It’s important to ask your estate or letting agent the right questions when you search for a property to rent. “Competition can be fierce and time tight in the rental sector, so it is crucial to have your finances in order and be able to move quickly,” says Kate Eales, Head of National Lettings at […]
The post Ten key questions to ask an agent when looking for a home to rent appeared first on OnTheMarket.com blog.
It may seem like a Herculean task, but it is possible to buy a house if you are on your own. There is no doubt the coronavirus pandemic has complicated things for the majority of would-be solo homeowners. The property market has been majorly affected by the strict measures put in place to contain the virus […]
The post Buying a property on your own: How it can be done appeared first on OnTheMarket.com blog.
Chancellor said to be in discussion about how to continue helping borrowers
Rishi Sunak is drawing up plans to extend the mortgage relief scheme beyond the end of June as many businesses remain unable to reopen, Whitehall sources have confirmed.
The Financial Times reported that the chancellor is in discussions with the banking sector about how to continue supporting cash-strapped borrowers through the coming months.
Continue reading...Gardening can make us feel better – mowing the lawn, weeding the flower bed, planting seeds in the potting shed and staying connected with nature can all help to boost our mental and physical health. The way we design our gardens and the features we choose to incorporate can be restorative – from the soothing […]
The post Five tips for turning your garden into a sanctuary appeared first on OnTheMarket.com blog.
Crook, County Durham: Rain makes for an easy journey, but dry and dusty asphalt is a different matter
Forty-nine early morning lockdown walks, and I’d only been rained on twice. Today balanced the account a little, with raindrops hammering on my umbrella. Not a day for lingering, with a cold wind and scudding grey clouds, but ahead, crossing the asphalt of the lane, was a fellow traveller, almost luminous in the gloom: a white-lipped snail, Cepaea hortensis.
Cepaea shells come in several colour schemes, with variable numbers of thick or thin spiralling brown bands or, more rarely hereabouts, simply bright yellow with no bands at all. Since the 1940s academic careers have been built on fathoming the evolutionary significance of this genetically determined variation within the genus. Climate, habitat and susceptibility to predation all play a part in the local frequency of morphs.
Continue reading...Crook, County Durham: Rain makes for an easy journey, but dry and dusty asphalt is a different matter
Forty-nine early morning lockdown walks, and I’d only been rained on twice. Today balanced the account a little, with raindrops hammering on my umbrella. Not a day for lingering, with a cold wind and scudding grey clouds, but ahead, crossing the asphalt of the lane, was a fellow traveller, almost luminous in the gloom: a white-lipped snail, Cepaea hortensis.
Cepaea shells come in several colour schemes, with variable numbers of thick or thin spiralling brown bands or, more rarely hereabouts, simply bright yellow with no bands at all. Since the 1940s academic careers have been built on fathoming the evolutionary significance of this genetically determined variation within the genus. Climate, habitat and susceptibility to predation all play a part in the local frequency of morphs.
Continue reading...Damaged peatlands account for 5% of all annual manmade greenhouse gas emissions
Gardeners have been loading up with compost and plants as garden centres have reopened in the UK, except for Scotland. But compost made with peat is still being used by both gardeners and commercial growers, even though it is dug up from peatlands, devastating wild bogplants, wildlife, and sabotaging the fight against the climate crisis.
Peat is made up of dead plants saturated and preserved in water, locking away vast amounts of carbon in the plant remains. Peatlands account for about 3% of the Earth’s land area but hold more than one-third of all the carbon in soil, and more than twice as much as the world’s forests. But when peatlands are damaged they release their carbon, some 2bn tonnes of CO2 worldwide annually, more than 5% of all manmade greenhouse gas emissions.
Continue reading...