OnTheMarket.com explains how you can object to a planning application and what to do to try and ensure you get the result you want. Where can I find details of the application? Before you can object to a planning application, you first need to know it exists. Local councils are supposed to notify neighbours likely to […]
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People think that older varieties have more flavour, but it’s often simply not true
As the leaves begin to turn, right now is the perfect time to start ordering fruit trees and bushes to plant out. However, I implore you not to fall victim to the buzzword “heritage” in the catalogues, at least if you are looking for good flavour. It sounds counterintuitive, I know, but speaking as a botanist who has tried and tested hundreds of varieties for flavour, I can give you some good reasons why to avoid these plants.
There is the popular belief that the older the variety, the better the flavour. Harking back to a time before intensive plant breeders bred all the “goodness” out of crops, according to this narrative modern crops are watery, bland, loaded with sugar and low in nutrition. Diet gurus on Twitter warn that modern fruit is now so sugary that zoo monkeys can no longer be fed bananas. Celebrity chefs will claim modern apples have seen their sugar content double, pandering to our “insatiable sweet tooth”. Food writers will even report on the “toxic truth” of grapes such as Thompson Seedless. One thing you will rarely see, however, is evidence.
Continue reading...People think that older varieties have more flavour, but it’s often simply not true
As the leaves begin to turn, right now is the perfect time to start ordering fruit trees and bushes to plant out. However, I implore you not to fall victim to the buzzword “heritage” in the catalogues, at least if you are looking for good flavour. It sounds counterintuitive, I know, but speaking as a botanist who has tried and tested hundreds of varieties for flavour, I can give you some good reasons why to avoid these plants.
There is the popular belief that the older the variety, the better the flavour. Harking back to a time before intensive plant breeders bred all the “goodness” out of crops, according to this narrative modern crops are watery, bland, loaded with sugar and low in nutrition. Diet gurus on Twitter warn that modern fruit is now so sugary that zoo monkeys can no longer be fed bananas. Celebrity chefs will claim modern apples have seen their sugar content double, pandering to our “insatiable sweet tooth”. Food writers will even report on the “toxic truth” of grapes such as Thompson Seedless. One thing you will rarely see, however, is evidence.
Continue reading...With an estimated 320,000 people homeless in Britain, charities are turning to using tiny ‘pods’ as temporary accommodation
With a single bed, a chemical toilet and a phone charger in a very tight space, a “micro sleeping pod” is very much basic living. But for those that live in the tight shelters, set up by a charity, they provide a link between living on the streets and finding more long-term accommodation. And then there is the cost – at £10,500 for the pair, the pods in Newport, Wales are significantly cheaper than building a flat, according to Amazing Grace Spaces.
From Bristol to London, architects, planners and charities are developing unique styles of accommodation to cope with the housing crisis. With private rents increasing and the local housing allowance frozen until at least 2020, homelessness continues to spiral – last year Shelter said at least 320,000 people were homeless in Britain, up 4% on the previous year.
Continue reading...A wet autumn day is the perfect time to plan for next year
A wet October afternoon. Too wet for planned seaweed-feeding. Too wet to walk on the soil. A time to stay indoors and to think about spring and seed.
There are bowls and dishes and plates of seed cluttering the bookshelves; a large dish of dried bean pods in the kitchen (not to mention stashes downstairs).
Continue reading...A wet autumn day is the perfect time to plan for next year
A wet October afternoon. Too wet for planned seaweed-feeding. Too wet to walk on the soil. A time to stay indoors and to think about spring and seed.
There are bowls and dishes and plates of seed cluttering the bookshelves; a large dish of dried bean pods in the kitchen (not to mention stashes downstairs).
Continue reading...‘Modest’ decor lets the elegant interior architecture of an 1840 rectory in Cheltenham shine
She is the designer who made bunting, table confetti and cake toppers staples of party decorating. Yet you’re unlikely to have heard of Meredithe Stuart-Smith. The US-born entrepreneur began her business at a glitter-strewn kitchen table in 1985. The luxury department store Bergdorf Goodman, in New York, was her first client and she has been quietly busy ever since. Today, Meri Meri stationery, homewares, toys and reusable party trimmings, in her trademark pastels and neons, line the shelves of stores across the world.
“I’ve always designed for parents like me, who want to add a bit of magic to their children’s lives,” says Stuart-Smith, a mother of two. Many of those designs began here in the Cheltenham home she shares with her husband and grown-up son (her daughter now works in Birmingham). The four-bedroom property is set in a stucco-fronted 1840 rectory, which was sliced into three apartments in the 1950s. “The proportions are grand, but it’s not an overly elaborate house,” says Stuart-Smith, who has kept the decor accordingly “modest”. Walls are washed in a concert of bluey-whites; the original, wonky floorboards painted a shiny cocoa brown. Like her designs, the charm of this house lies in the details: a row of Surrealist plates, the swan-shaped cushion afloat on a petite sofa. “I’m drawn to things that are clean-lined, with a bit of fun thrown in,” she enthuses. “I love wallpaper and colour, but I couldn’t live with that intensity. I like to be able to see the wood through the leaves.”
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