Rich pickings: a fashion stylist’s palace of glamour

Floral wallpaper, luxurious textures and jewel-toned accents rule in Leith Clark’s romantic home

From gold-patterned wallpaper and velvet upholstery to peacock feather fabric, there is barely a corner of Leith Clark’s glamorous Victorian house that isn’t filled with rich, dramatic shades. The hallway is papered in dark floral blooms, inspired by the cracked canvases of Dutch masters; the dining room has bold gold-and-black wallpaper and shimmering brass cupboards, giving the room the feel of a jewellery box; and the master bedroom has a decadent De Gournay decorative wallpaper. A pale grey living space – the most “calming” room – is the closest this house comes to neutral.

Continue reading...

from Home And Garden | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2v1qURn
via IFTTT

Gardening tips: plant a black-stemmed dogwood

Then visit the Giant Houseplant Takeover at RHS Wisley or read about modern plant hunters

Plant this Looking for something showy for your garden this month? Black-stemmed dogwood (Cornus alba ‘Kesselringii’) underplanted with evergreen grasses or snowdrops makes a dramatic winter picture. This hardy shrub will reach 2m each way and is suitable for most aspects, aside from deep shade.

Visit this Even though my family thinks there’s a houseplant takeover already happening in our house, I’ve got nothing on RHS Wisley in Surrey. From its huge glasshouse hosts the Giant Houseplant Takeover, where hundreds of plants grow wild in a Victorian house.

Continue reading...

from Home And Garden | The Guardian https://ift.tt/30w7jnY
via IFTTT

Which plants are the best bird feeders? | Alys Fowler

Although I feed song birds with meal worms, suet and seeds, I’ve come to realise that my garden can do the job just as well

I was admiring the glorious orange limbs of my strawberry tree, Arbutus unedo, meandering elegantly and covered in bright red baubles of fruit among glossy green leaves, when I spotted a blackbird, its beak crammed full of a single fruit. I was contemplating preserving this year’s bounty of fruit, but the sight of that happy blackbird was enough to make me realise I didn’t need any more jam in my life. This tree is far more giving to all of us in the garden than I could have conceived when I planted it to obscure my neighbour’s shed.

Continue reading...

from Home And Garden | The Guardian https://ift.tt/374nzis
via IFTTT

Silver Sharers: the site helping older renters meet their match

Services assists prospective tenants in their search for landlords of a similar age

It’s not just Generation Rent that struggles with insecure lets, unscrupulous landlords and bad accommodation.

There are more than 400,000 people aged over 60 living in private rented accommodation, up more than 60% from 2007. Research predicts a third of over-60s could be renting privately by 2040, as rising divorce rates and sky-high property prices take their toll.

Continue reading...

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

Buying or selling a property affected by Japanese knotweed? Nottingham Estate Agents

We asked Nic Seal, Environmental Scientist and Managing Director of Environet UK Ltd to provide advice to buyers and sellers alike Whereas rabbits are pre-programmed to eat grass and to go forth and multiply, Japanese knotweed DNA is hell bent on: Destruction – it loves to damage human property, growing through asphalt, destroying walls and […]

The post Buying or selling a property affected by Japanese knotweed? appeared first on OnTheMarket.com blog.

from OnTheMarket.com blog https://ift.tt/1UMhJsY
via IFTTT

Let’s move to Sedbergh, Cumbria: lovely in its isolation

A convivial and unpretentious ‘book town’, though it may be too lonely for some

What’s going for it? Being an introvert, it’s the lonely spots that attract me most. Sedbergh is only 15 twisty-turny minutes up the steep western escarpment of the Yorkshire Dales from the M6, a little longer from Kendal, but high up, all alone in the fells, it might be halfway to the moon. Bald moors, big skies and Alfred Wainwright’s beloved Howgill Fells loom all about, and there’s not much bar sheep, the Wensleydale Creamery and the odd village or teeny town between you and the other side of the UK. Bliss. I don’t think I’ve ever been lonelier, in a good way, than waiting on the platform at Garsdale station with only crows for company. Still, Sedbergh itself is a convivial spot, despite its isolation, and utterly unpretentious in the way only this part of the world can be – home to doughty shops, hardy people and excellent pubs where hikers battle farmers for space at the bar. And, as one of three of Britain’s “book towns” (with Wigtown and Hay-on-Wye), filled with bookshops, writing retreats and poetry festivals, even the most taciturn hermit is never short of a conversation opener, even if it’s just your take on the latest Jack Reacher plot twist.

The case against… When the wind blows, Sedbergh gets blown away. The lonely spots aren’t for everyone.

Continue reading...

from Property | The Guardian https://ift.tt/30wBmMn
via IFTTT

Let’s move to Sedbergh, Cumbria: lovely in its isolation

A convivial and unpretentious ‘book town’, though it may be too lonely for some

What’s going for it? Being an introvert, it’s the lonely spots that attract me most. Sedbergh is only 15 twisty-turny minutes up the steep western escarpment of the Yorkshire Dales from the M6, a little longer from Kendal, but high up, all alone in the fells, it might be halfway to the moon. Bald moors, big skies and Alfred Wainwright’s beloved Howgill Fells loom all about, and there’s not much bar sheep, the Wensleydale Creamery and the odd village or teeny town between you and the other side of the UK. Bliss. I don’t think I’ve ever been lonelier, in a good way, than waiting on the platform at Garsdale station with only crows for company. Still, Sedbergh itself is a convivial spot, despite its isolation, and utterly unpretentious in the way only this part of the world can be – home to doughty shops, hardy people and excellent pubs where hikers battle farmers for space at the bar. And, as one of three of Britain’s “book towns” (with Wigtown and Hay-on-Wye), filled with bookshops, writing retreats and poetry festivals, even the most taciturn hermit is never short of a conversation opener, even if it’s just your take on the latest Jack Reacher plot twist.

The case against… When the wind blows, Sedbergh gets blown away. The lonely spots aren’t for everyone.

Continue reading...

from Home And Garden | The Guardian https://ift.tt/30wBmMn
via IFTTT