Buying property in London can be the opportunity of a lifetime, but it is rarely simple or straightforward. You have to research the market thoroughly if you want to track down your dream home and buy it at the most appropriate price. But there are plenty of opportunities out there. You just need to know where […]
The post A guide to buying property in London appeared first on OnTheMarket.com blog.
Begonias used to be for hot climates only, but here are some tough enough to survive and thrive in Britain
I am a reformed begoniaphobe. I grew up in the hot spot of begonia biodiversity that is southeast Asia – home to dazzling iridescent species that shimmer like butterfly wings and mottled beauties that look straight off the set of Avatar. But my only knowledge of the genus was massive, double hybrids in lurid Vegas showgirl shades from 1980s British bedding-plant catalogues. Since then, thanks to the introduction of weird and wonderful species, I have well and truly been converted to this fascinating genus.
Back in the day, the only begonias commonly available in the trade had not only had all their wild, rainforesty look bred out of them in favour of a uniform, plastic, perfectness, they were also strictly summer bedding plants only. Come the slightest whiff of frost, their soft, water-filled tissues would collapse to a brown mush that needed to be replaced every year. However, the popularisation of species from more northerly latitudes introduced a gene pool that confers a significant level of hardiness if given a thick winter mulch.
Continue reading...Begonias used to be for hot climates only, but here are some tough enough to survive and thrive in Britain
I am a reformed begoniaphobe. I grew up in the hot spot of begonia biodiversity that is southeast Asia – home to dazzling iridescent species that shimmer like butterfly wings and mottled beauties that look straight off the set of Avatar. But my only knowledge of the genus was massive, double hybrids in lurid Vegas showgirl shades from 1980s British bedding-plant catalogues. Since then, thanks to the introduction of weird and wonderful species, I have well and truly been converted to this fascinating genus.
Back in the day, the only begonias commonly available in the trade had not only had all their wild, rainforesty look bred out of them in favour of a uniform, plastic, perfectness, they were also strictly summer bedding plants only. Come the slightest whiff of frost, their soft, water-filled tissues would collapse to a brown mush that needed to be replaced every year. However, the popularisation of species from more northerly latitudes introduced a gene pool that confers a significant level of hardiness if given a thick winter mulch.
Continue reading...One in three UK adults has experienced a shock to their finances through bereavement, redundancy, or an illness that has stopped them from working. The Money Advice Service suggests the benefits of protection insurance. It’s probably there at the back of your mind, niggling away, the worry of how you’d pay your mortgage or rent […]
The post What happens to my mortgage if I lose my job? appeared first on OnTheMarket.com blog.
Giving thanks to the gardening gods – and a farm in the Black Mountains
Our summer started with a white van man, a delivery from near the Black Mountains of Herefordshire. Hazel poles for climbing beans and peas, a tray of sweet peas, too. All from Jane Scotter at Fern Verrow farm, with a few tomato plants thrown in.
The poles are chunky hazel, full of character – I am not overly keen on bamboo, too straight and featureless – with surfaces for the beans to cling to like climbers on a cliff face.
Continue reading...Giving thanks to the gardening gods – and a farm in the Black Mountains
Our summer started with a white van man, a delivery from near the Black Mountains of Herefordshire. Hazel poles for climbing beans and peas, a tray of sweet peas, too. All from Jane Scotter at Fern Verrow farm, with a few tomato plants thrown in.
The poles are chunky hazel, full of character – I am not overly keen on bamboo, too straight and featureless – with surfaces for the beans to cling to like climbers on a cliff face.
Continue reading...An east London apartment has been turned into a family home by reconfiguring its compartmentalised floor plan
When Belgian architect Ewald Van Der Straeten discovered a flat for sale in east London’s Trevelyan House in 2012, he jumped at the chance to view it, and then put in an offer the very next day. “My big dream would have been to live in a Barbican apartment. I love the robust beauty of the concrete and the well-proportioned interiors,” he says. “It was pure luck that I found a flat in this building; it has many of the qualities I was seeking, which you just don’t find in the majority of new builds.”
Trevelyan House was built in 1958 by Sir Denys Lasdun, the British architect behind the National Theatre’s boldly Brutalist design. Lasdun devised the then radical idea of a butterfly plan, which saw the rear unit on each floor of this block of flats set at right angles to the other two, with a central core containing the stairs and lift. Not only did this improve the aspect of each apartment, it also negated the need for long access corridors and gave residents more privacy while maintaining a neighbourly atmosphere. Its “cluster block” design allowed for 24 new residences to be created on a relatively small Second World War bomb site in Bethnal Green, without disturbing the existing character of the street.
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