Save the world: grow beans and peas | Alys Fowler

Legumes are not only good to eat, they’re great for the planet, too

Legumes might just save the world. Stuff all this lab-grown meat and those cricket burgers: legumes are what we should be banking on. The protein-rich seeds of beans, peas and lentils are nutritious, easy to grow and leave the world in better shape, thanks to their relationship with soil bacteria.

These bacteria are known as rhizobia. They take atmospheric nitrogen, which is useless to plants, and turn it into forms the plant can use, such as ammonia. They also make the phosphate in the soil, which is essential for plant vigour, soluble, and produce hormones that help the plant develop and fine-tune its pest defences. In return, the plant houses the bacteria and ensures there is a good supply of oxygen and plenty of raw ingredients such as carbon and nutrients.

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Weapons rooms, fake windows and a $3m price tag: inside a luxury doomsday bunker

Afraid of nuclear war, natural disasters, economic meltdown? The Survival Condo could be the answer

“Mechanical level”, “medical level”, “store level” the voice announces as the lift descends into the earth. I’d entered at parking lot level, the building’s apex. I am travelling through an inverted skyscraper, the floor numbers ascending – third, fourth – as we plumb the building’s depths. A hulking man in his late 50s called Larry Hall stands next to me, whistling, black shirt tucked into blue jeans.

When the doors open, I can’t suppress a laugh. In front of us, four storeys below central Kansas, is a supermarket complete with shopping baskets, cold cabinets and an espresso machine behind the counter. Hall smiles.

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‘We're giving people a reason to wake up’: crafting a new life for refugees around the world

Meet the business owners teaching Syrian and Malian refugees, prison inmates and those with learning disabilities to create successful and sustainable ranges of clothes and homeware – some of which are ending up in high-end fashion houses

At the Love Welcomes workshop, in a refugee camp outside Athens, Syrian women learn to weave on a simple loom. The recycled yarn and thread they use comes from life vests and blankets discarded by exhausted refugees as they disembark from boats. The throws, cushions and doormats they produce are sold online. “We support women who are waiting to have their papers and visas processed; it can be a hopeless, desperate time,” says Love Welcomes co-founder Abi Hewitt. “Our aim is to give people a reason to wake up in the morning and feel they’re contributing to society.”

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Buying or renting a listed building? Everything you need to know Nottingham Estate Agents

Owning a listed property can give a property an edge when it comes to selling. OnTheMarket reveals a guide to buying a listed building here. What does ‘listed’ mean? The property is on a national register of buildings with architectural or historical importance. To check if a house is listed, visit this website. What does […]

The post Buying or renting a listed building? Everything you need to know appeared first on OnTheMarket.com blog.

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Proud to support ‘The Great High St Comeback’

We’re excited to announce that we’ve joined forces with Channel4, and a handful of other well-known brands, to help promote the local, independent businesses that help make up our high streets and support their comebacks. Featuring a selection of high street heroes, from all over the UK, Channel4 have created a special film that showcases […]

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Everyone is leaving London – and other lessons I've learned trying to move house | Zoe Williams

Why be in a city centre when nothing’s happening there, and where should you be when civilisation ends? Covid-19 has turned the housing market into an existential crisis

I went into lockdown feeling smug about almost nothing, except one small thing: right after it, whenever that was, we were going to move house. We had a buyer, we had a seller and the best bit was they were one and the same. We were basically swapping houses – no, sorry, this is the best bit – with a vicar.

It had been a winding, perilous road. In our first meeting (location: his house), knowing his calling, I tried to sound much more Christian than I am. But men of the cloth can always smell it when you do that. The second and third meetings (location: our house), I answered the door in a towel and in pyjamas, respectively; looking back, there wasn’t a single time I was appropriately dressed in this entire long-range encounter, except when visiting his house.

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Nationwide warns of 'false dawn' after UK house prices leap 1.7%

Pent-up demand from buyers powers rebound but redundancies may cause slowdown

The UK’s biggest building society has warned of a “false dawn” in the housing market after reporting a 1.7% leap in prices in July.

Nationwide said the rebound had been powered by pent-up demand from those who wanted to move before lockdown. There was further demand from people deciding they wanted to move after being confined in their homes for several months.

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