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...

Full story

£25,000 for a house with a sea view - too good to be true?

A house with enviable views across the English Riviera is up for grabs at the outstandingly low price of £25,000.

However, there is a catch, the land behind the house, known as Tor Cottage, has slowly been eroding over the past couple of years meaning it is just 150 yards from falling into the sea.

It has been marketed in a brochure as: “an interesting opportunity to acquire a...

Tags:

devon houses

erosion

property prices

english riviera

Last chance to enter Plymouth In Bloom

If your garden is blooming and you want to show off your green-fingered efforts then this is your final chance to enter Plymouth in Bloom 2013.

The closing date for entries, Friday 5 July, is looming and time is running out to enter. There are lots of categories including best garden, container display, business, school, community groups and best kept street.

Councillor Brian...

Tags:

Plymouth in Bloom 2013

best garden

best kept street

Plymouth site manager wins national house building award

A site manager from Plymouth is celebrating after winning a prestigious national house building award.

Craig Rutherford, site manager at Taylor Wimpey’s Penlee development, beat off stiff competition from over 13,000 entries to be honoured with an NHBC (National House Building Council) Pride in the Job Quality Award. The award, which is one of 68 won by Taylor Wimpey site managers...

Tags:

Plymouth

national house building award

Taylor Wimpey

Penlee

NHBC

'Plan your escape route' says Fire and Rescue Service

With summer upon us, Devon & Somerset Fire & Rescue Service is asking people to make sure their family, guests and loved ones know how to get out, stay out, and call 999 in the event of a fire.

A smoke alarm can give people the warning they need to get out of their home in a fire, but a blocked exit, locked door or unfamiliar surroundings can often shave vital seconds from...

Tags:

Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue

plan your escape

safety

Bonjour and bon voyage as Plymouth’s flagship garden celebrates our French connections!

Plymouth’s flagship garden on the Hoe has a distinctly continental feel this year as the city celebrates its French connections.

Plymouth in Bloom is commemorating the 50th anniversary of the city’s twinning with Brest in France and 40 years of Brittany Ferries sailing from here to Roscoff.

Flying high above the garden's red, white and blue floral display are the flags of Brest...

Tags:

Treasures from 18th century ship wreck in Mount Edgcumbe collection

Monty Halls, TV presenter, marine biologist, travel writer and diver, will host the launch of the Metta Catharina Exhibition at Mount Edgcumbe House.

The Metta Catharina, a Danish brigantine en route from St Petersburg in Russia to Genoa in Northern Italy was caught by a fierce storm in the English Channel in December 1786. She found shelter from the South Westerly’s just off Mount...

Tags:

Mount Edgcumbe

Monty Halls

Metta Catharina Exhibition

family-friendly

multi-sensory activities

Marjon create orchard to preserve college's biodiversity

An orchard has been created at the University of St Mark & St John following an idea that came from the university’s biodiversity report, written by lecturer Alan Williams. The report highlighted the range of biodiversity at Marjon and its importance to the community.

From bats to badgers and orchids to ox-eye daisies the campus is a haven to a great many species and preserving...

Tags:

Look before you strim, says RSPCA

The RSPCA is warning gardeners to tread carefully to avoid harming the wildlife which may be living in their gardens.

Every year we receive calls about animals with distressing and often fatal garden injuries which in most cases are completely avoidable.

Past cases include a toad with its hind legs chopped off by a strimmer, a hedgehog burnt in pampas grass clearance, a...

Tags:

New flood risk guidance will help solicitors protect clients

The Law Society of England and Wales has produced a practice note to help solicitors protect clients from flood risk, increasingly a concern for those owning or occupying property and those looking to buy property in flood prone areas.

The Environment Agency estimates that one in six homes in England are at risk from flooding with land increasingly at risk from different types of...

Tags:

Law Society

Association of British Insurers

flooding

risk

Environment Agency

A long last path and hidden statues are found at Overbeck’s

Back in the autumn of 2011, the quest began to uncover parts of the garden at Overbeck’s that had been closed for over 30 years. After nine months of hard work by the garden team, a path 103 metres long has been re-opened.

The path at the National Trust house and garden follows the line of an old route through the woodland which leads to an area beloved by Otto Overbeck – his 50ft...

Tags: