Home improvements customers need stamina to conquer Everest

Many sign up with the household name believing costly work will go smoothly. It’s not always so

The thrill of Everest is adventuring into the unknown. Even the most doughty stamina and resolve can’t guarantee those who commit to the journey will reach their goal. Which is why Britain’s second-largest double-glazing company seems aptly named.

Everest was the second choice of Michael and Catrin Poole when its rival, Anglian, declared the arched doors and windows they required could not be manufactured in uPVC. The Everest salesman, in contrast, was apparently confident even though his computer resisted his attempts to produce a design.

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from Property | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2GoRC8D
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Garden getaways

These splendid hotels and cottages sit in some of the country’s finest gardens ands estates, offering relaxation and a riot of colour

Bucolic bliss awaits at Barnsley House hotel in Cirencester. Redesigned by Rosemary Verey in the 1950s, its 11 acres combine formal gardens, clipped yews, rock roses and mixed borders with an ornamental fruit and vegetable garden that gives on to wild meadows. The laburnum walk is Barnsley’s showstopper, but look out, too, for the frog fountain and, at the other end of the long vista, the whimsical, classical Temple reflected in an octagonal pool. A fabulous spa is hidden in one corner of the garden and the grade II-listed 17th-century manor house has the lauded Potager restaurant and 18 chic bedrooms. Think taupe, splashes of colour and rub-a-dub-dub freestanding bathtubs.
• Doubles from £224 room-only, barnsleyhouse.com. The garden is open year round to guests. Non-guests £15 entry, including tea and biscuits

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from Home And Garden | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2KT5HRb
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Garden getaways

These splendid hotels and cottages sit in some of the country’s finest gardens ands estates, offering relaxation and a riot of colour

Bucolic bliss awaits at Barnsley House hotel in Cirencester. Redesigned by Rosemary Verey in the 1950s, its 11 acres combine formal gardens, clipped yews, rock roses and mixed borders with an ornamental fruit and vegetable garden that gives on to wild meadows. The laburnum walk is Barnsley’s showstopper, but look out, too, for the frog fountain and, at the other end of the long vista, the whimsical, classical Temple reflected in an octagonal pool. A fabulous spa is hidden in one corner of the garden and the grade II-listed 17th-century manor house has the lauded Potager restaurant and 18 chic bedrooms. Think taupe, splashes of colour and rub-a-dub-dub freestanding bathtubs.
• Doubles from £224 room-only, barnsleyhouse.com. The garden is open year round to guests. Non-guests £15 entry, including tea and biscuits

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from Property | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2KT5HRb
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Housing poverty is a moral disgrace | Letters

In Weston-super-Mare, as elsewhere in Britain, the poorest tenants are facing a stark choice between eating and paying rent

Tom Wall’s piece on housing poverty in Weston-super-Mare brought into sharp focus what many of us living here have known for a long time (“Trapped in Britain’s new slums”, Special report). The crisis is the fault both of central government, for replacing the system of rents being paid directly to landlords with universal credit, leaving the poorest tenants with the stark choice between eating or paying rent, and of North Somerset council. Landlords and tenants alike had security under the old system and it was naive of the government to think that everyone was capable of managing their finances unaided.

Councillor Elfan Ap Rees, a leading member of the Conservative cabinet within the council that makes all the big decisions, may speak blandly about there being no slum tenure but the facts belie this. He promises more inspections but who will do this, since council jobs have been cut and in some cases trading standards officers are having to act as environmental health officers? By refusing to institute mandatory licensing for landlords, North Somerset council has given carte blanche to rogue operators who, frankly, treat tenants as scum.

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from Property | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2VT0MRi
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It’s the big weekend for gardeners

Time to learn patience as Easter crowds fill garden centres

Easter, when garden centres make the most money, like Christmas for M&S. When more trays of seedlings and small plants, new secateurs and sacks of compost are sold than any other time. Cars queueing laden with hope and bored kids, longing for teenage freedom.

It’s the big gardening weekend of the year, deep enough into spring, a time of renewal and resurrection when most of us feel free to shrug off winter, get shaken out of our lethargy and poke around the garden or plot.

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from Property | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2Uw1hPJ
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It’s the big weekend for gardeners

Time to learn patience as Easter crowds fill garden centres

Easter, when garden centres make the most money, like Christmas for M&S. When more trays of seedlings and small plants, new secateurs and sacks of compost are sold than any other time. Cars queueing laden with hope and bored kids, longing for teenage freedom.

It’s the big gardening weekend of the year, deep enough into spring, a time of renewal and resurrection when most of us feel free to shrug off winter, get shaken out of our lethargy and poke around the garden or plot.

Continue reading...

from Home And Garden | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2Uw1hPJ
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A guide to sorting out your broadband connection when moving home Nottingham Estate Agents

Moving home can be stressful enough and so decisions about broadband might be the very last thing on your mind. Here Broadband Genie provides eight top tips to help make the process easier Of all the utilities you need to consider when moving home, broadband is the one with the most potential for causing a […]

The post A guide to sorting out your broadband connection when moving home appeared first on OnTheMarket.com blog.

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