From historic town houses perched on a steep city street, to a villa on the slopes of the Malvern Hills
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Thursday, April 30, 2020
Homes on a hillside for sale – in pictures
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Country diary: one lone earwig stands her ground in the logpile
Langstone, Hampshire: She guards a clutch of 40 eggs with a maternal care that is unusual among insects
Hidden away in a damp, shady corner at the foot of my fence, a half-metre-high heap of logs and leaves has rotted down to rich humus, the few remaining tree stumps and branches pitted with insect boreholes.
As I turn over a partially buried tunnel of bark, woodlice scatter, a cluster of garden and brown-lipped snails shrink back into their banded shells, and a common cryptops centipede scuttles for cover.
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Lessons property seekers in lockdown can learn from past moves Nottingham Estate Agents
Many would-be property buyers are spending time online looking at potential purchases for when lockdown is over. On behalf of OnTheMarket, Stephen Ward, director of strategy and external relations at the Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC), considers why now is a good time for these property seekers to look at what they can learn from […]
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Country diary: one lone earwig stands her ground in the logpile
Langstone, Hampshire: She guards a clutch of 40 eggs with a maternal care that is unusual among insects
Hidden away in a damp, shady corner at the foot of my fence, a half-metre-high heap of logs and leaves has rotted down to rich humus, the few remaining tree stumps and branches pitted with insect boreholes.
As I turn over a partially buried tunnel of bark, woodlice scatter, a cluster of garden and brown-lipped snails shrink back into their banded shells, and a common cryptops centipede scuttles for cover.
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Fatcat developers created our housing crisis. Here's how to stop them
Housebuilders, armed with foreign cash and backed by top lobbyists, keep property prices high. But author Bob Colenutt has brilliantly exposed the grip they have on Britain
If you want to see who influences the government, you can do worse than look at Whitehall’s neighbours. In a grand Victorian building opposite the House of Commons in Parliament Square stands the headquarters of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. With a history dating back to 1792, the RICS is an illustrious professional body, promoting the highest international standards in the valuation and development of land and property. But it has another side.
Its royal charter states that it exists to serve the public interest, yet most of its members’ fees come from landowners and developers, not the public sector. Through its Red Book, the RICS sets the standards by which land and property are valued, but it is one of the most powerful lobbying groups in the development industry, representing the interests of landowners and developers at the highest levels of government. It directly advised on the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) in 2012, which led to 1,300 pages of policy being reduced to 65 in a triumphant bonfire of red tape, and it has numerous committees influencing policy on all aspects of land planning and valuation. It describes part of its mission as “unlocking the inherent value held within the world’s physical assets”, but the question is, for whom is the value being unlocked? And who, consequently, is missing out?
In the eyes of Bob Colenutt, the answer is clear. In his urgent new book, The Property Lobby, he identifies the RICS as one of numerous actors in a complex network of landowners, housebuilders, financial backers, professional bodies and politicians who are engaged in propping up the status quo to ensure that their interests prosper – at the expense of everyone else. The housing crisis is no accident, he argues, but the calculated product of an elite group who have no reason to fix it.
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Lettings agency spreads positivity among tenants with live videos
X1 Lettings, which provides student accommodation and homes for young professionals, has been using Instagram to connect with clients in lockdown.
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Wednesday, April 29, 2020
Ten ways to add space and value to your home Nottingham Estate Agents
Selling your home quickly and for the right amount is about giving your property the edge over others. Major conversion projects, such as excavating basements or building conservatories, take time and money but they can yield excellent returns. Loft conversions, for example, can add up to 15 per cent to a property’s selling price. But […]
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How can billions of people 'stay home' to beat Covid-19 without a safe place to live? | Leilani Farha
This pandemic has shown governments can solve homelessness. Here’s a must-do list to provide housing for all
It has taken a deadly global pandemic to shake governments to the core and trigger an understanding that having a safe home might be central to human survival.
In my six years as the UN’s watchdog on housing and human rights, the concept of home has never been under this kind of global spotlight. But it is bitterly disappointing that billions of people living in deplorable housing conditions with no access to water or sanitation, being homeless, or constantly at threat of eviction did not merit this kind of attention before.
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Tuesday, April 28, 2020
A €22m chair? Eileen Gray, the design genius who scared the pants off Corbusier
Her ravishing interiors shocked Paris, thrilled the avant-garde and gave the world its most expensive chair. But the fast-living aristocrat wasn’t just overlooked – Le Corbusier actually vandalised her work naked
‘A room fit only for nightmares and insomnia.” This was the response of one critic to Eileen Gray’s radical scheme for a bedroom in 1923, installed at the 14th Salon de la Société des Artistes Décorateurs in Paris. The Irish designer’s daring Boudoir for Monte Carlo was a shock to French tastes. Her zebra-wood divan stood before wall panels lacquered with abstract red and white shapes. It was flanked by two screens made of glossy white bricks, while a blue lantern dangled above a carpet swirling with further abstract squiggles. “A chamber for the daughter of Dr Caligari in all its horrors,” concluded another reviewer.
Despite all the abuse, Gray received an admiring postcard from JJP Oud, the leading architect of the Dutch De Stijl movement, who saw her installation pictured in a journal. “I am highly interested and should like to see any more of your works,” he wrote. “I saw until now very few good modern interiors.” In a PS, he added: “Do you have any modern ‘movement’ in your country?”
You might think of 1920s Paris as being at the cutting edge of modern style, but it took the bedroom fantasy of an Irishwoman from County Wexford to catch the eye of the European avant garde. Her curious design is reproduced in a substantial new book from Yale University Press, published this month to accompany an exhibition on Gray at the Bard Graduate Center Gallery in New York – which has now, like every other venue, been forced to close its doors. When it reopens, visitors will be treated to a collection of 200 objects, including never-before-exhibited furniture, lacquer works, architectural drawings and ephemera. Like the book, these paint a complex picture of Gray as a multifaceted creator.
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Nine top tips for selling your home if you have a pet Nottingham Estate Agents
Not every buyer will feel the same as you do about your beloved pet. OnTheMarket agent Aberdein Considine offers top tips on how to ensure potential buyers are not put off by the negatives which sometimes come with owning a pet. Minimise the negatives 1. Remember to repair any damage caused by pets, including carpets, […]
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New video by Rightmove on YouTube
Is the housing market in lockdown?
For more information and advice visit: https://ift.tt/3b8fXgR
View on YouTube
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Star property over £500,000 Nottingham Estate Agents
From the moment you start up the driveway this Grade II-listed Victorian Gothic masterpiece is something to behold. Eden Mount stands proudly at the top of its 0.66 acres of grounds overlooking the village of Wetheral in Cumbria. And once you get inside, the full charms of its lovingly maintained period beauty really shine through. […]
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Star property under £250,000 Nottingham Estate Agents
A lovingly refurbished character property in one of the most beautiful parts of the country, what’s not to like? Alster Cottage is located in the pretty village of Milverton in Somerset, amid pristine countryside eight miles outside the centre of Taunton and within easy reach of Exmoor and the Quantock Hills. The cottage has been […]
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'This is no damn hobby': the 'gangsta gardener' transforming Los Angeles
Lockdown is an unlikely ally for Ron Finley, who has set about revolutionising attitudes to gardening in inner city areas
“The garden seduces me,” says Ron Finley, who is known around the world as the “gangsta gardener”. “I’ll get out there at 9am and next thing I know it’s 7pm … gardening takes your mind off things. Everybody should have a garden to cultivate.”
English horticulturalists fiddling with well-maintained roses might know the feeling. But for Finley, gardening isn’t about producing the perfect floral pom-pom, it’s about growing people. Planting is his unusual form of protest, and having a garden stuffed full of beautiful plants and vegetables is a byproduct of that.
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'This is no damn hobby': the 'gangsta gardener' transforming Los Angeles
Lockdown is an unlikely ally for Ron Finley, who has set about revolutionising attitudes to gardening in inner city areas
“The garden seduces me,” says Ron Finley, who is known around the world as the “gangsta gardener”. “I’ll get out there at 9am and next thing I know it’s 7pm … gardening takes your mind off things. Everybody should have a garden to cultivate.”
English horticulturalists fiddling with well-maintained roses might know the feeling. But for Finley, gardening isn’t about producing the perfect floral pom-pom, it’s about growing people. Planting is his unusual form of protest, and having a garden stuffed full of beautiful plants and vegetables is a byproduct of that.
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How do I get my home ready to sell?
The property market may be paused right now, but if you’re planning to sell after lockdown ends that doesn’t mean you need to postpone your preparation.
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'Nature survives in the tiniest corners': the City of London's wild heart
The Barbican is famous for its Brutalist architecture, but the concrete conceals a well-kept secret: a community garden where wildlife thrives
“There was literally a frog orgy in that one. There is no other way to describe it,” says Jules Waite, from the London Wildlife Trust, pointing at a pond in the Barbican wildlife garden, one of the few areas of London’s Square Mile whose inhabitants are not in lockdown.
In February, frogs are the first garden residents to feel their passions ignite as they emerge from compost heaps or log piles and slip into the ponds. Self-isolation is the last thing on their mind and by April, the hundreds of tadpoles whizzing around the pond are testament to their efforts. Songbirds are going berserk trying to impress one another and summer visitors such as blackcaps have arrived to set up nest.
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'Nature survives in the tiniest corners': the City of London's wild heart
The Barbican is famous for its Brutalist architecture, but the concrete conceals a well-kept secret: a community garden where wildlife thrives
“There was literally a frog orgy in that one. There is no other way to describe it,” says Jules Waite, from the London Wildlife Trust, pointing at a pond in the Barbican wildlife garden, one of the few areas of London’s Square Mile whose inhabitants are not in lockdown.
In February, frogs are the first garden residents to feel their passions ignite as they emerge from compost heaps or log piles and slip into the ponds. Self-isolation is the last thing on their mind and by April, the hundreds of tadpoles whizzing around the pond are testament to their efforts. Songbirds are going berserk trying to impress one another and summer visitors such as blackcaps have arrived to set up nest.
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Can I use my tenancy deposit to pay my rent?
We answer questions from renters asking how the coronavirus outbreak and subsequent social distancing measures will impact them.
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Can essential moves still take place?
You may have an essential reason for needing to move, such as if you’re a key worker and you need to live away from your family right now.
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Monday, April 27, 2020
The tax changes buy-to-let landlords need to know about in 2020 Nottingham Estate Agents
The new 2020/21 tax year started on 6 April, bringing in several new tax changes that affect buy-to-let landlords. These include an end to the old system of mortgage interest relief and changes to capital gains tax (CGT) payment deadlines. Here’s OnTheMarket‘s rundown of the changes that landlords should be aware of. Capital gains tax […]
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Sales of almost 400,000 homes stalled due to lockdown, says Zoopla
UK website estimates £82bn worth of property transactions ‘in suspended animation’
Almost 400,000 home sales worth a total of £82bn have been put on hold as a result of the housing market lockdown, according to Zoopla.
The property website said that 373,000 sales had stalled since the end of March when ministers told people to delay their home moves if possible, and social distancing rules made valuations and viewings impossible.
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Sunday, April 26, 2020
We're stuck paying rent on a property we can't move into
After finding a buyer for our home we decided to rent, but after lockdown we have to stay
Q My husband and I are in our 70s. We were in the process of moving home to be nearer family who currently live about four hours’ drive away.
Initially, we wanted to rent and signed up for a tenancy in the middle of March. We had a buyer for our house, and had booked a removals firm for early April, knowing that the sale would not be completed until a month or so after we had moved to the rented property.
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Coronavirus: A guide to finding a new property to rent during lockdown Nottingham Estate Agents
It can be difficult securing a good rental property at the best of times but the Covid-19 pandemic has created additional challenges for would-be renters searching for their next home. On behalf of OnTheMarket, London estate agent Portico has put together this advice on how to find a new property to rent during the coronavirus […]
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Gardening tips: for stunning bonsai, go back to its roots | James Wong
Some of the most beautiful parts of plants usually remain buried, but there is a school of gardening that celebrates what we often never see
It is forever fascinating to me that human cultures tend to interpret nature in such dramatically different ways. Here in the UK, much of our gardening aesthetic is firmly fixated on flowers (the greater the number of petals and the more dazzling their colour the better). But in some east Asian societies, the focus is all about the amazing architecture of the parts of plants we usually don’t see: the roots.
One of the most revered schools of bonsai is the 'root over rock' style
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Gardening tips: for stunning bonsai, go back to its roots | James Wong
Some of the most beautiful parts of plants usually remain buried, but there is a school of gardening that celebrates what we often never see
It is forever fascinating to me that human cultures tend to interpret nature in such dramatically different ways. Here in the UK, much of our gardening aesthetic is firmly fixated on flowers (the greater the number of petals and the more dazzling their colour the better). But in some east Asian societies, the focus is all about the amazing architecture of the parts of plants we usually don’t see: the roots.
One of the most revered schools of bonsai is the 'root over rock' style
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Saturday, April 25, 2020
Gardening in lockdown: sow seeds of comfort at home | Allan Jenkins
In this age of anxiety, it’s reassuring to spot newly sprouted signs of life in the vegetable trays on the roof terrace
I have never been much of a one for seed trays. I don’t have a greenhouse and only narrow windowsills. Plus, I am married to a minimalist architect who has a near-fear of ‘clutter’. Pretty much, the first early potatoes are the only ‘seed’ stuff I start at home.
I prefer the slightly anxious scan along a row of string on soil as I wait to spot newly sprouted signs of life. Though, then, I am of course a bit loath to thin them out. The idea of Darwinist selection doesn’t sit well. It is probably why I’ll never be a proper gardener, this aversion to throwing the weakest baby away. Though I admire neat rows of properly spaced plants as much as the next person, I have come to the conclusion it just isn’t for me.
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Gardening in lockdown: sow seeds of comfort at home | Allan Jenkins
In this age of anxiety, it’s reassuring to spot newly sprouted signs of life in the vegetable trays on the roof terrace
I have never been much of a one for seed trays. I don’t have a greenhouse and only narrow windowsills. Plus, I am married to a minimalist architect who has a near-fear of ‘clutter’. Pretty much, the first early potatoes are the only ‘seed’ stuff I start at home.
I prefer the slightly anxious scan along a row of string on soil as I wait to spot newly sprouted signs of life. Though, then, I am of course a bit loath to thin them out. The idea of Darwinist selection doesn’t sit well. It is probably why I’ll never be a proper gardener, this aversion to throwing the weakest baby away. Though I admire neat rows of properly spaced plants as much as the next person, I have come to the conclusion it just isn’t for me.
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Why you should check your credit score before searching for a new home Nottingham Estate Agents
Buying or renting a new house can be stressful enough without nasty surprises such as a poor credit rating slowing things down, especially when it may be easy to improve if you know about it in advance. When choosing to rent, letting agents and landlords want to know you are credible and can pay your […]
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'I can see a bird. What is it?': a beginners' guide to backyard birding
Spending time at home naturally leads to curiosity about one’s immediate surroundings, including local birdlife – here’s how to sate your interest
Essential equipment: guide (book, app, website, or household member) to help identify birds, sense of humour.
Non-essential equipment: binoculars, notebook, sense of adventure.
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'I can see a bird. What is it?': a beginners' guide to backyard birding
Spending time at home naturally leads to curiosity about one’s immediate surroundings, including local birdlife – here’s how to sate your interest
Essential equipment: guide (book, app, website, or household member) to help identify birds, sense of humour.
Non-essential equipment: binoculars, notebook, sense of adventure.
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Wonder walls: how to transform your home with colour
Are you finding it impossible to ignore tired paint? Revive your house with colours that will bring cheer and relaxation
It’s hard, stuck inside for weeks on end, not to notice how much your four walls could do with some paint – if, like me, you haven’t had them done for a while. To be honest, it’s been troubling me for ages – lockdown has just made it worse. As long ago as February I’d wandered into a Farrow & Ball shop wanting advice for my daughter’s small bedroom. It was still decorated for a young child, but she’s 16 now and she yearned for something more grown-up – a calming escape where she could study and relax with friends. And I spied on a Farrow & Ball noticeboard an advertisement for their colour consultancy service.
Colour curator Joa Studholme has worked at Farrow & Ball for 24 years, inventing colours that have become legendary among decorators, including the charming Nancy’s Blushes, named after her daughter’s pink cheeks.
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Wonder walls: how to transform your home with colour
Are you finding it impossible to ignore tired paint? Revive your house with colours that will bring cheer and relaxation
It’s hard, stuck inside for weeks on end, not to notice how much your four walls could do with some paint – if, like me, you haven’t had them done for a while. To be honest, it’s been troubling me for ages – lockdown has just made it worse. As long ago as February I’d wandered into a Farrow & Ball shop wanting advice for my daughter’s small bedroom. It was still decorated for a young child, but she’s 16 now and she yearned for something more grown-up – a calming escape where she could study and relax with friends. And I spied on a Farrow & Ball noticeboard an advertisement for their colour consultancy service.
Colour curator Joa Studholme has worked at Farrow & Ball for 24 years, inventing colours that have become legendary among decorators, including the charming Nancy’s Blushes, named after her daughter’s pink cheeks.
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Love and obsession: how leading UK ceramics collection ended up in London council flat
Michael Evans filled every available space with a treasure trove of British, French and Japanese works. Now they’re up for auction
Until recently, one of the best British postwar ceramics collections was to be found on a council estate in east London. “It was a bit like walking into a reliquary,” says the ceramicist Annie Turner, a regular visitor to the two-bed flat. “You’d go into a pretty brutal-looking 1970s building and up a dull concrete stairwell and think, ‘Am I in the right place?’. Then you opened this door, and it was like entering another world.”
Behind that very ordinary front door was a treasure trove. Mostly British, French or Japanese, around 1,200 ceramic works clustered on shelves, grouped on tables and desks, and even used as planters on the tiny balcony. Among the objects were key pieces by Lucie Rie and Edmund de Waal, and contemporary works by Turner herself, and Sara Flynn – two award-winning artists whose prices have recently risen sharply.
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Friday, April 24, 2020
What is a mortgage in principle? Nottingham Estate Agents
There are a number of hoops to jump through in the process of securing a mortgage and getting an agreement in principle is one of the most important. Here, independent mortgage broker John Charcol explains everything you need to know. What is a mortgage in principle? A mortgage in principle, also known as an Agreement in […]
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Country diary: our soil seethes with history | Country diary
Welburn and Crambeck, North Yorkshire: As I pick out the stones and weeds, I think about the life you can see and the life you can’t
I’m not really up for the graft of garden maintenance. Aside from planting a few fruit trees, herbs and pollinator plants, our custodianship is better described as “ungardening”. We’ve welcomed back herb robert and red campion, dandelion and bugle, and the place heaves with birds, rabbits and voles. But in a lockdown-induced fit of horticultural zeal, I recently begged two big old raised beds from our kindly farmer neighbour. After we’d heaved them into position, a digger rumbled down the lane and deposited a half-tonne of local topsoil in one deft dump. That is my kind of gardening.
Farmer John warned that I’d have to pick out the stones and weeds, and after shovelling in most of our compost heap I set to – raking with my hands, crushing lumps, rubbing in blobs of clay and manure like butter into scone mix. But no recipe can replicate soil. After three student summers in a “mud-pie” geomechanics laboratory, I can still grade silt from sand by touch, and sort angular gravel from sub-rounded cobble at a glance.
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Country diary: our soil seethes with history | Country diary
Welburn and Crambeck, North Yorkshire: As I pick out the stones and weeds, I think about the life you can see and the life you can’t
I’m not really up for the graft of garden maintenance. Aside from planting a few fruit trees, herbs and pollinator plants, our custodianship is better described as “ungardening”. We’ve welcomed back herb robert and red campion, dandelion and bugle, and the place heaves with birds, rabbits and voles. But in a lockdown-induced fit of horticultural zeal, I recently begged two big old raised beds from our kindly farmer neighbour. After we’d heaved them into position, a digger rumbled down the lane and deposited a half-tonne of local topsoil in one deft dump. That is my kind of gardening.
Farmer John warned that I’d have to pick out the stones and weeds, and after shovelling in most of our compost heap I set to – raking with my hands, crushing lumps, rubbing in blobs of clay and manure like butter into scone mix. But no recipe can replicate soil. After three student summers in a “mud-pie” geomechanics laboratory, I can still grade silt from sand by touch, and sort angular gravel from sub-rounded cobble at a glance.
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Tree change manuals: five books to make you a better gardener, cook and recycler
Thinking of getting closer to nature? These books will give you the sound practical advice you need
How often have you heard the expression “… is the great equaliser”? As in, “music is the great equaliser”, “education is the great equaliser”, and the ultimate – “death is the great equaliser”.
The point being that what exactly is “an equaliser” will depend entirely on the experience and personal opinion of the person you are talking to.
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Tree change manuals: five books to make you a better gardener, cook and recycler
Thinking of getting closer to nature? These books will give you the sound practical advice you need
How often have you heard the expression “… is the great equaliser”? As in, “music is the great equaliser”, “education is the great equaliser”, and the ultimate – “death is the great equaliser”.
The point being that what exactly is “an equaliser” will depend entirely on the experience and personal opinion of the person you are talking to.
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Home, not away: the Tulip Project – in pictures
What does the Guardian’s decorated sports photographer do in lockdown? Tom Jenkins has been taking an enforced break from action photography and pursuing a different kind of vision in his garden
- A selection of Tom’s tulip photographs is available to purchase with 50% of sales to be donated to NHS charities
I have never appreciated my back garden so much.
At this time of year, I’m usually caught up with all the to-ings and fro-ings of the sporting world: taking photos of traditional spring events like the Boat Race and Grand National, or key matches as the football season builds to a crescendo. Normally I’m away a lot, not really passing an eye over developments in my garden. But this is not a normal year.
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Home, not away: the Tulip Project – in pictures
What does the Guardian’s decorated sports photographer do in lockdown? Tom Jenkins has been taking an enforced break from action photography and pursuing a different kind of vision in his garden
- A selection of Tom’s tulip photographs is available to purchase with 50% of sales to be donated to NHS charities
I have never appreciated my back garden so much.
At this time of year, I’m usually caught up with all the to-ings and fro-ings of the sporting world: taking photos of traditional spring events like the Boat Race and Grand National, or key matches as the football season builds to a crescendo. Normally I’m away a lot, not really passing an eye over developments in my garden. But this is not a normal year.
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Speak for coronavirus-afflicted Britain, Keir Starmer | Brief letters
Wartime parallels | The right woman for the job | Musical bird-scarers | World Naked Gardening Day | Downing Street showers
Alastair Campbell is right (With so many coronavirus deaths, Labour should not be holding back, 22 April). When a Labour opposition was faced with the government’s handling of that other great crisis, the second world war, Arthur Greenwood, the deputy Labour leader, directly challenged Neville Chamberlain in the Commons and was encouraged to “Speak for England, Arthur” – by Leo Amery, a Tory backbencher. Speak for the dying and living, Keir Starmer.
John M Phillips
Liverpool
• Old CDs hung from branches make good bird-scarers to protect the fruit on our cherry tree (Letters, 21 April). Which music works best? After years of research, I’ve found that birds keep well away from others of their own kind. These have been particularly effective: Sheryl Crow, Hawkwind, A Flock of Seagulls, Nick Drake, the Eagles, Taylor Swift, John Martyn. When all else fails, the ultimate deterrent is anything by Cat Stevens.
Lawrie Rose
Faversham, Kent
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Speak for coronavirus-afflicted Britain, Keir Starmer | Brief letters
Wartime parallels | The right woman for the job | Musical bird-scarers | World Naked Gardening Day | Downing Street showers
Alastair Campbell is right (With so many coronavirus deaths, Labour should not be holding back, 22 April). When a Labour opposition was faced with the government’s handling of that other great crisis, the second world war, Arthur Greenwood, the deputy Labour leader, directly challenged Neville Chamberlain in the Commons and was encouraged to “Speak for England, Arthur” – by Leo Amery, a Tory backbencher. Speak for the dying and living, Keir Starmer.
John M Phillips
Liverpool
• Old CDs hung from branches make good bird-scarers to protect the fruit on our cherry tree (Letters, 21 April). Which music works best? After years of research, I’ve found that birds keep well away from others of their own kind. These have been particularly effective: Sheryl Crow, Hawkwind, A Flock of Seagulls, Nick Drake, the Eagles, Taylor Swift, John Martyn. When all else fails, the ultimate deterrent is anything by Cat Stevens.
Lawrie Rose
Faversham, Kent
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A 'nutional' health service, TikTok dancing at 82, and green fingers for all
Squirrels enjoy an assault course, care home residents discover TikTok, while a keen gardener spreads the love
The public gets creative in lockdown, in the latest roundup of uplifting stories from across the UK.
Hitchin man makes squirrels an NHS-themed assault course
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A 'nutional' health service, TikTok dancing at 82, and green fingers for all
Squirrel enjoy an assault course, care home residents discover TikTok, while a keen gardener spreads the love
The public gets creative in lockdown, in the latest roundup of uplifting stories from across the UK.
Hitchin man makes squirrels an NHS-themed assault course
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Rental searches for homes with gardens hit record high for the year
Lots of people are struggling to spend enough time outdoors.
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Thursday, April 23, 2020
Homes for sale near railway stations – in pictures
From London to Manchester these properties are just minutes away from catching a train
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Deposit return: A guide for tenants and landlords Nottingham Estate Agents
Many a tenancy has ended in tears because of a lack of clarity about the all-important deposit, which can run to thousands of pounds. The introduction of Government-backed deposit protection schemes in 2007 was supposed to reduce the scope for such misunderstandings and, to an extent, has achieved that by introducing greater clarity into the […]
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Italian lessons: what we've learned from two months of home schooling
Schools in northern Italy were the first in Europe to close. Since then, teachers, parents and kids across the country have all had to adapt to a new existence – and the results have surprised everyone. By Tobias Jones
Most of us in Emilia-Romagna, in northern Italy, remember the weekend of 22 February very clearly. To begin with there were just rumours – phone calls and messages flying around between friends – but then it was confirmed: all schools in the region were going to close for a week.
The decision was, in many ways, shocking. At that time, there had only been three deaths from Covid-19 in Italy, and only 152 reported infections. It seemed strange that education was the first social activity to be sacrificed. I guessed it was because it wasn’t perceived to be economically productive. Nothing else was closing: football grounds, bars, shops and ski resorts were still open for business, and no schools in any other European country had closed.
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Wednesday, April 22, 2020
Coronavirus: How to manage your household waste responsibly during lockdown Nottingham Estate Agents
Up and down the UK, many households are deciding to use their time in lockdown to have a clear-out. Others are finding they’re creating a lot more rubbish now they’re spending longer at home. If you’re in either of these boats, you might be looking for the best way to dispose of the extra waste. […]
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Tuesday, April 21, 2020
Five top tips for viewing empty properties Nottingham Estate Agents
Empty properties don’t tend to attract the same level of attention as furnished properties and are often overlooked by would-be home buyers. Despite this they can offer many benefits – here are five top tips on what to consider when viewing empty properties. Don’t let the photographs put you off While it is true that […]
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Bullfinches and robins take back control of our gardens | Brief letters
Martin Kettle’s pandemic prescience | Bullfinches | Robins | PPE | Unusual children’s names
Our garage toilet doubles as a storage place for literature we struggle to throw away – like old issues of the Guardian Weekly. On a whim, at the weekend I tunneled into the pile, and read Martin Kettle’s piece from the edition of 1 June 2018, about the dearth of coverage being given to the 100th anniversary of the Spanish flu. His closing sentence: “If something like that happened in the modern world, our present habit of looking in the other direction would seem a catastrophic act of folly.” Bravo, Martin. And Guardian subscriptions for all our leaders, please.
Chris Clarke
Wellington, New Zealand
• No blossom on the flowering cherry at the edge of our patio, or the amerlanchier, or the damson outside the kitchen window (Carol Ann Duffy leads British poets creating ‘living record’ of coronavirus, 20 April). The predator? Not a dreadful virus but five bright bullfinches pulling off the buds to get to the grubs beneath. But what a bright and cheerful display!
Bill Messer
Pontrhydfendigaid, Ceredigion
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Bullfinches and robins take back control of our gardens | Brief letters
Martin Kettle’s pandemic prescience | Bullfinches | Robins | PPE | Unusual children’s names
Our garage toilet doubles as a storage place for literature we struggle to throw away – like old issues of the Guardian Weekly. On a whim, at the weekend I tunneled into the pile, and read Martin Kettle’s piece from the edition of 1 June 2018, about the dearth of coverage being given to the 100th anniversary of the Spanish flu. His closing sentence: “If something like that happened in the modern world, our present habit of looking in the other direction would seem a catastrophic act of folly.” Bravo, Martin. And Guardian subscriptions for all our leaders, please.
Chris Clarke
Wellington, New Zealand
• No blossom on the flowering cherry at the edge of our patio, or the amerlanchier, or the damson outside the kitchen window (Carol Ann Duffy leads British poets creating ‘living record’ of coronavirus, 20 April). The predator? Not a dreadful virus but five bright bullfinches pulling off the buds to get to the grubs beneath. But what a bright and cheerful display!
Bill Messer
Pontrhydfendigaid, Ceredigion
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Tenants told to use lunch and holiday savings to pay full rent
London agent for billionaire landlord turns down residents’ request for coronavirus relief
Tenants who asked their billionaire landlord for a rent reduction during the coronavirus pandemic were told to use the money they would have spent on lunches and holidays to pay the full amount due.
More than 100 residents living in a block in Somerford Grove, east London, signed a letter addressed to their management estate agency and the building’s corporate landlords asking for a 20% reduction in rent and an agreement that no tenant would be evicted during the coronavirus pandemic.
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Monday, April 20, 2020
Coronavirus: Everything you need to know if you’re a buy-to-let landlord Nottingham Estate Agents
Coronavirus is having a huge financial impact on many buy-to-let landlords, with large numbers of tenants currently unable to pay their rent. OnTheMarket looks at how buy-to-let landlords can stay in control of their situation during lockdown. What if my tenant can’t pay their rent because of coronavirus? If your tenant is unable to […]
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Sunday, April 19, 2020
Should we force a property seller to move during the lockdown?
We’ve already delayed the completion date but the 70-year-old seller says they can’t move then either due to Covid-19 risks
Q On 1 March, we exchanged contacts on the house we are buying with a completion date of 27 March. However, the government lockdown meant that the seller was unable to move because the removal company cancelled the job.
We agreed to delay the completion date to 24 April. But the seller is now saying they cannot move on then either as, at 70 years old, they are in the high-risk category for Covid-19.
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Royal flush: how toilet paper shortages fuelled an interest in high end 'smart toilets'
Though they’ve been big in Japan for decades, Covid-19 has accelerated Australians’ curiosity about ‘alternative toileting devices’
Before the Great Toilet Paper Shortage, alternative means of washing were not top of mind for most Australians. We laughed at the eccentricity of the French with their peculiar, rather-too-intimately fastidious bidets. Then, in March, Google searches for bidets skyrocketed by at least 1,000%.
Having a French mother, I was more familiar with their low slung, stocky design, but not with its origins. I always assumed it had been invented by a Monsieur Bidet. But non, it turns out that the word originates from the term for a pony which makes sense, given that it is straddled like one.
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Royal flush: how toilet paper shortages fuelled an interest in high end 'smart toilets'
Though they’ve been big in Japan for decades, Covid-19 has accelerated Australians’ curiosity about ‘alternative toileting devices’
Before the Great Toilet Paper Shortage, alternative means of washing were not top of mind for most Australians. We laughed at the eccentricity of the French with their peculiar, rather-too-intimately fastidious bidets. Then, in March, Google searches for bidets skyrocketed by at least 1,000%.
Having a French mother, I was more familiar with their low slung, stocky design, but not with its origins. I always assumed it had been invented by a Monsieur Bidet. But non, it turns out that the word originates from the term for a pony which makes sense, given that it is straddled like one.
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Coronavirus outbreak will halt 520,000 UK house sales in 2020
Freeze on transactions will cut sales by 38% with wide-ranging knock-on effects for economy, warns leading agency
More than 520,000 UK home sales will be abandoned this year, after the government ordered a temporary freeze on the housing market last month due to the coronavirus outbreak, new research shows.
Property consultancy Knight Frank said the 38% drop in the number of house sales in 2020 would have a ripple effect across the property industry, hitting retailers, removal companies and even government coffers.
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How not to get caught out with first-time buyer stamp duty exemption Nottingham Estate Agents
Exemption from stamp duty has undoubtedly been a boon for many first-time buyers but a lot of property purchasers who thought they were eligible are still finding they have to pay the tax. That’s the verdict of Simon Nosworthy, Head of Residential Conveyancing at Osbornes Law, who writes here for OnTheMarket about how home buyers […]
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Old master makeover: an art history fan's dream home
In a five-floor house on a leafy square, an art history fan has created his dream home – a Georgian blend of English and Dutch styling
Glimpsed through half-open doors, the panelled rooms of Frank Hollmeyer’s Georgian terraced house remind you of a Dutch old master painting. Light slants across wooden floors; paintings and porcelain are arranged as if in a painting by Vermeer. For Hollmeyer, an art historian by training, those 17th-century artists excelled “at intimate scenes of everyday domesticity, where everything feels composed”.
It’s an approach he’s applied here. The five-storey house, set on a shady garden square in south London, is Hollmeyer’s “canvas”. It’s where he takes a quiet pleasure in re-ordering books or piling a blue and white Delft bowl with fruit, like an artist tweaking a composition.
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Old master makeover: an art history fan's dream home
In a five-floor house on a leafy square, an art history fan has created his dream home – a Georgian blend of English and Dutch styling
Glimpsed through half-open doors, the panelled rooms of Frank Hollmeyer’s Georgian terraced house remind you of a Dutch old master painting. Light slants across wooden floors; paintings and porcelain are arranged as if in a painting by Vermeer. For Hollmeyer, an art historian by training, those 17th-century artists excelled “at intimate scenes of everyday domesticity, where everything feels composed”.
It’s an approach he’s applied here. The five-storey house, set on a shady garden square in south London, is Hollmeyer’s “canvas”. It’s where he takes a quiet pleasure in re-ordering books or piling a blue and white Delft bowl with fruit, like an artist tweaking a composition.
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It’s harvest time for nutritious, tasty weeds | James Wong
Show a little old-fashioned ingenuity and dine like a prince on foraged plants
It’s amazing how quickly everyday things can suddenly come to feel quite extraordinary. After queuing for 45 minutes to do my weekly food shop, walking through the supermarket doors felt strangely emotional – the sight of such bewildering choice, particularly of fruit and veg, stopped me in my tracks. Despite having seen this thousands of times before, the ability of the modern food system to offer up such plenty, even in the midst of a worldwide pandemic, really felt like a minor miracle.
Many traditionally foraged foods have disappeared from our diets
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It’s harvest time for nutritious, tasty weeds | James Wong
Show a little old-fashioned ingenuity and dine like a prince on foraged plants
It’s amazing how quickly everyday things can suddenly come to feel quite extraordinary. After queuing for 45 minutes to do my weekly food shop, walking through the supermarket doors felt strangely emotional – the sight of such bewildering choice, particularly of fruit and veg, stopped me in my tracks. Despite having seen this thousands of times before, the ability of the modern food system to offer up such plenty, even in the midst of a worldwide pandemic, really felt like a minor miracle.
Many traditionally foraged foods have disappeared from our diets
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Saturday, April 18, 2020
A woodpecker, soft spring light, and hope on the plot | Allan Jenkins
We dig, sow and eat chocolate biscuits – and it feels like progress
Breakthrough day at the plot. When the late spring garden takes shape, the soil shakes off its slumber and the early summer structures go up. Howard and I had started early. Greeted by the spotted woodpecker who sets the soundtrack for the day, flitting from tree to tree, laying down tenor taps, with added bass on heavy branches.
We want the bean and pea structures to be free-form – rustic, a little rough around the edges. It is not a year for overweening elegance. We work well together, Howard and I, gently chiding, prodding towards an aesthetic we agree on.
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A woodpecker, soft spring light, and hope on the plot | Allan Jenkins
We dig, sow and eat chocolate biscuits – and it feels like progress
Breakthrough day at the plot. When the late spring garden takes shape, the soil shakes off its slumber and the early summer structures go up. Howard and I had started early. Greeted by the spotted woodpecker who sets the soundtrack for the day, flitting from tree to tree, laying down tenor taps, with added bass on heavy branches.
We want the bean and pea structures to be free-form – rustic, a little rough around the edges. It is not a year for overweening elegance. We work well together, Howard and I, gently chiding, prodding towards an aesthetic we agree on.
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What does a mortgage broker do? Nottingham Estate Agents
A mortgage broker can save you a lot of the time and stress involved in getting a mortgage. Here, independent mortgage broker John Charcol explains the value of a good broker. What is a mortgage broker? A mortgage broker, or adviser, is someone who holds their CeMAP and is therefore qualified to give financial advice […]
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JK Rowling: her old home is where her heart is | Rebecca Nicholson
The author has snapped up the house she grew up in… complete with youthful graffiti she left behind
Last week, I found myself looking at the house I spent most of my teenage years in, through Google Street View on my laptop screen. I had spoken to someone on the phone for work and during the conversation I discovered that they had grown up in the same small village as I did, at roughly the same time.
I rarely meet anyone who knows the place I’m from, never mind grew up there, so the coincidence floored me. I typed in my old postcode and dragged the cursor down the lane until it landed in front of the house. I could still see a garden ornament that we had left there and the garage my dad had built for himself.
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New to gardening? Here’s where to start
Has lockdown given you horticultural aspirations? Our gardening expert has some suggestions
I think some of you might be new round here. Until now, for those fortunate enough to have a garden, it has probably been used mostly on the warmest days: hanging out washing, a ballgame, perhaps an Easter egg hunt, and maybe not much more. But now it is your vital playground: it allows you to breathe, to look up and out, in these confined times.
What should you be doing with this space? The answer is gardening gently. Messy gardens are rich in habitats; all those rotting leaves and old twigs are someone else’s home. So rather than sweep it clean, it is more of a case of ordering it so that it’s a space for you and all the others.
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New to gardening? Here’s where to start
Has lockdown given you horticultural aspirations? Our gardening expert has some suggestions
I think some of you might be new round here. Until now, for those fortunate enough to have a garden, it has probably been used mostly on the warmest days: hanging out washing, a ballgame, perhaps an Easter egg hunt, and maybe not much more. But now it is your vital playground: it allows you to breathe, to look up and out, in these confined times.
What should you be doing with this space? The answer is gardening gently. Messy gardens are rich in habitats; all those rotting leaves and old twigs are someone else’s home. So rather than sweep it clean, it is more of a case of ordering it so that it’s a space for you and all the others.
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Coronavirus: What the lockdown extension means for the property market Nottingham Estate Agents
The announcement that the coronavirus lockdown is to be extended means there is no immediate end in sight to the issues with which the property industry is currently wrestling. During the Government’s daily press conference on 16 April, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab confirmed what had been widely expected – stringent social distancing measures in the […]
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Friday, April 17, 2020
Companion gardening: edibles are all the rage, but they're not the only useful plants
From pest control to aromatherapy, a garden has so much more to offer than a dinner-time fix
Plants, like most things, go in and out of fashion.
There is a tradition of English cottage gardening in my neighbourhood, where orchards grew a century ago. But with the climate arching towards the sub-tropical, rather than the temperate, the dainty English roses drooped from the heat. Then, local gardeners realised the value of hardier native species.
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Companion gardening: edibles are all the rage, but they're not the only useful plants
From pest control to aromatherapy, a garden has so much more to offer than a dinner-time fix
Plants, like most things, go in and out of fashion.
There is a tradition of English cottage gardening in my neighbourhood, where orchards grew a century ago. But with the climate arching towards the sub-tropical, rather than the temperate, the dainty English roses drooped from the heat. Then, local gardeners realised the value of hardier native species.
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This New York house has its own indoor basketball court
We spotlight 16 of our favourite overseas listings from this year.
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Stuck at home, I've found it's never too late to learn about wildlife
I grew up in the gritty city with no experience of the natural world other than urban foxes and pigeons. At last, I can find joy in nature – in my own back garden
I have a memory that I cannot clearly place. It was six or seven years ago and I was watching a segment on breakfast television about how many urban children cannot recognise well-known British wildlife by sight or sound.
I was one of those children. My summer holidays were spent at home, bored, under east London’s concrete canopy. Wildlife highlights were foxes and the odd rat, creatures to be feared because nature was unpredictable, and sometimes even perverse (viz, the common city pigeon, cannibalistically picking at discarded fried chicken bones).
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Stuck at home, I've found it's never too late to learn about wildlife
I grew up in the gritty city with no experience of the natural world other than urban foxes and pigeons. At last, I can find joy in nature – in my own back garden
I have a memory that I cannot clearly place. It was six or seven years ago and I was watching a segment on breakfast television about how many urban children cannot recognise well-known British wildlife by sight or sound.
I was one of those children. My summer holidays were spent at home, bored, under east London’s concrete canopy. Wildlife highlights were foxes and the odd rat, creatures to be feared because nature was unpredictable, and sometimes even perverse (viz, the common city pigeon, cannibalistically picking at discarded fried chicken bones).
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Real estate for the apocalypse: my journey into a survival bunker – podcast
Doomsday luxury accommodation is a booming business, offering customers a chance to sit out global pandemics and nuclear wars in comfort – as long as they have the money to pay for it. By Mark O’Connell
Adapted from Notes from an Apocalypse: A Personal Journey to the End of the World and Back by Mark O’Connell, which is published by Granta and is available for order here
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Home review – designs take on a grander purpose without Kevin McCloud
From a balmy Mediterranean greenhouse in snowy Sweden to an incredible transforming Hong Kong apartment – this series celebrates visionary home-building
Let us deal with the most immediate and valid concern when presented with a new series entitled Home (Apple+ TV) that promises an in-depth look at the different and architecturally interesting ways various people of vision have chosen to build and live in theirs. Namely: is it Grand Designs with knobs on?
The answer, I am very happy to tell you, is no. Or at least, just a tiny, tiny bit, just occasionally. A forgivable amount, I would say, and my tolerance threshold is low. People do, every now and then, say things such as “Life itself should colonise the space”, but the saving grace of Home is that a) there is no Kevin McCloud and b) unlike most of the genre, it looks outward rather than in.
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Thursday, April 16, 2020
Unusual homes for sale – in pictures
From a tower taller than Nelson’s column to one that housed secret second world war equipment
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Coronavirus: Should you take your property off the market? Nottingham Estate Agents
It’s a question a lot of would-be property sellers are asking themselves – should I keep my home listed if I’m not able to have anyone round to see it? Government advice is clear – nobody should be welcoming visitors into their homes at the current time, and that includes estate agents and potential buyers […]
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Have you deferred paying your mortgage or credit card debts?
One in nine households is taking a mortgage holiday. If you are among that number and have concerns, let us know
When the coronavirus crisis hit, lenders in the UK were told to help their customers by allowing them to suspend payments of mortgages, credit cards and personal loans for three months.
Banks and building societies cannot charge fees, but will continue to add interest to the outstanding debts and that will need to be paid at a later date. So far, 1.2 million households have chosen to take a mortgage holiday, representing one in nine mortgage borrowers.
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Wednesday, April 15, 2020
'We feel blessed': Edinburgh allotment holders – in pictures
Gardeners are enjoying normality and a chance to ‘clear your head’ during the coronavirus lockdown
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'We feel blessed': Edinburgh allotment holders – in pictures
Gardeners are enjoying normality and a chance to ‘clear your head’ during the coronavirus lockdown
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Renting with pets: How to make it work Nottingham Estate Agents
A pet can be a treasured member of the family – but not all landlords are willing to let animal owners take on a tenancy. According to the Pet Food Manufacturers’ Association, an estimated 40 per cent of UK households had a pet in 2019, from cats and dogs to ferrets and toads. And yet, […]
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Duke of Westminster donates £12.5m to NHS coronavirus fight
Gift equates to just 0.1% of Hugh Grosvenor’s wealth, say inequality campaigners
The Duke of Westminster, the UK’s second richest person with an estimated £10bn fortune, is donating £12.5m to the fight against the coronavirus pandemic after being “humbled” by the dedication of NHS workers.
The NHS Charities Together fund said it was “incredibly grateful for this most generous donation”, but some politicians and inequality campaigners pointed out that the gift equates to just 0.1% of the Duke’s centuries-old inherited wealth.
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Star property over £500,000 Nottingham Estate Agents
There’s ‘handy for the beach’ and then there’s this amazing property. Sandhills sits just yards from the beachfront in the village of Littlestone on the southern Kent coast, with a private wooden walkway leading from the gravelled coast road to the front door. There is 2,300 sq ft of living accommodation spread over three floors, […]
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Tuesday, April 14, 2020
How to prepare your garden so your home is ready to sell Nottingham Estate Agents
Ensuring that your property looks fantastic indoors is always important but it’s crucial to spare a thought for your garden, which during the cold winter months can often become neglected. Malcolm Button, Senior Valuer at Aberdein Considine, has 14 top tips for ensuring that outside space looks fresh and cared for. 1. Mow the lawn […]
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Star property under £250,000 Nottingham Estate Agents
This is one of those cottages that just gets better and better the more you explore it. Located in the sought-after village of Bitteswell in Leicestershire, you can see the care and attention that has gone into West End Cottage from the moment you cross the threshold. The property is for sale with a guide […]
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New video by Rightmove on YouTube
Keeping renters informed during Covid-19
For more information and advice visit: https://ift.tt/3b8fXgR
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View on YouTube
Lenders in UK grant 1.2m mortgage deferments
One in nine British households get payment holiday for up to three months amid Covid-19
British lenders have granted more than 1.2m mortgage holidays as part of relief measures for households affected by the Covid-19 outbreak.
It means that about one in nine households will have their mortgage payments and interest deferred for up to three months to help cope with a loss of income during the crisis.
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Monday, April 13, 2020
Coronavirus: Your options if you’re struggling to pay your rent Nottingham Estate Agents
Growing numbers of tenants are falling behind with their rent as coronavirus hits jobs and incomes, but it is up to their landlords to decide whether they will delay or reduce rent payments. According to consultancy Remit Consulting, which looked at data from six property management companies, tenants were only able to pay 44 per […]
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Millions having to choose between paying rent and eating, poll suggests
Renters’ unions call on government to suspend rents for duration of coronavirus crisis
- ‘We felt the financial impact immediately’: case study
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Renters’ unions are calling on the government to suspend rents for the duration of the coronavirus crisis, as research suggests millions are having to choose between paying landlords or putting food on the table, or have already been forced to leave their homes.
Polling conducted last weekend, after rent payments came due for many renters for the first time since the coronavirus shutdown began to affect incomes of people across the country, showed many renters were either already in or on the brink of crisis, with one in six forced to seek extra financial help to stay afloat.
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No soil, seeds or space? No problem! A beginner's guide to growing vegetables
It’s possible to help keep your household stocked with fresh greens, even if you don’t have a garden. Here’s how to get started
Fears of coronavirus-induced shortages have sparked a desire to grow our own food, but getting hold of supplies isn’t easy when popping to the garden centre is out of the question. Here’s how to overcome some of the common obstacles to harvesting your first crop.
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No soil, seeds or space? No problem! A beginner's guide to growing vegetables
It’s possible to help keep your household stocked with fresh greens, even if you don’t have a garden. Here’s how to get started
Fears of coronavirus-induced shortages have sparked a desire to grow our own food, but getting hold of supplies isn’t easy when popping to the garden centre is out of the question. Here’s how to overcome some of the common obstacles to harvesting your first crop.
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Sunday, April 12, 2020
My flat sale has been delayed by the government's freeze on the market
Everything was ready to go, but the buyer wants to delay because of the coronavirus advice
Q This is an awfully privileged question and I’m sure many will view my situation with glee. I am an “accidental” landlord. In order to be chain free when buying a home with my husband, I decided not to sell my small flat which I have rented out for the past few years.
I put the flat on the market in January with a view to selling before the end of the tax year to avoid the huge rise in capital gains tax that I will have to pay when the allowance disappears. However, due to the government clampdown on transactions I have now missed the deadline to exchange before 6 April. Everything was ready but, quite fairly, the buyer wanted to wait as per government advice. (My property is empty as my tenants moved out to make way for the buyer.) So I am now stuck with the mortgage to pay, the council tax and a bigger tax bill if the sale eventually goes through.
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We paid £14,000 to a developer even though our house purchase collapsed
Redrow insists on keeping the cash for upgrading an unbuilt home after coronavirus sinks deal
Earlier this year, we agreed to buy a newly built home in Kent from the developer Redrow. We had sold our home and all was proceeding well. Having come under considerable pressure to agree some upgrades, we paid almost £14,000 upfront for granite kitchen tops and Siemens appliances. We were told that this would enable the purchase and completion to go through on time.
Within hours of the coronavirus lockdown starting, the person who had agreed to buy our house pulled out. With no possible way to find a new buyer in the current climate, we, in turn, have had to withdraw from the Redrow purchase.
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Eight top tips for off-grid living Nottingham Estate Agents
Living off-grid is that great dream of self-sufficiency which burns strongly in many people. Here, OnTheMarket looks at how you can make it a reality. Off-grid living explained Why be reliant on state-run utilities for water and electricity when, with a bit of effort, you can generate your own? Why drive to a supermarket to […]
The post Eight top tips for off-grid living appeared first on OnTheMarket.com blog.
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When the party starts: a home to lift the spirits
Festivities are on hold at this double-fronted home. But zingy colours, playful details and a bubbling hot tub mean it’s still a house of fun
Their friends will tell you that Paul Price and Fletcher Cowan know how to throw a good party. In summer it’s not unusual to find at least 100 guests spilling out, brimming margaritas in hand, from the kitchen of their north London home into the garden with its bubbling hot tub. Those previral bashes are, of course, on hold for now. But even without the revellers, here’s an interior to lift the spirits. The tutti-frutti carpets, lagoon-blue cocktail bar and walls bustling with modern art add up to a home that’s sociable – and comfortable.
Price and Cowan are quick to credit the interior designer Peter Mikic with the exuberant effect. They all met, inevitably, at a dinner party. Before founding his business 10 years ago, Mikic used to run a fashion label. Price is the CEO of a luxury fashion brand and Cowan, who presents a fashion show on US channel E!, studied fashion at Central Saint Martins. So the three share a taste for art, colour and unpredictable juxtapositions.
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When the party starts: a home to lift the spirits
Festivities are on hold at this double-fronted home. But zingy colours, playful details and a bubbling hot tub mean it’s still a house of fun
Their friends will tell you that Paul Price and Fletcher Cowan know how to throw a good party. In summer it’s not unusual to find at least 100 guests spilling out, brimming margaritas in hand, from the kitchen of their north London home into the garden with its bubbling hot tub. Those previral bashes are, of course, on hold for now. But even without the revellers, here’s an interior to lift the spirits. The tutti-frutti carpets, lagoon-blue cocktail bar and walls bustling with modern art add up to a home that’s sociable – and comfortable.
Price and Cowan are quick to credit the interior designer Peter Mikic with the exuberant effect. They all met, inevitably, at a dinner party. Before founding his business 10 years ago, Mikic used to run a fashion label. Price is the CEO of a luxury fashion brand and Cowan, who presents a fashion show on US channel E!, studied fashion at Central Saint Martins. So the three share a taste for art, colour and unpredictable juxtapositions.
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Why we’re all growing vegetables | James Wong
It won’t feed your family, but there’s much joy to be had from tending your own harvest
With so many of us cooped up at home, there’s been a flowering of interest in all things horticultural. Over recent weeks, news outlets have reported a 250% surge in seed and compost sales, with some online suppliers having unprecedented backlogs of orders of fruit and veg crops. This has been accompanied by a flurry of social media advice that growing your own is a cheap and easy way to access food in these uncertain times.
I was recently sent a picture via Twitter of a single raised bed that could not have been more than 3 sq m, accompanied by the text “My family will not go hungry!” Another wrote that absolutely everyone should start to supplement their diets, even those in flats, with “micro greens on a windowsill”. Over on Facebook, some companies are supplying fancy veg kits with the discount code “Covid-19”, while activist groups claim domestic food growing should replace “commercial” farming altogether.
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Why we’re all growing vegetables | James Wong
It won’t feed your family, but there’s much joy to be had from tending your own harvest
With so many of us cooped up at home, there’s been a flowering of interest in all things horticultural. Over recent weeks, news outlets have reported a 250% surge in seed and compost sales, with some online suppliers having unprecedented backlogs of orders of fruit and veg crops. This has been accompanied by a flurry of social media advice that growing your own is a cheap and easy way to access food in these uncertain times.
I was recently sent a picture via Twitter of a single raised bed that could not have been more than 3 sq m, accompanied by the text “My family will not go hungry!” Another wrote that absolutely everyone should start to supplement their diets, even those in flats, with “micro greens on a windowsill”. Over on Facebook, some companies are supplying fancy veg kits with the discount code “Covid-19”, while activist groups claim domestic food growing should replace “commercial” farming altogether.
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