Persimmon launches review in drive to rebuild its image

Most profitable housebuilder in UK has been beset by a pay scandal and quality complaints

The UK’s most profitable housebuilder, Persimmon, is launching an independent review of its customer care, culture and the quality of its work as it attempts to move on from an executive pay scandal and complaints over its new-build homes.

The review, to be led by an independent chair, Stephanie Barwise QC of Atkin Chambers, will look into Persimmon’s customer care approach, systems and culture, quality assurance processes, and the speed and consistency of its response to issues. It said the findings would be published by the last quarter of 2019.

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‘Strange and delicious’: a guide to pickling young petals | Alys Fowler

Douse young blossoms such as magnolia and dandelion in vinegar to make peppery preserves this spring

Having made peace with my magnolia, Magnolia x soulangeana, and accepted that the bottom of my garden will always be cast in its dappled shade, I’ve rather fallen in love with its twisted trunks and its flurry of pink blossom. As it began to unfurl, the first smudges of pink against the sky had me reaching for the vinegar.

Pickled magnolia buds and young petals are strange and delicious. Each species has a slightly different flavour, but the base notes are gingery and peppery. This quickly turns perfumed and then, if the petals are too mature, bitter. But if you get in there when the petals are young and add vinegar, everything is enhanced in the most marvellous manner.

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Gardening tips: plant some brunneras

Then try stooling your willows – and check out the RHS’s Spring Launch and Orchid show

Plant this Brunneras are brilliant spring all-rounders for shadier spots, with starry, blue flowers and heart-shaped leaves. There are many eye-catching cultivars, including the green and cream-splotched B macrophylla ‘Hadspen Cream’, silvery ‘Looking Glass’ and silver-etched ‘Jack Frost’.

Try this Stooling is a technique used to cut willows, white-stemmed bramble (Rubus cockburnianus) and dogwoods back hard in spring, to prompt the growth of young stems. Now is the time to do it: cut back all stems to just above the base with a sharp pair of secateurs or a pruning saw. Repeat every year or two.

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from Home And Garden | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2ImXa6f
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‘Strange and delicious’: a guide to pickling young petals | Alys Fowler

Douse young blossoms such as magnolia and dandelion in vinegar to make peppery preserves this spring

Having made peace with my magnolia, Magnolia x soulangeana, and accepted that the bottom of my garden will always be cast in its dappled shade, I’ve rather fallen in love with its twisted trunks and its flurry of pink blossom. As it began to unfurl, the first smudges of pink against the sky had me reaching for the vinegar.

Pickled magnolia buds and young petals are strange and delicious. Each species has a slightly different flavour, but the base notes are gingery and peppery. This quickly turns perfumed and then, if the petals are too mature, bitter. But if you get in there when the petals are young and add vinegar, everything is enhanced in the most marvellous manner.

Continue reading...

from Property | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2G4f1x9
via IFTTT

Gardening tips: plant some brunneras

Then try stooling your willows – and check out the RHS’s Spring Launch and Orchid show

Plant this Brunneras are brilliant spring all-rounders for shadier spots, with starry, blue flowers and heart-shaped leaves. There are many eye-catching cultivars, including the green and cream-splotched B macrophylla ‘Hadspen Cream’, silvery ‘Looking Glass’ and silver-etched ‘Jack Frost’.

Try this Stooling is a technique used to cut willows, white-stemmed bramble (Rubus cockburnianus) and dogwoods back hard in spring, to prompt the growth of young stems. Now is the time to do it: cut back all stems to just above the base with a sharp pair of secateurs or a pruning saw. Repeat every year or two.

Continue reading...

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Nationwide gets back to its roots by building homes

Building society takes on the developers with plans for not-for-profit homes

A century ago the predecessor to today’s Nationwide building society was instrumental in building Letchworth, the first of Britain’s garden cities. Now the mutual society is going back to the future and is to start building homes again for the first time in a hundred years, in a revolutionary not-for-profit venture challenging the major housebuilders’ grip on the property market.

The society is starting small. The project, called Oakfield, close to Nationwide’s headquarters in Swindon, Wiltshire, is for 239 homes, making it a new neighbourhood, not a new town. It is aiming to build better – and bigger – homes as it has to cover just its costs, not squeeze out the 20%-plus margins that the big housebuilders usually expect.

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REVEALED: Bexley is the most affordable place to rent in London Nottingham Estate Agents

Our most recent data has revealed that living as a group of four in Bexley, South East London, is the cheapest way to rent in London. Assuming the scenario of one person, per bedroom, the data uses average rental prices to determine whether one, two, three or four bedroom properties are the best value in each […]

The post REVEALED: Bexley is the most affordable place to rent in London appeared first on OnTheMarket.com blog.

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