Tunnel of love: a wartime Nissen hut brought to life

When a three-generation family moved to a smallholding in Wales, they reimagined an old military shelter as a stylish second space

A rusting wartime Nissen hut was not in the gameplan when architect Damon Webb moved from Brighton to mid-Wales with his daughter and her family four years ago. Tired of the fast pace and density of people where he lived, Webb, 52, was searching for an alternative. He wanted space to keep bees and chickens, and to pursue his interests in permaculture, self-sufficiency and the humane rearing of animals.

Continue reading...

from Home And Garden | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2BqF3HD
via IFTTT

Gardening tips: plant garlic chives - the herb that keeps on giving

Split large rhubarb plants and find a local apple day event

Plant this Garlic chives (Allium tuberosum) are the plant that keeps on giving. Harvest the mildly garlicky leaves, then enjoy the white flowers in late summer through to autumn (they are also edible). This perennial herb needs full sun, and will only die back in harsh winters. Height and spread 30cm x 25cm.

Split this If your rhubarb is huge but not very productive, it’s time to split the clump. Dig out the crown and use a pruning saw to cut it into pieces, each bit with a visible growing point; chuck away anything dead or mushy (be brutal). Replant with the top of the crown on the surface of the soil.

Continue reading...

from Home And Garden | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2MSdA72
via IFTTT

How to plant trees – and help save the planet | Alys Fowler

Mass tree planting may be one of the simplest and cheapest ways to help the environment – and now is the time to get started

My friend Ming is a friend of oaks. Whenever she sees a sapling that’s doomed to be mown or trampled, or has appeared in the middle of a vegetable bed, she is there to rehome it. Now, when I see an oak sapling in the wrong spot, I think of her and move it. To love trees is to invest hope in the future. To have faith in times to come is not easy right now, but there is scientific evidence that mass tree planting may be one of the simplest and cheapest ways to reduce our impact on our ecosystem.

We will need a lot of trees, however – more than a trillion, and they will have to span the globe. They will not negate climate change on their own, but they will store carbon, help clean the air, filter and slow down rainwater to help prevent flooding and, if a diverse bunch is planted, help increase biodiversity. A target of a trillion trees needs worldwide backing from every country and every government. It’s easy to feel pessimistic about the likelihood of that.

Continue reading...

from Home And Garden | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2nY9n9q
via IFTTT

Mortgage prisoners: domestic abuse survivors on how they got trapped

Homeowners fleeing toxic relationships can get stuck with large mortgages they can’t escape

Four years ago, without a word of warning, Wendy’s estranged husband stopped paying his share of the mortgage, leaving the mother of one to pay the full £1,100 a month.

Despite this, Wendy*, 46, was still at the mercy of her abusive ex, who prevented the sale of the property and refused to sign the papers when she negotiated a new mortgage rate.

Continue reading...

from Property | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2BokBXR
via IFTTT

Mortgages: 40-year terms are becoming the norm – but watch out

First-time buyers could end up paying a lot more – and not be mortgage-free until their 70s

Mortgages with a maximum term of 40 years are now becoming the norm, according to new data this week. However, with the average age of a first-time buyer standing at 32, that raises the prospect of a generation of homeowners not achieving mortgage-free status until they are in their 70s.

Latest research from the data experts at Moneyfacts.co.uk shows that 57% of the residential mortgage products currently available have a standard maximum term of up to 40 years – up from just under 36% in March 2014.

Continue reading...

from Property | The Guardian https://ift.tt/31sXdD9
via IFTTT

Top tips for viewing empty properties Nottingham Estate Agents

Empty properties can often be undesired or even overlooked but they can offer potential buyers many benefits. Find out why an empty home may be worth a second look. Unfurnished homes can be beautiful but they do not appear to attract the same level of attention as furnished properties. While it is true that good […]

The post Top tips for viewing empty properties appeared first on OnTheMarket.com blog.

from OnTheMarket.com blog https://ift.tt/2jEpKky
via IFTTT

Let’s move to Dumfries, Dumfries & Galloway: could anywhere be more Scottish?

It’s full of pinnacles, crow-stepped gables and baronial turrets as if Disney’s imagineers had sketched it themselves

What’s going for it? In the – almost – words of Chandler from Friends: “Could anywhere be more Scottish?” Don’t @ me. Don’t write in. Here’s my pitch, hear me out. Dumfries was the home of Robert Burns. Back of the net. You can pay your respects at his statue opposite Nationwide Building Society, at his little sandstone house, or in person at his mausoleum in St Michael’s churchyard. Second: its warm red stone streets are chock-full of pinnacles, crow-stepped gables and baronial turrets, as if Disney’s imagineers had sketched it themselves. Third: in the late 13th century William Wallace and the townsfolk saw off the invading English here. Fourth: soon after, Robert the Bruce began his campaign for independence in Dumfries (and, at Bannockburn, won). Fifth: the remarkable, romantic hinterland – the red kites and pine forests of the Galloway hills, the ruined castles and abbeys of the Nith estuary, the white sands of the Solway coast – could turn Alf Garnett Hibernian. I could go on.

The case against A tad off the beaten track these days.

Continue reading...

from Property | The Guardian https://ift.tt/32tjhPw
via IFTTT