An intelligent mix of culture, style, travel, food and property, as well as where to go and what to see.
One of the most striking features of the second Covid summer has been the soaring prices of holiday cottages. How dare the owners of static homes in the vicinity of the coast be charging quite so much for the uneven pleasures of a week in a caravan park? Well, get used to it because as
As MPs and peers vacated the Houses of Parliament for their summer holidays last week, we take a look at five homes for sale with political links. Where Pitt stopped A bronze plaque on the front of Pitt House, a grand Georgian property in Bath, informs visitors of its famous former resident. William Pitt the
The word Powys is not filled with onomatopoeic potential and, to the English ear at least, doesn’t conjure up a particular image. And yet the region has a dizzying lineage, one that stretches back to antiquity. In the fifth century, the Romans scarcely off the stage, Powys was ruled one of the last kings of the
Monday promised to be a significant day for those living in high rises across England. The Building Safety Bill, which has been sold by the government as the biggest change to building safety in a generation, was published in its final form before it goes through parliament. Introduced more than four years after the Grenfell
You don’t need me to tell you that the property market has experienced a surge over the last year. The stamp duty holiday encouraged many to buy now rather than later, working from home has opened our eyes to living in areas with more natural amenities on the doorstep and we’ve realised that if we do only
23 min listen
On this week’s episode, Jessica Douglas-Home wants to know why modern British architecture is just so ugly. (01:03) After, Paul Wood warns what Western withdrawal means for Afghanistan (09:23) and finally Andrew Watts explores the history of the ever-updated Pride flag. (19:23) Presented by Cindy Yu
29 min listen
This week…Why should the first time buyer be so scared of new builds? (00:36) Plus… will the catholic church come to the defence of the word mother? (09:33) And finally… Why does it take so long to understand Japanese culture, even for the Japanese? (18:50) With John Myers founder of YIMBY, Vickey Spratt housing correspondent
The debate over whether we will end up going back to the office five days a week is likely to rumble on for the coming years. Desperate employers worried that the genie is out of the bottle are battling with those of us who happen to get more done when we aren’t distracted by gossiping at the
13 min listen
With the Conservatives still taking stock after their loss in the recent by-election, it seems the governments ambitions for planning reform are now firmly under the microscope. ‘When you speak to these MPs… they are absolutely convinced that planning reform is dead’ – Katy Balls And on what would have been ‘freedom day’, there are
Jeremy Clarkson’s latest TV venture, Clarkson’s Farm on Amazon Prime Video, sees the petrolhead learning to manage his 1,000 acre Cotswolds farm. Anyone dreaming of their own rural idyll might want to consider one of these beautiful farmhouses. For artists – Folliotts Farmhouse Currently owned by a ceramicist and artist, Patricia Low, this Grade II-listed farmhouse
There comes a point in every metropolitan potentate’s journey from London to Edinburgh, when he or she looks up from their laptop in First Class and gazes from the window of the train. At this point, they suddenly realise that whatever’s been absorbing their interest for the last hour or two, is completely irrelevant. Chances
Our attention turns to all things literary this week after the return of the Hay Festival. It comes during a bumper year for book sales, when lockdown encouraged many of us to read more and escape our repetitive reality for fictional worlds. But what of the authors’ own abodes? Here we look at five homes
House prices are increasing at their fastest rate for seven years, jumping by as much as 10.9 per cent according to the Nationwide in their most recent survey. Is now the time to stay put and extend rather than go through the hassle of moving into a supply constrained rising market? And if you do extend, is
When Julia Riley ran her Somerset home as a B&B prior to the Covid pandemic a few guests booked in not for her Tripadvisor-recommended breakfast or a peaceful night’s sleep, but because of the Georgian property’s literary connection. Coxley House is the former home of David Cornwell, better known as the spy novelist John le
You might remember, back before Covid, when life was ‘normal’, at three o’clock on a Friday afternoon, the Volkswagens, Audis and Jaguars clogging up the pavements of Kensington, Parsons Green and Hammersmith would one by one nudge out, and make for the Great West Road, duly clotting the A4 like a fast-food addict’s aorta. To all
On the day the Office for National Statistics announced a sharp rise in consumer price inflation, albeit to a still modest 1.5 per cent, we discovered that house prices have jumped by a staggering 10.2 per cent in the last year. The average house in England now costs £275,000, close to ten times the average
Like other areas of London, Camberwell suffered from having much of its modern town planning done by the Luftwaffe. As the original bridges over the Thames were built, particularly Blackfriars in the 18th century, the roads leading to them, wide and quiet, became lined with handsome Georgian and Regency houses. Victorian fillers came later along
Is there any television programme as cruel as Grand Designs? At least Jeux Sans Frontieres only offered 15 minutes of humiliation at a time. Grand Designs, by contrast, offers a lifetime’s worth, often with bankruptcy and divorce thrown in. But none have come quite such a cropper as Edward Short who, in 2008, paid £1
Life is peaceful there. Go west, in the open air. So sang the Village People and subsequently the Pet Shop Boys. They had a point as according to Rightmove, Bruton in Somerset is the top country hotspot for home buyers. With a 122 per cent increase in the number of house sales over the past 12 months
Did we end up learning anything from the 2008/09 financial crisis? If we did, we seem to have forgotten it pretty quickly again, to judge by the re-emergence of the 95 per cent mortgage. Numerous deals have been launched over the past week, with interest rates of around four per cent – the result of the Chancellor’s
If there is one thing I have learnt from working in the property market for over 40 years it’s that any market prediction worth its salt takes into account the relationship between London and the regions. Sometimes the capital is a useful bellwether for the rest of the country but not always. In the early 2000s, the central
Pre-pandemic, all you needed for a good London location was a roof terrace, proximity to a vibrant social scene and a tube station. Or a river view. Then everything changed. Whilst central areas have pretty much fallen into the doldrums, a combination of more room, better value and access to green spaces has become essential. If
The rush to leave London has been a staple of property columns over the last twelve months. Built up, densely-populated urban areas were portrayed negatively in favour of remote locations, but as normal life begins to resume does that characterisation still hold? London is already back on the agenda for many professionals and will remain central to
Would you swap living in London for York? According to the latest survey on family-friendly city living, York tops the list. On a range of measures from childcare costs to average house prices and leisure activities, York is it. Unless your work or family ties take you there, I’m not convinced though. The three-hour train journey
It began with a sourdough starter. Then we dabbled with home delivery cocktails. This time round, I watched The Dig and bought a Fair Isle tank top and a blouse with a big collar to wear for Zoom calls. Then, when my husband’s company announced they’d be hiring remotely, we embraced the biggest lockdown cliché
Buy when there is gunfire on the streets, goes the old adage. But could this be a case of the right time to buy being when there is, well, hardly anything happening on the streets? Few investments have been as hard hit by Covid-19 as commercial property in central London. As shops and restaurants have
With Rishi Sunak announcing plans for a Stamp Duty holiday extension and floating the policy of 95 per cent mortgages, the boom in house sales looks set to continue apace. So, in an increasingly competitive market, what’s the secret to securing the best possible price on a house? Firstly, your relationship with the agent is
It’s hard to believe we’re heading towards the pandemic’s first anniversary. The economy has had a torrid time. But if there’s one area that has surprised us all with its buoyancy it is the property market. Ever since the first lockdown, there has been a flurry of activity at a time when a market crash was predicted. So,
As Mark Twain didn’t quite say, there are only three certain things in life: death, taxes and yet another government-backed bung for the housing market. The latest instalment is the 2021 to 2023 Help to Buy scheme, which carries on the theme of offering subsidised loans to first-time buyers – and only first-time buyers. Here’s
