Homes & Gardens

What to Consider Before Adding Colour to Your Home

Choosing a new colour for your home is much more than just picking something that looks good in isolation. You need a tone that reflects your style and complements the architecture. Before you start splashing paint on the walls, there are a few factors to think about that can help you make an...

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Floods destroy: be prepared!

As winter approaches, the Environment Agency is urging people across the West Country to be prepared for possible flooding.

Last winter was the wettest for nearly 250 years and around 6,000 properties flooded across the country. Among the worst hit was Somerset, where, in some areas, people were evacuated from their homes and whole communities suffered major flood damage and disruption...

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Floods
flooding
Devon
Cornwall
Environment Agency
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New charter to set standard for private rented housing in Plymouth

Landlords in Plymouth are being asked to sign up to a new charter to improve private rented homes in the city.

A consultation is being launched yesterday (Thursday 23 October) to share the draft Charter for PR Housing with landlords, tenants, and the wider public in Plymouth.

Plymouth City Council has committed, as one of its 50 pledges to the people of Plymouth, to improving...

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landlords
charter
Plymouth
rented
Property
renting
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Calling all Plymouth landlords

Find out about the latest legislation, network with essential contacts, and hear about the new Charter for Private Rented Housing at an event for landlords this week.

The Annual Landlords Expo takes place at Plymouth Guildhall on Thursday 23 October 2014 from 12pm to 6pm. The event, which has been organised by Westcountry Landlords Association in partnership with Plymouth City Council...

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landlords expo
Plymouth
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Have an ethical Christmas!

A zoo might not be the first place you think of when it comes to Christmas shopping, but the Living World shop at Paignton Zoo is brimming with Fair Trade products, quality ethical gifts and the sort of quirky local items that make great Christmas gifts. Plus, you don't need to pay Zoo entry to browse and there’s plenty of free car parking!

Paignton Zoo Environmental Park and...

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Christmas Shopping
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Plymouth homes to become most energy efficient with £4.9m makeover

British Gas, Plymouth City Council (PCC) and Plymouth Energy Community (PEC) have announced a new energy makeover to offer private home owners in Plymouth solid wall insulation, via a £4.2million investment.

The new private scheme is part funded by British Gas’ Energy Companies Obligation (ECO) and the Government’s Green Deal Community Fund awarded to PCC. This follows the ongoing 4,...

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British Gas
Plymouth City Council (PCC) and Plymouth Energy Community (PEC)
home owners insulation
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Developer helps house buyers to move in to new homes by Christmas

Award-winning independent developer, C G Fry & Son, is offering house buyers assistance to help them move in to their new home by Christmas. The autumn windfall includes various offers on selected C G Fry properties for sale at developments across the South West including Hillcrest at Exmouth.

At Hillcrest C G Fry is offering price reductions of up to £50,000 on a number of...

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C G Fry and Sons
C G Fry
Exmouth
Hillcrest
Autumn Windfall Campaign
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Shelter calls for ban on revenge evictions as renters fear eviction for complaining

One in 11 renters in the South West have suffered health problems in the last year because rogue landlords failed to deal with poor conditions in their properties, newly released research shows.

The YouGov survey of more than 4,500 private renters across the country, commissioned by Shelter and British Gas, revealed that poor conditions were commonplace for renters. More than two...

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landlords
heatlh
revenge
evictions
health
South West
Plymouth
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DECC announce £100m more for Green Deal Home Improvement Fund

Ed Davey has announced there will be a second phase of the Green Deal Home Improvement Fund (GDHIF) totalling £100m.

Applications for the new phase of the Green Deal Home Improvement Fund, designed to help people make energy saving improvements to their home, will open to applications before the end of November. The Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC) are looking to...

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green deal
Devon
regen south west
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Yelverton's new sustainable development

A striking new sustainable development on the western edge of Dartmoor National Park demonstrates how good planning works at its best – with the landscape and the community in mind. Built by Plymouth's J&M Homes Ltd, Harrowbeer Mews in Yelverton is a stunning contemporary residential and commercial development, constructed with the heritage materials of Dartmoor (slate, timber and...

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Plymouth
Dartmoor
building
home
sustainable homes
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Lock up your gnomes!

With a fifth of UK homeowners claiming to have had items stolen from their garden, a leading insurer is warning homeowners to look out for their gnomes, as nearly one in ten households report the theft of a garden figurine or gnome.

Research from The Co-operative Insurance found that the South West of England is the riskiest place to be a gnome, with almost a fifth of homeowners (16%)...

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