Relatively off the beaten track, which has its advantages and its disadvantages. No trains (see below).
Continue reading...These properties all sit on an island – for some you’ll need a ferry, for one you’ll need your own boat
Continue reading...Homebuyers and sellers could be required to sign £1,000 reservation agreements to make it harder to walk away
Could this mean an end to the heartache and expense of a house sale falling through? A revolutionary new scheme that would require a homebuyer or seller who pulls out of a transaction without a very good reason to pay compensation is set to be trialled by the government early next year.
Between a quarter and a third of all house sales fall through, resulting in huge amounts of stress and wasting hundreds of millions of pounds a year.
Continue reading...History never repeats itself but, according to the IMF, it might this time (Red alert as world ignores history lesson, 17 October). Despite countless publications and studies related to the 2008 financial crisis and its effect on the whole economic system, politicians, central banks and economic institutions seem to keep using the same logic that they used 10 years ago.
The decrease in interest rates caused by central banks’ policies provoked the boom of private debt held by companies. Together with the constant diminution of companies’ abilities to repay their debts, this presents a clear underlying problem and a terrible outlook of a new global economic crisis. By favouring short-term decisions and policies in order to maintain growth at an acceptable rate as the recent IMF report proves, central banks keep committing the same errors. Will the world economic system be able to avoid another crisis if we continue to accumulate more and more risk factors?
Milan Bollecker
Paris, France
Proposal to counter rising housing costs still requires approval by state parliament
Berlin’s state cabinet has agreed on a rent freeze for five years to counter rising housing costs in the German capital.
The city’s leftwing coalition government wants to freeze the rent for apartments built before 2014, according to a report by the German news agency dpa.
Continue reading...Changes to the Inheritance Tax system could have far-reaching implications for homeowners Recent post-Budget analysis may have concentrated on the U-turn over National Insurance for the self-employed, but another tax change introduced on 6 April 2017 could have far-reaching implications for homeowners. This tax change means parents and grandparents are able to leave homes worth […]
The post A guide to inheritance tax appeared first on OnTheMarket.com blog.
Candy’s investment vehicle may buy all of £2.3bn owner of Earl’s Court and Covent Garden sites
Multimillionaire property developer Nick Candy is considering a takeover bid for Capital & Counties (Capco), the FTSE-250 real estate company that owns much of Earl’s Court and Covent Garden in London.
Candy, 46, who developed the luxury One Hyde Park residential and retail complex in Knightsbridge with his brother, Christian, said his investment vehicle Candy Ventures was in “the early stages of considering” buying all of the shares of 85-year-old Capco.
Continue reading...More than 21,000 people applied to convert their vehicles into dwellings in the past year. This is why we need 21st-century council housing
Finally, an ingenious solution to a housing crisis that is sapping the quality of life of an entire generation: the humble van. More than 21,000 Britons applied to the DVLA in the past year – a rise of almost two-thirds in two years – to convert their van into a home. These can be furnished to include a shower, a bed, cooking facilities and a seating area. Apparently, some van homes even have hot tubs. With your cosy cubby-hole on wheels, you can escape the tyranny of a private rental sector defined by rip-off rents and a lack of security and roam the British landscape, unshackled, free!
Stop this – stop this immediately. This is yet another attempt to glamorise a national scandal, to dress up desperation at the inability of a wealthy society to provide one of the most basic needs of its citizens as kooky and fun. Will historians look back at this as a wacky, innovative trend, or will they write: “In 2019, citizens of the country with the sixth-biggest economy were forced to transform vehicles into places to live because of the lack of affordable housing”?
Continue reading...I’m buying the house with a new partner, but I am still named on a previous mortgage
Q Shortly before my ex-wife and I separated, we bought a house together. We are now divorced and both have new partners. I am still named on the mortgage and until recently was a joint tenant on the property with my now ex-wife.
I have just signed the paperwork to sever the joint tenancy and will become tenants in common. I also have no beneficial interest in the property since the date of our separation. My ex-wife is legally bound by court order to use all endeavours to release me from the mortgage on the property by May 2020.
Continue reading...Giant towers are sprouting up all over Manchester. But how will sky lounges and penthouse olive groves help the city’s rocketing homelessness problem?
‘Hell upon Earth” is how Friedrich Engels described Manchester’s Angel Meadow. This violent, squalid, disease-ridden district was one of the worst slums the revolutionary German thinker encountered on his tour of Victorian England. Everything about the place, he wrote in 1844, “arouses horror and indignation”.
Visiting today, he might be tempted to use the same words, for very different reasons. On either side of the leafy park, which undulates over the graves of 40,000 Victorian paupers, the bulky concrete frames of new apartment blocks are beginning to rise. They will ultimately become 17- and 22-storey slabs that will in turn be dwarfed by a 41-storey tower, all surrounding the park with a glacial wall of “ultra-sleek urban homes”. And not a single one affordable.
This is MeadowSide, a £200m development by the Far East Consortium, a Hong Kong developer registered in the tax haven of the Cayman Islands. This site – once the gateway to medieval Manchester and depicted in the paintings of LS Lowry – is being ripped up to make way for 756 luxury homes, many already sold off-plan to investors in Hong Kong. Brochures in the marketing suite describe it as a place “where glass meets grass and concrete meets conkers”. It’s also where the forces of international capital meet a city seemingly open to investment at any cost.
Continue reading...Are you looking for your next home to rent? Are you short of time but need to move fast? OnTheMarket.com offers top tips on what to think about. It’s important to ask your estate or letting agent the right questions when you search for a property to rent. “Competition can be fierce and time tight […]
The post Key questions to ask an agent when looking for a home to rent appeared first on OnTheMarket.com blog.
Ivy is a far simpler and more cost-effective way of cloaking buildings in green
The concept of the living wall has enjoyed a meteoric rise in popularity in recent years. What was once a design novelty at fancy flower shows has gone mainstream, and most major urban developments now seem to have at least part of their surface coated in a matrix of panels filled with growing substrate, allowing plants to colonise their surface. But, much as I love these technological marvels, there’s a far simpler, more cost-effective way to clothe buildings in a living cloak of green: plant some ivy.
Every time I walk past an incredibly complex watering system being installed and scores of workers on cranes hauling huge panels, I think to myself: “None of this is necessary!” Ivy is a cheaper, easier and far less risky option, and provides many of the same environmental and economic benefits as newfangled substrate-filled panels.
Continue reading...Ivy is a far simpler and more cost-effective way of cloaking buildings in green
The concept of the living wall has enjoyed a meteoric rise in popularity in recent years. What was once a design novelty at fancy flower shows has gone mainstream, and most major urban developments now seem to have at least part of their surface coated in a matrix of panels filled with growing substrate, allowing plants to colonise their surface. But, much as I love these technological marvels, there’s a far simpler, more cost-effective way to clothe buildings in a living cloak of green: plant some ivy.
Every time I walk past an incredibly complex watering system being installed and scores of workers on cranes hauling huge panels, I think to myself: “None of this is necessary!” Ivy is a cheaper, easier and far less risky option, and provides many of the same environmental and economic benefits as newfangled substrate-filled panels.
Continue reading...A few dry days and winter sun may hold back the decline. I’ll leave it late to save precious seed
Summer’s been dismantled. Packed away. The plot is hunkering down nearer the ground. Kala’s garden, too, has been half-cleared, now sitting in jugs and drying on shelves. Huge heads of sunflowers, seeds to be shared with friends and family.
I have left the sweet pea structures on the plot, though the flowers are long gone. Two have been colonised by nasturtiums, tendrils reaching hungrily out as though to snare passers-by. The last wigwam is now webbed by an iridescent morning glory, its seed sent to me by a reader. New to me, I will grow them again every year, purple as Prince.
Continue reading...A few dry days and winter sun may hold back the decline. I’ll leave it late to save precious seed
Summer’s been dismantled. Packed away. The plot is hunkering down nearer the ground. Kala’s garden, too, has been half-cleared, now sitting in jugs and drying on shelves. Huge heads of sunflowers, seeds to be shared with friends and family.
I have left the sweet pea structures on the plot, though the flowers are long gone. Two have been colonised by nasturtiums, tendrils reaching hungrily out as though to snare passers-by. The last wigwam is now webbed by an iridescent morning glory, its seed sent to me by a reader. New to me, I will grow them again every year, purple as Prince.
Continue reading...A common mistake among sellers is to set an unrealistic asking price for their home. RE/MAX London offer their advice. Although there are valuation tools available online, setting the correct value requires specific area knowledge, an understanding of market conditions and an insight into the minds of buyers. A number of aspects affect property pricing […]
The post Why it is important to set the right asking price appeared first on OnTheMarket.com blog.
Living above Leonardo’s Milanese vineyard is a constant source of inspiration for fashion designer Massimo Alba
Not many people can say that they share an address with Leonardo da Vinci, but Massimo Alba can. The fashion designer’s Milan apartment is part of the Casa degli Atellani, an elegant palazzo and one of the city’s most celebrated museums. It is also home to the vineyard gifted to da Vinci by the Duke of Milan, Ludovico Maria Sforza, in 1498.
“Every time I come home, I feel privileged to be living in this terrific place, surrounded by good energy,” says Alba as he leads the way through the museum to the garden where the Renaissance artist tended to his vines.
Continue reading...Living above Leonardo’s Milanese vineyard is a constant source of inspiration for fashion designer Massimo Alba
Not many people can say that they share an address with Leonardo da Vinci, but Massimo Alba can. The fashion designer’s Milan apartment is part of the Casa degli Atellani, an elegant palazzo and one of the city’s most celebrated museums. It is also home to the vineyard gifted to da Vinci by the Duke of Milan, Ludovico Maria Sforza, in 1498.
“Every time I come home, I feel privileged to be living in this terrific place, surrounded by good energy,” says Alba as he leads the way through the museum to the garden where the Renaissance artist tended to his vines.
Continue reading...When a three-generation family moved to a smallholding in Wales, they reimagined an old military shelter as a stylish second space
A rusting wartime Nissen hut was not in the gameplan when architect Damon Webb moved from Brighton to mid-Wales with his daughter and her family four years ago. Tired of the fast pace and density of people where he lived, Webb, 52, was searching for an alternative. He wanted space to keep bees and chickens, and to pursue his interests in permaculture, self-sufficiency and the humane rearing of animals.
Continue reading...Split large rhubarb plants and find a local apple day event
Plant this Garlic chives (Allium tuberosum) are the plant that keeps on giving. Harvest the mildly garlicky leaves, then enjoy the white flowers in late summer through to autumn (they are also edible). This perennial herb needs full sun, and will only die back in harsh winters. Height and spread 30cm x 25cm.
Split this If your rhubarb is huge but not very productive, it’s time to split the clump. Dig out the crown and use a pruning saw to cut it into pieces, each bit with a visible growing point; chuck away anything dead or mushy (be brutal). Replant with the top of the crown on the surface of the soil.
Continue reading...Mass tree planting may be one of the simplest and cheapest ways to help the environment – and now is the time to get started
My friend Ming is a friend of oaks. Whenever she sees a sapling that’s doomed to be mown or trampled, or has appeared in the middle of a vegetable bed, she is there to rehome it. Now, when I see an oak sapling in the wrong spot, I think of her and move it. To love trees is to invest hope in the future. To have faith in times to come is not easy right now, but there is scientific evidence that mass tree planting may be one of the simplest and cheapest ways to reduce our impact on our ecosystem.
We will need a lot of trees, however – more than a trillion, and they will have to span the globe. They will not negate climate change on their own, but they will store carbon, help clean the air, filter and slow down rainwater to help prevent flooding and, if a diverse bunch is planted, help increase biodiversity. A target of a trillion trees needs worldwide backing from every country and every government. It’s easy to feel pessimistic about the likelihood of that.
Continue reading...When a three-generation family moved to a smallholding in Wales, they reimagined an old military shelter as a stylish second space
A rusting wartime Nissen hut was not in the gameplan when architect Damon Webb moved from Brighton to mid-Wales with his daughter and her family four years ago. Tired of the fast pace and density of people where he lived, Webb, 52, was searching for an alternative. He wanted space to keep bees and chickens, and to pursue his interests in permaculture, self-sufficiency and the humane rearing of animals.
Continue reading...Split large rhubarb plants and find a local apple day event
Plant this Garlic chives (Allium tuberosum) are the plant that keeps on giving. Harvest the mildly garlicky leaves, then enjoy the white flowers in late summer through to autumn (they are also edible). This perennial herb needs full sun, and will only die back in harsh winters. Height and spread 30cm x 25cm.
Split this If your rhubarb is huge but not very productive, it’s time to split the clump. Dig out the crown and use a pruning saw to cut it into pieces, each bit with a visible growing point; chuck away anything dead or mushy (be brutal). Replant with the top of the crown on the surface of the soil.
Continue reading...Mass tree planting may be one of the simplest and cheapest ways to help the environment – and now is the time to get started
My friend Ming is a friend of oaks. Whenever she sees a sapling that’s doomed to be mown or trampled, or has appeared in the middle of a vegetable bed, she is there to rehome it. Now, when I see an oak sapling in the wrong spot, I think of her and move it. To love trees is to invest hope in the future. To have faith in times to come is not easy right now, but there is scientific evidence that mass tree planting may be one of the simplest and cheapest ways to reduce our impact on our ecosystem.
We will need a lot of trees, however – more than a trillion, and they will have to span the globe. They will not negate climate change on their own, but they will store carbon, help clean the air, filter and slow down rainwater to help prevent flooding and, if a diverse bunch is planted, help increase biodiversity. A target of a trillion trees needs worldwide backing from every country and every government. It’s easy to feel pessimistic about the likelihood of that.
Continue reading...Homeowners fleeing toxic relationships can get stuck with large mortgages they can’t escape
Four years ago, without a word of warning, Wendy’s estranged husband stopped paying his share of the mortgage, leaving the mother of one to pay the full £1,100 a month.
Despite this, Wendy*, 46, was still at the mercy of her abusive ex, who prevented the sale of the property and refused to sign the papers when she negotiated a new mortgage rate.
Continue reading...First-time buyers could end up paying a lot more – and not be mortgage-free until their 70s
Mortgages with a maximum term of 40 years are now becoming the norm, according to new data this week. However, with the average age of a first-time buyer standing at 32, that raises the prospect of a generation of homeowners not achieving mortgage-free status until they are in their 70s.
Latest research from the data experts at Moneyfacts.co.uk shows that 57% of the residential mortgage products currently available have a standard maximum term of up to 40 years – up from just under 36% in March 2014.
Continue reading...Empty properties can often be undesired or even overlooked but they can offer potential buyers many benefits. Find out why an empty home may be worth a second look. Unfurnished homes can be beautiful but they do not appear to attract the same level of attention as furnished properties. While it is true that good […]
The post Top tips for viewing empty properties appeared first on OnTheMarket.com blog.
It’s full of pinnacles, crow-stepped gables and baronial turrets as if Disney’s imagineers had sketched it themselves
What’s going for it? In the – almost – words of Chandler from Friends: “Could anywhere be more Scottish?” Don’t @ me. Don’t write in. Here’s my pitch, hear me out. Dumfries was the home of Robert Burns. Back of the net. You can pay your respects at his statue opposite Nationwide Building Society, at his little sandstone house, or in person at his mausoleum in St Michael’s churchyard. Second: its warm red stone streets are chock-full of pinnacles, crow-stepped gables and baronial turrets, as if Disney’s imagineers had sketched it themselves. Third: in the late 13th century William Wallace and the townsfolk saw off the invading English here. Fourth: soon after, Robert the Bruce began his campaign for independence in Dumfries (and, at Bannockburn, won). Fifth: the remarkable, romantic hinterland – the red kites and pine forests of the Galloway hills, the ruined castles and abbeys of the Nith estuary, the white sands of the Solway coast – could turn Alf Garnett Hibernian. I could go on.
The case against A tad off the beaten track these days.
Continue reading...It’s full of pinnacles, crow-stepped gables and baronial turrets as if Disney’s imagineers had sketched it themselves
What’s going for it? In the – almost – words of Chandler from Friends: “Could anywhere be more Scottish?” Don’t @ me. Don’t write in. Here’s my pitch, hear me out. Dumfries was the home of Robert Burns. Back of the net. You can pay your respects at his statue opposite Nationwide Building Society, at his little sandstone house, or in person at his mausoleum in St Michael’s churchyard. Second: its warm red stone streets are chock-full of pinnacles, crow-stepped gables and baronial turrets, as if Disney’s imagineers had sketched it themselves. Third: in the late 13th century William Wallace and the townsfolk saw off the invading English here. Fourth: soon after, Robert the Bruce began his campaign for independence in Dumfries (and, at Bannockburn, won). Fifth: the remarkable, romantic hinterland – the red kites and pine forests of the Galloway hills, the ruined castles and abbeys of the Nith estuary, the white sands of the Solway coast – could turn Alf Garnett Hibernian. I could go on.
The case against A tad off the beaten track these days.
Continue reading...These properties with influential former owners might just get your vote
Continue reading...Empty driveways in London can earn their homeowners up to £5,860 per year, with the first £1,000 tax-free, making them some of the highest earning driveways in the UK, data from parking app firm JustPark has found. According to Direct Line Car Insurance, 3.5 million Britons are renting out their parking space and across the […]
The post Revealed: The UK’s most valuable driveways appeared first on OnTheMarket.com blog.
Renowned horticulturist who created the spectacular Rosemoor garden in Devon and nurtured the grounds of the Hackfalls Arboretum in New Zealand
iIn the world of horticulture, only a few people have managed to create a garden of world renown. Lady Anne Berry, however, played an active part in making two. In the UK she is known as the founder of Rosemoor, the Royal Horticultural Society’s garden in Devon, and in New Zealand is admired for her role in nurturing the beautiful grounds of Hackfalls Arboretum on North Island.
Berry, who has died aged 99, donated her house at Rosemoor, plus its eight-acre garden and a further 32 acres of pasture, to the RHS in 1988, having established a collection of rare and unusual trees, many of which were grown from seed she had collected herself. Two years later, after marrying the dendrologist Bob Berry, she resettled on his family’s ranch, Hackfalls Station in New Zealand, and set about expanding and improving upon its Homestead Garden, planting hundreds of rare specimens and native plants.
Continue reading...Renowned horticulturist who created the spectacular Rosemoor garden in Devon and nurtured the grounds of the Hackfalls Arboretum in New Zealand
iIn the world of horticulture, only a few people have managed to create a garden of world renown. Lady Anne Berry, however, played an active part in making two. In the UK she is known as the founder of Rosemoor, the Royal Horticultural Society’s garden in Devon, and in New Zealand is admired for her role in nurturing the beautiful grounds of Hackfalls Arboretum on North Island.
Berry, who has died aged 99, donated her house at Rosemoor, plus its eight-acre garden and a further 32 acres of pasture, to the RHS in 1988, having established a collection of rare and unusual trees, many of which were grown from seed she had collected herself. Two years later, after marrying the dendrologist Bob Berry, she resettled on his family’s ranch, Hackfalls Station in New Zealand, and set about expanding and improving upon its Homestead Garden, planting hundreds of rare specimens and native plants.
Continue reading...If you can’t afford to buy, renting is cheaper. Right? Well the latest figures show that might not be the case. Here the Money Advice Service looks at whether buying a home costs less than renting Content provided by OnTheMarket.com is for information purposes only. Independent and professional advice should be taken before buying, selling, letting […]
The post Is it cheaper to rent or buy a home? appeared first on OnTheMarket.com blog.
Two of the Grand Designs presenter’s businesses have been affected
Two companies in Grand Designs presenter Kevin McCloud’s property empire have gone into liquidation, weeks after the Guardian first revealed that investors in his projects faced huge losses.
KPMG has been appointed to manage the liquidation of HAB Land and subsidiary firm HAB Land Finance.
Continue reading...From cosmic sculpture gardens inspired by science to an ultra-stylised home, we celebrate the work of the great designer and landscape architect
Continue reading...From cosmic sculpture gardens inspired by science to an ultra-stylised home, we celebrate the work of the great designer and landscape architect
Continue reading...Are you thinking about packing up your family home and finding somewhere smaller to live? Here, the NAEA Propertymark offers advice to make the process a little easier: Planning is key – Packing your home into boxes can be a real chore, particularly when you are moving to a smaller property, but planning well in advance can […]
The post A guide to downsizing appeared first on OnTheMarket.com blog.
Architectural historian, garden designer and writer who was regarded as the godfather of postmodernism
Charles Jencks, the architectural historian, patron of the Maggie’s Centres and designer of cosmic gardens, who has died aged 80, pinpointed the expiry of modernism to a precise moment in history. “Modern architecture died in St Louis, Missouri on July 15, 1972, at 3.32pm (or thereabouts),” he wrote, “when the infamous Pruitt-Igoe scheme, or rather, several of its slab blocks, were given the final coup de grace by dynamite.”
He was referring to the notorious failed housing estate , which he thought embodied everything that was wrong with the dogmatic principles of modern architecture and urban planning. In its place, he announced, would come the brave new epoch of “Post-Modern” architecture, a style of “radical eclecticism” that would return content, meaning and metaphor to the built environment. With his pithy, polemic writing, he saw to it over the coming decades that the style wars were never far from the headlines.
Continue reading...Architectural historian, garden designer and writer who was regarded as the godfather of postmodernism
Charles Jencks, the architectural historian, patron of the Maggie’s Centres and designer of cosmic gardens, who has died aged 80, pinpointed the expiry of modernism to a precise moment in history. “Modern architecture died in St Louis, Missouri on July 15, 1972, at 3.32pm (or thereabouts),” he wrote, “when the infamous Pruitt-Igoe scheme, or rather, several of its slab blocks, were given the final coup de grace by dynamite.”
He was referring to the notorious failed housing estate , which he thought embodied everything that was wrong with the dogmatic principles of modern architecture and urban planning. In its place, he announced, would come the brave new epoch of “Post-Modern” architecture, a style of “radical eclecticism” that would return content, meaning and metaphor to the built environment. With his pithy, polemic writing, he saw to it over the coming decades that the style wars were never far from the headlines.
Continue reading...The process of buying your first home can be daunting at times, especially when there are several legal terms to understand before signing on the dotted line. This guide should help to ease the process. To ensure important information is understood, it is really important that as a first-time buyer, you are familiar with some […]
The post Ten legal terms first-time buyers should know appeared first on OnTheMarket.com blog.
Homes within 100 metres of green space drew price premium of 1.1%, while views over water added 1.8%
Living near a park, public garden or playing fields can add an average of £2,500 to the price of your property, according to official data. And having a view of green space or water boosts prices even more.
While many will not be surprised to learn that a bit of nature on the doorstep is a desirable feature among homebuyers, this data is from the official Office for National Statistics, so it can arguably be relied upon more than findings from estate agents and other commercial bodies.
Continue reading...The housing association’s surveyor seems to have priced about £50,000 too low
Q We are currently in the process of selling our 40% share in a shared ownership property.
The rules of the housing association are that we have to sell for the price a Rics surveyor sets.
We had our valuation done last week by a local, recommended chartered surveyor and it came in at about £50,000 less than what we were expecting. Now I know everyone thinks their house is worth more than it is, but we were actually being quite conservative in our estimates even though a comparable property in our development recently sold for £85,000 more than our valuation. I rang the surveyor and argued my case, he then re-sent his report and overnight the valuation had increased by £15,000. However, this is still significantly less than we had hoped. Is there anything that we can reasonably do regarding this or do we just accept it get moving? The housing association has one week left to find a buyer for our share then we can put it on the open market. The housing association rules state we cannot sell for more without the surveyor’s agreement, so shall we risk putting on the market for more, in the hope he might agree?
It was gratifying to learn that the RIBA Stirling prize has been awarded for Norwich council’s Goldsmith Street during the centenary year of Christopher Addison’s Homes Fit for Heroes initiative (Award for best new UK building goes to council housing project for first time, 9 October).
As Oliver Wainwright reports, the council could build more housing if right to buy was reformed – or, better still, abolished. When the scheme was first introduced in 1979, Norwich councillors – led by their housing chair, the late Lady Patricia Hollis – took a stand against the Thatcher government by refusing to treat sales as an urgent priority. The minister responsible, Michael Heseltine, sent in Whitehall officials to oversee sales for several years. Let’s hope that in future councils will be able to circumvent legislation on forced privatisation.
Dr Michael Passmore
Greenwich, London
Never overlook the loveliness of green, most delicately nuanced of colours
They say if you find a job you love, you will never work a day in your life. However, what they don’t tell you is that it works both ways. As someone lucky enough to have their passion as their profession, believe me when I tell you it means you never, ever switch off. At the cinema with my mates, just as I am losing myself in the action, a forest of British birch trees will suddenly appear in the backdrop of what is meant to be a camp of Congolese mercenaries. I’ll go on holiday and find myself fishing mystery leaves out of cocktails to see if I can identify them. I’ll be sat at lunch with non-plant people and if the conversation turns to food, I have the irrepressible compulsion to tell them facts about vegetables. Trust me, it’s a curse.
Human eyes are great at distinguishing shades of green because it allows us to tell the toxic from the tasty
Continue reading...Never overlook the loveliness of green, most delicately nuanced of colours
They say if you find a job you love, you will never work a day in your life. However, what they don’t tell you is that it works both ways. As someone lucky enough to have their passion as their profession, believe me when I tell you it means you never, ever switch off. At the cinema with my mates, just as I am losing myself in the action, a forest of British birch trees will suddenly appear in the backdrop of what is meant to be a camp of Congolese mercenaries. I’ll go on holiday and find myself fishing mystery leaves out of cocktails to see if I can identify them. I’ll be sat at lunch with non-plant people and if the conversation turns to food, I have the irrepressible compulsion to tell them facts about vegetables. Trust me, it’s a curse.
Human eyes are great at distinguishing shades of green because it allows us to tell the toxic from the tasty
Continue reading...It’s never too late to try something new, whether it is ‘super plugs’ or wire tunnels…
It seems you are never too old to try new gardening thinking. For the first time I have veered from seed, succumbed to an email ad and bought Organic Gardening Catalogue ‘super plugs’. Specifically: 10 Winter Density lettuce, 20 Bright Lights rainbow chard and 20 Nero di Toscana kale.
All organically grown, of course, and all replanted now on the plot in space opened by fallen sunflowers – felled at last by the first heavy rain and winds – and by lifting the last of the beetroots.
Continue reading...It’s never too late to try something new, whether it is ‘super plugs’ or wire tunnels…
It seems you are never too old to try new gardening thinking. For the first time I have veered from seed, succumbed to an email ad and bought Organic Gardening Catalogue ‘super plugs’. Specifically: 10 Winter Density lettuce, 20 Bright Lights rainbow chard and 20 Nero di Toscana kale.
All organically grown, of course, and all replanted now on the plot in space opened by fallen sunflowers – felled at last by the first heavy rain and winds – and by lifting the last of the beetroots.
Continue reading...Remodelling an old house by the sea gave this family the chance to shape their future – and meet the community
Marine Parade is a dead-straight road that faces the cliff-top lawns of Tankerton Slopes just outside Whitstable on the north coast of Kent. The grassy slopes, popular with cyclists, dog walkers and joggers, lead down to a row of wooden beach huts and a quiet, shingle beach divided by wooden groynes. At low tide, a natural causeway known as the Street appears, making it possible to walk along the shingle spit with the estuary’s waters on either side. Six miles out to sea, the turbines of the Kentish Flats wind farm are just about visible. This is the view from Mel Payne’s first floor.
“We were looking for something that was a bit life-changing,” she explains. “We’d lived on an island for quite a long time. Autism and twins will do that to a family, I think. You can be accidentally isolated, and this house takes us off that island.” Mel lives with her husband, Steve, a project manager for the NHS, their 11-year-old son Gus, who is autistic, and their seven-year-old twins, Tess and Elsa.
Continue reading...Remodelling an old house by the sea gave this family the chance to shape their future – and meet the community
Marine Parade is a dead-straight road that faces the cliff-top lawns of Tankerton Slopes just outside Whitstable on the north coast of Kent. The grassy slopes, popular with cyclists, dog walkers and joggers, lead down to a row of wooden beach huts and a quiet, shingle beach divided by wooden groynes. At low tide, a natural causeway known as the Street appears, making it possible to walk along the shingle spit with the estuary’s waters on either side. Six miles out to sea, the turbines of the Kentish Flats wind farm are just about visible. This is the view from Mel Payne’s first floor.
“We were looking for something that was a bit life-changing,” she explains. “We’d lived on an island for quite a long time. Autism and twins will do that to a family, I think. You can be accidentally isolated, and this house takes us off that island.” Mel lives with her husband, Steve, a project manager for the NHS, their 11-year-old son Gus, who is autistic, and their seven-year-old twins, Tess and Elsa.
Continue reading...Architect Gisbert Pöppler’s home is a shrine to the city’s past – and a collection he’s built up over the 30 years since the Wall came down
Whenever Gisbert Pöppler has people over for dinner, the ghosts of Berlin’s past are guests of honour. Grouped around the dining table in his apartment in Berlin’s central Mitte district are three velvet armchairs the interior architect salvaged from what he calls the “Honecker lounge” at East Germany’s State Council Building, moulded over time by the well-nourished bottoms of Soviet apparatchiks. The table itself was formerly a conference table at Berlin’s Evangelical Academy, and if you look under the table top you realise the short legs are propped up on some old-fashioned metal money boxes, like a piece of concept art. “I’ve always wondered why this table is so low,” Pöppler says as he strolls through his apartment on sunny autumn morning. “One theory is that the Protestant church didn’t want people in important meetings to be able to hide behind the furniture. Isn’t that a beautiful idea?”
Pöppler, whose practice usually designs and builds living spaces for other people, lives in an apartment that not only speaks of his love for the ideas behind everyday objects, but also doubles as a museum of the German capital’s tumultuous history.
Continue reading...Growing mushrooms from scratch requires care, so start with a kit and go from there, says our gardening expert
Whether it’s microdosing with psychedelic mushrooms, seeking biodegradable alternatives to polystyrene, or mycologist Paul Stamets’ TED talk (over 5m views on ted.com), fungi is a hot topic. Mushroom gardens are spaces to grow gourmet delights such as oyster or shiitake mushrooms: think elegant woodland dwellings with logs and woodchip beds. Fungi are the perfect solution for slightly damp, shady city gardens, or that spot under a tree where nothing grows. Instead of battling to get plants to take hold, inoculate your ground with mushrooms instead.
Continue reading...Then plant euphorbias and visit Beth Chatto’s garden
Plant this I love Euphorbia characias, and it loves me – or at least my garden. I love the cream and green cultivar ‘Tasmanian Tiger’, which has an award of garden merit from the RHS; it thrives in full sun and well-drained soil. Height and spread: 55cm x 80cm.
Leaf this The urge to tidy is strong at this time of year, but remember that wildlife needs plant debris for winter hidey-holes. Clear fallen leaves from paths, and rake them up from the lawn, but leave borders untouched (aside from removing any diseased leaves) to benefit hedgehogs and insects.
Continue reading...Architect Gisbert Pöppler’s home is a shrine to the city’s past – and a collection he’s built up over the 30 years since the Wall came down
Whenever Gisbert Pöppler has people over for dinner, the ghosts of Berlin’s past are guests of honour. Grouped around the dining table in his apartment in Berlin’s central Mitte district are three velvet armchairs the interior architect salvaged from what he calls the “Honecker lounge” at East Germany’s State Council Building, moulded over time by the well-nourished bottoms of Soviet apparatchiks. The table itself was formerly a conference table at Berlin’s Evangelical Academy, and if you look under the table top you realise the short legs are propped up on some old-fashioned metal money boxes, like a piece of concept art. “I’ve always wondered why this table is so low,” Pöppler says as he strolls through his apartment on sunny autumn morning. “One theory is that the Protestant church didn’t want people in important meetings to be able to hide behind the furniture. Isn’t that a beautiful idea?”
Pöppler, whose practice usually designs and builds living spaces for other people, lives in an apartment that not only speaks of his love for the ideas behind everyday objects, but also doubles as a museum of the German capital’s tumultuous history.
Continue reading...Growing mushrooms from scratch requires care, so start with a kit and go from there, says our gardening expert
Whether it’s microdosing with psychedelic mushrooms, seeking biodegradable alternatives to polystyrene, or mycologist Paul Stamets’ TED talk (over 5m views on ted.com), fungi is a hot topic. Mushroom gardens are spaces to grow gourmet delights such as oyster or shiitake mushrooms: think elegant woodland dwellings with logs and woodchip beds. Fungi are the perfect solution for slightly damp, shady city gardens, or that spot under a tree where nothing grows. Instead of battling to get plants to take hold, inoculate your ground with mushrooms instead.
Continue reading...Then plant euphorbias and visit Beth Chatto’s garden
Plant this I love Euphorbia characias, and it loves me – or at least my garden. I love the cream and green cultivar ‘Tasmanian Tiger’, which has an award of garden merit from the RHS; it thrives in full sun and well-drained soil. Height and spread: 55cm x 80cm.
Leaf this The urge to tidy is strong at this time of year, but remember that wildlife needs plant debris for winter hidey-holes. Clear fallen leaves from paths, and rake them up from the lawn, but leave borders untouched (aside from removing any diseased leaves) to benefit hedgehogs and insects.
Continue reading...If you plan to be a first-time buyer, getting a help-to-buy Isa is a no-brainer – but you need to get a move on
Time is running out if you haven’t taken advantage of the government’s offer of free money towards buying your first home.
That’s because the help-to-buy Isa – with which the government will give you up to £3,000 with only some strings attached – closes to new savers on 30 November. Provided you are in before that date, you can continue tucking money away for another 10 years.
Continue reading...Residents are furious at a massive bill for fixing structures they say are the landlord’s responsibility
The owners of six flats have been left reeling after being hit with a bill for £31,000 from their landlord – for repairing two small wooden balconies which the residents claim had been left to rot through lack of maintenance.
They also say the demand is almost seven times the £4,500 figure for tackling the problem quoted in a report commissioned by the landlord.
Continue reading...Buying and selling houses inevitably comes with highs and lows. A particular low can be when buyers drop out. But what should you do if the worst happens? And how can you be in the best position to prevent it? Identify the issue and deal with it A sale could fall through for a number […]
The post What to do if your buyers keep pulling out appeared first on OnTheMarket.com blog.
This seaside town has stepped out of the shadow of its twin. One could say it was gentrifying, were it not built for the gentry
What’s going for it? St Leonards has come of age. For years, all talk has been of its elderly twin, Hastings, newly colonised by rat-race escapees, with their boutiques selling linocut prints or vintage eccles cakes. But slowly, to the west, its neighbour has been undergoing its own metamorphosis. It is very much yin to Hastings’ yang. Whereas Hastings’ Old Town is all higgledy half-timber and tattooed sea dogs, hipster or otherwise, St Leonards has from its birth been a refined, Regency place. Work began on the town in 1826, by a prescient down-from-London-er, James Burton, a property developer who built much of Bloomsbury, and his son, Decimus, an architect. Their work survives, its stucco now largely freshly painted and reappreciated after the doldrum decades. Shab remains, but also the flipside, a slightly anarchic freedom and odd shops that come from low (although risen) property prices. One could say St Leonards was gentrifying, were it not in fact built for the gentry.
The case against Don’t mention the G-word, or call it, as some property column or other (was it me?) did a decade ago, “Portobello-on-Sea”. It is not, although the interiors bloggers are coming. Still host to the usual ingrained seaside town problems. Traffic.
Continue reading...This seaside town has stepped out of the shadow of its twin. One could say it was gentrifying, were it not built for the gentry
What’s going for it? St Leonards has come of age. For years, all talk has been of its elderly twin, Hastings, newly colonised by rat-race escapees, with their boutiques selling linocut prints or vintage eccles cakes. But slowly, to the west, its neighbour has been undergoing its own metamorphosis. It is very much yin to Hastings’ yang. Whereas Hastings’ Old Town is all higgledy half-timber and tattooed sea dogs, hipster or otherwise, St Leonards has from its birth been a refined, Regency place. Work began on the town in 1826, by a prescient down-from-London-er, James Burton, a property developer who built much of Bloomsbury, and his son, Decimus, an architect. Their work survives, its stucco now largely freshly painted and reappreciated after the doldrum decades. Shab remains, but also the flipside, a slightly anarchic freedom and odd shops that come from low (although risen) property prices. One could say St Leonards was gentrifying, were it not in fact built for the gentry.
The case against Don’t mention the G-word, or call it, as some property column or other (was it me?) did a decade ago, “Portobello-on-Sea”. It is not, although the interiors bloggers are coming. Still host to the usual ingrained seaside town problems. Traffic.
Continue reading...The website has revealed the properties that received the most clicks in September
Continue reading...What’s hot and what’s not in fashion this week
Pets on planes On a flight to Milan, Kendall Jenner wore a top paying homage to her dog – the fashion equivalent of an emotional support animal.
Continue reading...Buying a new home can be an exciting, but nail-biting experience. “The house buying process in this country is fraught with bumps on the road, unexpected events and start-stop moments,” says Philip Norgan, Sales and Lettings Manager at Martin Kemps estate agents. “With the best will in the world, there will be hiccups along the way. Be prepared for […]
The post A guide to buying a property appeared first on OnTheMarket.com blog.
