Few things strike as much fear into buyers and sellers alike as subsidence. Who would buy a property that was at risk of structural collapse? And if you are a seller, the nagging question that keeps you awake at night: should you buy a house if the tell-tale signs of subsidence are going to be […]
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With homes now back on the market, estate agents say inquiries are ‘through the roof’
Britain’s housing market is enjoying a post-lockdown mini-boom fuelled by this month’s stamp duty cut, pushing asking prices to a record high, according to the property website Rightmove.
With homes throughout Britain finally able to come to market again, some estate agents are reporting that buyer inquiries “are through the roof”, with property deals going to sealed bids, as a combination of pent-up demand being released, homeowners rethinking their lifestyles and the stamp duty giveaway come together to create a surge in activity.
Continue reading...Low-deposit home loans are coming back … but choices are limited and lenders are applying new terms and conditions
These are difficult times for anyone who wants to buy a home. Despite the government’s attempt to reinvigorate the market with a temporary stamp-duty holiday on properties costing up to £500,000 in England and Northern Ireland, unless you have a large deposit you could face a struggle.
During the crisis lenders have pulled mortgages, with those for borrowers with small deposits disappearing fastest. Some of the big banks and building societies have started to return to the market – last week saw 90% deals launched by Coventry building society and Metro Bank, and, from Monday, Nationwide building society will also be offering them.
Continue reading...Received wisdom is all very well, but sometimes the science proves otherwise
Gardening is full of received wisdom that is treated as gospel and handed down across the generations – from putting a layer of crocks at the bottom of pots for drainage, to the back-breaking work of Victorian “double-digging” to improve soil structure. But when tested scientifically much of this old-school advice turns out not to be supported by evidence. In fact, in the above two examples, they are actually likely to give you worse results than if you simply hadn’t bothered at all.
Even scientists aren’t immune to repeating received wisdom, or potentially extrapolating more from the data than it actually shows, particularly if the claim supports our existing views. However, the wonderful thing about science, unlike gardening dogma, is that it is forever changing as new evidence comes to light. In fact, as a botanist, I think the freedom to change one’s mind, to hold your hands up to getting it wrong, is science’s greatest strength – particularly in 2020. So I am starting, in my own small way, right here.
Continue reading...Received wisdom is all very well, but sometimes the science proves otherwise
Gardening is full of received wisdom that is treated as gospel and handed down across the generations – from putting a layer of crocks at the bottom of pots for drainage, to the back-breaking work of Victorian “double-digging” to improve soil structure. But when tested scientifically much of this old-school advice turns out not to be supported by evidence. In fact, in the above two examples, they are actually likely to give you worse results than if you simply hadn’t bothered at all.
Even scientists aren’t immune to repeating received wisdom, or potentially extrapolating more from the data than it actually shows, particularly if the claim supports our existing views. However, the wonderful thing about science, unlike gardening dogma, is that it is forever changing as new evidence comes to light. In fact, as a botanist, I think the freedom to change one’s mind, to hold your hands up to getting it wrong, is science’s greatest strength – particularly in 2020. So I am starting, in my own small way, right here.
Continue reading...How two coastal landscapes shaped my love of gardening
A meditation on memory. Gardening as remembrance. How places and plants can have echoes as well as leaves and roots in the past.
I am thinking of the Danish summerhouse now, and my Devon childhood. How the two gardens in many ways mirror each other, but also of their essential difference.
Continue reading...For many of us our spare room is a place where we store all those things we don’t know what to do with. But this under-utilised space is undergoing a rebirth as more and more people are letting their spare rooms to lodgers. Often, the key to harmony depends on the tenant fitting in with […]
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