Epic renovation: remaking a home in Devon

With stalactites in the cellar, a lot of hard work was required to turn a rundown townhouse into a home

It was while driving back from one of their frequent trips to Totnes, a medieval market town in one of South Devon’s prettiest corners, that Hianta Cassam Chenaï and her husband Matthias Peters first spotted the Regency townhouse they now call home. “We kept coming down to Devon for weekends to see his friends and family, then dreading going back to London,” she says. “Then we saw the ‘For Sale’ sign.” Following their Provencal wedding in 2014, the couple traded their 1970s Hoxton flat for the handsome four-storey property first built for the Duke of Somerset (owner of the nearby Berry Pomeroy Castle) in 1830. Even on dull days the neighbouring River Dart beams in its watery light, lending the Grade II-listed house an airy, seaside quality. “It still feels like a holiday home,” she says, to the sound of seagulls.

Though the site had lain empty for a few years following its previous incarnation as offices, the couple were instantly attracted to its grand proportions and closeness to town. Smitten, they didn’t realise how bad a state it was in. “We naively thought we would just give it a lick of paint,” she says. Little did they know that they were embarking on an epic renovation that entailed replacing the stairwell, the roof and windows as well as reconfiguring the layout at the top and bottom.

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It’s autumn already, time to slow down and save your seeds

Summer’s mayhem is over and it’s time to take stock, tidy up, do a little weeding

Fall back. It’s official. The second day of September, the first days of meteorological autumn. It is the equinox this month. The sun is closing on its winter low. Sap’s slowing, returning to soil. It’s the time of the first frosts, time to stop feed. We are leaving the months of growth.

Time, though, to save seed. I am prone to the sexy allure of a seed packet but to sow food or flowers you’ve saved yourself is a special kind of joy. So leave the last peas to dry on the stem, the same with beans, select a few fat pods and resist the urge to eat them.

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Houseplants: the gift that keeps on giving

Three good reasons why a potplant is a much better gift than a bouquet

Now don’t get me wrong, I love cut flowers. I even worked in a flower shop to put myself through university. But recently I have fallen head over heels in love with something that I feel simply beats most of them hands down in pretty much every way: flowering houseplants. Despite the massive renaissance of houseplant love, the flowering ones seem still to be languishing behind the trend.

If you are considering buying a bunch of cut flowers for a date/house visit/birthday present, here is what swapping it for a flowering houseplant could give you. First, cut flowers have a far shorter shelf-life than houseplants. We are usually talking a week tops. Then you have to chuck out the slimy, smelly vase water and wash everything up. I really loathe that job. Houseplants, however, can remain in flower not just for weeks but months, even years if you get the right species and lavish on the care. Even if totally neglected, houseplants take quite a while to die.

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Nine top tips for renting a property https://t.co/7WCWaPqCc9 #conveymove #estateagentsnottingham https://t.co/GmjoJxU3bM

Nine top tips for renting a property https://t.co/7WCWaPqCc9 #conveymove #estateagentsnottingham https://t.co/GmjoJxU3bM (via Twitter http://twitter.com/conveyandmove/status/1036117553955913729)

Nine top tips for renting a property Nottingham Estate Agents

The private rented sector of the UK property market has grown dramatically since the late 1990s and the growth is predicted to continue. OnTheMarket.com’s renting guide Private rentals accounted for 4.7 million or 20% of households in England in 2016/17, more than doubling in number since 2002 (Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government, July 2018). […]

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Alys Fowler’s gardening column: Why you should grow Ashitaba https://t.co/TvosJLEwG0 Solicitors & Estate Agents In One Just £899 + vat .. https://t.co/GmjoJxU3bM

Alys Fowler’s gardening column: Why you should grow Ashitaba https://t.co/TvosJLEwG0 Solicitors & Estate Agents In One Just £899 + vat .. https://t.co/GmjoJxU3bM (via Twitter http://twitter.com/conveyandmove/status/1035833220355575808)

Alys Fowler’s gardening column: Why you should grow Ashitaba

The Angelica known as ‘tomorrow’s leaf’ isn’t just a pretty plant, it also fed the samurai and is thought to boost longevity

At the beginning of this year I decided to experiment a little: I would expand my knowledge of angelica, attempt to grow Japanese sushi rice, and tackle the world that is ancient wheats. All of these are grand ideas for a small back garden, some of them faintly ludicrous. Currently, the rice eludes me and the wheat I’ll save for another day; but oh… the angelica!

Angelica span the northern hemisphere, from our northern European Angelica archangelica to those found in Korea, Japan and China. Many are used in traditional herbal medicines and eaten as a vegetable, from candied stems to boiled leaves and roots.

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