UK house prices rise at fastest rate on record

2019 general election result provided period of ‘stability’ following Brexit uncertainty

UK house prices rose over the last month at the fastest rate on record for the time of the year, as sellers felt more confident about the outlook for the housing market after the general election, according to Rightmove.

The average price of properties coming on to the market jumped by 2.3%, the biggest rise for the period since the property website started its house price index in 2002. Nearly 65,000 UK properties were marketed over the month, with an average asking price of £306,810.

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Mi casa es su casa: the family who turned their Lisbon home into a hotel

In a 1900s building in Lisbon, António Costa Lopes and Filipa Fortunato have created an intimate hotel that feels like a family home – because it is one

Over the years, Casa Fortunato in Lisbon has been many things to many people. The first floor was originally a doctor’s home, while the ground floor was divided into several shops, their glass facades facing the wide, tree-lined street. After the second world war, it served as a meeting place for the city’s Japanese community; then, from the 1960s, Lisbon diners flocked to its marble entrance when it became a fashionable restaurant. By the 1990s a financial company had put paid to that, redecorating the rooms in global-business beige.

Ten years ago, António Falcão Costa Lopes and his brother Alexandre moved the Lisbon outpost of their architecture firm here (their main office is in Angola) and the building’s fortunes took an upward turn. It is still owned by the family who had it built in the early 1900s, but under the Costa Lopes’ expert eye, various repairs were gently suggested and carried out and the building began to regain a cohesive character.

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Are your houseplants environmentally friendly? | James Wong

Keep your ‘plant miles’ down by following these tips on importing, greenhouse use and propogating

I have been getting loads of questions about the sustainability of houseplants recently. To me, it’s very encouraging that people are so interested in greening their indoors (in both senses of the word). Here is a quick run down on the environmental impact of houseplants, and how to shrink it as much as you can.

The major concern I hear is that the vast majority of houseplants sold in the UK are imported, racking up “plant miles” on their journey from the huge nurseries in the Netherlands. However, all you need do is look at a map to see that Holland is as close, if not closer, to many of us here in Britain than other parts of the UK. Secondly, these plants are transported here by road and ferry, which produces not only a fraction of the carbon emissions per mile of flying, but significantly less than smaller scale deliveries would generate from UK nurseries. If you are driving to your garden centre to buy houseplants, the emissions from your car will almost certainly be greater than the emissions generated in getting it from grower to garden centre. In fact, it is fair to say that in the production chain of houseplants, transport is one of the lowest sources of carbon emissions wherever you chose to source them from.

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Are your houseplants environmentally friendly? | James Wong

Keep your ‘plant miles’ down by following these tips on importing, greenhouse use and propogating

I have been getting loads of questions about the sustainability of houseplants recently. To me, it’s very encouraging that people are so interested in greening their indoors (in both senses of the word). Here is a quick run down on the environmental impact of houseplants, and how to shrink it as much as you can.

The major concern I hear is that the vast majority of houseplants sold in the UK are imported, racking up “plant miles” on their journey from the huge nurseries in the Netherlands. However, all you need do is look at a map to see that Holland is as close, if not closer, to many of us here in Britain than other parts of the UK. Secondly, these plants are transported here by road and ferry, which produces not only a fraction of the carbon emissions per mile of flying, but significantly less than smaller scale deliveries would generate from UK nurseries. If you are driving to your garden centre to buy houseplants, the emissions from your car will almost certainly be greater than the emissions generated in getting it from grower to garden centre. In fact, it is fair to say that in the production chain of houseplants, transport is one of the lowest sources of carbon emissions wherever you chose to source them from.

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Hungry birds and marauding moles create a sense of wonder

Fill up the feeders, grab some binoculars and a guidebook, and watch as the tits, finches and blackbirds swoop in

Denmark, end of December. The constant sound of the sea, the smell of wood smoke and salt. The air is almost kippered. It’s the wettest winter since their records began. Flowering daisies in the long grass, dead leaves lie like damp leather. Confused new shoots everywhere.

The moles have been busy tunnelling under the mossy ‘lawn’. I shovel up 20 hills, barrow the sandy soil to the edges of the plot. The raked-up leaf will lie there, too. I will sow it with wild flower seed in early summer to join the wood anemone, hepatica, forget-me-not and campion that thrive in the more shadowy spaces.

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Hungry birds and marauding moles create a sense of wonder

Fill up the feeders, grab some binoculars and a guidebook, and watch as the tits, finches and blackbirds swoop in

Denmark, end of December. The constant sound of the sea, the smell of wood smoke and salt. The air is almost kippered. It’s the wettest winter since their records began. Flowering daisies in the long grass, dead leaves lie like damp leather. Confused new shoots everywhere.

The moles have been busy tunnelling under the mossy ‘lawn’. I shovel up 20 hills, barrow the sandy soil to the edges of the plot. The raked-up leaf will lie there, too. I will sow it with wild flower seed in early summer to join the wood anemone, hepatica, forget-me-not and campion that thrive in the more shadowy spaces.

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Tranquil Dawn named Dulux’s Colour of the Year for 2020 Nottingham Estate Agents

The start of a decade brings new beginnings – and Dulux thinks it has just the colour for the occasion. The paint brand bring together a panel of international designers every year to pick a hue that best captures the moment – the Colour of the Year 2019 was Spiced Honey. This year the team […]

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