‘We’re like athletes’: the secret lives of giant-vegetable growers

From onions as big as babies to pumpkins that weigh more than a car, it has been a record-breaking year for oversize veg. But what motivates someone to grow an 8-metre beetroot – and is skulduggery involved?

The pumpkins are as big as Cinderella’s carriage, and so heavy that a tractor is required to hoist them out of the earth. Immense, pockmarked marrows bulge from the ground like something from a phantasmagoric nightmare. Cucumbers soar to the height of a four-year-old. Onions bloat to the size of a head. You can have your giant vegetables in any size, as long as it is large, extra-large or extra-extra-large.

For Britain’s giant-vegetable growers, 2020 has been a vintage year. Three world records were set on this year’s Grow Show tour in September: the world’s heaviest red cabbage (31.6kg), the world’s longest salsify (5.6 metres) and the world’s longest beetroot (8.6 metres). This month, Ian and Stuart Paton, 59-year-old twins from Lymington in Hampshire, grew the UK’s heaviest-ever pumpkin, which weighed in at a monstrous 1,176.5kg.

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Residents asked to leave London blocks over safety concerns

Nearly 900 people, mostly students, told to move from Paragon site in Brentford

Almost 900 people living in a six-block development in London are being moved out immediately because of serious safety concerns relating to the construction of the buildings.

The residents, the majority of whom are students, were told at 11am on Monday that they would have to leave their homes on the Paragon site in Brentford, west London, which is owned by the housing association Notting Hill Genesis.

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Asking prices are at an all-time high right now

Here's the full story.

The post Asking prices are at an all-time high right now first appeared on Property blog.

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Can we buy a property in unequal shares to rent out?

And if we can do that can we be taxed on the rental income on the basis of the ownership shares?

Q My wife and I are going to purchase a house to rent out and we have a couple of questions.

Can we purchase the property with a 90% share in my wife’s name and 10% in my name? If we can do that can we be taxed on the rental income on the basis of the ownership shares, so 90% of the income is taxed at my wife’s tax rate and 10% income taxed at my tax rate?
MC

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15 tips for making buy-to-let work Nottingham Estate Agents

Since the advent of the buy-to-let mortgage in the 1990s, many thousands of people have invested in a property to rent out. Some have gone on to acquire multiple units and become professional landlords. Others find themselves becoming ‘accidental landlords’ – as when a temporary job move takes place and the family home needs to […]

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Average asking price of new UK homes 'hits record high'

Surge in sales down to stamp duty holiday and ‘race for space’ as Rightmove predicts 7% rise in prices for 2020

The average asking price of homes coming on to the market in Britain has hit a record high, according to figures from the property website Rightmove, and for the first time estate agents are listing more homes as sold than they have for sale.

The website’s monthly snapshot of new listings showed sellers are asking for an average price of £323,530, an increase of 1.1% since last month, and 5.5%, or £16,818 more than this time last year.

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'Boomerang' trend of young adults living with parents is rising – study

Exclusive: researchers believe increase in single Britons not fully leaving home till their 30s is here to stay

The so-called “boomerang” phenomenon – young adults returning to their parents’ home until well into their 20s or early 30s – is now a permanent feature of UK society and likely to trigger a profound rethink of how many families live their lives, experts have said.

Research found nearly two-thirds of childless single adults aged 20-34 in the UK have either never left or have moved back into the family home because of a combination of a precarious job market and low wages, sky-high private sector rents and life shocks such as relationship breakups.

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