Homes Property & A TALENT

Transcription

Homes&
Property
Wednesday 7 April 2010
How to show off
with antiques
London’s secret antiques
shops and a great
country house sale
Pages 8 and 12
A TALENT
FOR A MEWS
How a family with four children fits into
a Kensington mews house Page 16
SPOTLIGHT ON PUTNEY: HOMESANDPROPERTY.CO.UK P24
JEFFERSON SMITH/© CONDE NAST PUBLICATIONS
LONDONERS LOVE TO RENT P6 ON YOUR WAY TO WEMBLEY: NEW HOMES P9 TAX-FREE ST LUCIA P10 STARS OF THE GARDEN P20
4
WEDNESDAY 7 APRIL 2010 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property News
GRAND
DESIGNS LIVE
homesandproperty.co.uk
BUY OF THE WEEK
BE ARTY IN CHISWICK
A PRIME spot next to the Thames within a “secret” walled
garden, in the St Peter’s Square conservation area of
Chiswick, is home to this Victorian artist’s studio. Inside
brushes up nicely, showcasing polished parquet floors,
double-height vaulted and sky-lit ceilings, and there’s extra
light from a set of large windows in the 29ft reception room/
studio space. The kitchen and bathroom are newly fitted,
while the striking, galleried sleeping area has ample storage.
Property: one-bedroom house. Agent: Faron Sutaria
Price: £650,000 freehold. Visit: www.homesandproperty.
co.uk/sales/637797.
20,000 TICKETS
TO GIVE AWAY
Terms and conditions: see www.
standard.co.uk/offers for full details.
Maximum of two tickets per person.
Tickets can only be claimed online and
cannot be claimed by any other
method. Print-at-home tickets only.
Valid for entry on any one day from
1 May to 7 May.
Tickets will be allocated on a firstcome first-served basis. Tickets cannot
be exchanged for cash and are not
transferable.
MONEY: NEWS
Visit our website:
TAXES HIT OWNERS
OF HOLIDAY LETS
INSPIRING DESIGN AND
GREAT PRICES
Last year more
people chose to
holiday in the UK.
Southwold
in Suffolk is
popular with
Londoners
REX
GRAND Designs Live (1 May to 9 May)
is the UK’s top event for design and
inspiration for your home. It is based
on the hugely successful Channel 4
TV series presented by design guru
Kevin McCloud (pictured).
Evening
Standard
readers have
the chance to
claim a free
pair of tickets
for the show,
valid for any
one day,
from 1 May
to 7 May.
For more
information on the show, visit
granddesignslive.com.
To claim your free tickets, visit
www.standard.co.uk/offers before
14 April 2010.
The cost of UK holiday cottages and coastal
homes will increase, says Ruth Bloomfield
G
ENEROUS tax breaks
for owners of furnished holiday
accommodation in
the UK are being
scrapped from
today. Experts say
that , inevit ably,
owners will have to raise their rents to
cover losses on their country cottages
and seaside flats this summer.
Since 1984, owners of holiday homes
that are let out for at least 70 days a year
Homes&Property
Editor:
Janice Morley
Visit www.homesandproperty.
co.uk for details of our usual
promotion rules. When you
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Standard and its sister companies
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Editorial: 020 7938 7245
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Homes & Property, Northcliffe
House, 2 Derry Street, Kensington,
London W8 5TT
have been able to claim extra tax benefits not available to buy-to-let landlords. The tax concessions included
protection against capital gains tax and
the option to offset losses against personal income.
For those who run holiday lettings for
their primary income the changes will
be dramatic, says Nicola Westbrooke
of accountant KPMG.
Many owners were able to avoid paying any tax at all on the income they
received or the value of their property
when it was sold.
From now, a more modest tax regime
applies. As with buy-to-let landlords,
owners can deduct certain “allowable”
expenses from rental income. These
expenses include agent fees, council
tax, utility bills and interest on mortgage
For those who run holiday
lettings for their primary
income, the changes will
have a dramatic effect
payments. A 10 per cent “wear and tear”
allowance is also deductible.
The demand for UK self-catering
holiday rentals boomed last year as
people gave up on frustrating airport
security, difficult air travel and the
extra expense of going abroad during
the credit crunch. Ross Elder of Holidaylettings.co.uk says his company saw
an 88 per cent increase in demand for
UK holiday homes.
He is backing a Tourism Alliance
campaign to restore tax breaks for
owners who earn their living from
holiday lettings. These would not apply
to occasional landlords or investors.
SHOW homes are
unveiling their
latest designs as
new properties
are launched
across the capital
and beyond.
Culture vultures
will love Richard
Rogers’ NEO
Bankside, while
the Freeman
family (pictured) found what they
wanted at The Academy, on the leafy
slopes of Shooters Hill. See our
definitive guide and plan where to
visit this weekend at homesand
property.co.uk/smartmoves.
TWENTY PER CENT OFF
HABITAT OUTDOOR
FURNITURE AT OUR NEW
ONLINE SHOP
GET your garden ready for summer
and save 20 per cent on selected
outdoor furniture and accessories
bought online at Habitat. Visit our
new and improved shop for this offer
and more gorgeous homeware from
your favourite
stores, including
John Lewis,
Heal’s and
Lombok. See
homes
andproperty.
co.uk/shop.
Property of the week
THIS swish flat in
Belsize Park,
NW3, is on the
ground floor of
a white-stucco
house.
£1.1 million
buys two double
bedrooms and
two bathrooms, plus original features
and a private balcony.
The flat is close to Belsize Village
and Primrose Hill and only a few
minutes’ walk from Swiss Cottage and
Finchley Road Tubes. See homes
andproperty.co.uk/sales/438886.
5
EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 7 APRIL 2010
News Homes & Property
SWAP OF THE WEEK
HEADLEY, SURREY
STOKE ST GREGORY, SOMERSET
Rural, yet close to the Surrey commuting hot spot of
Epsom, is this listed cottage with large gardens.
Clotted cream-coloured walls, beams and an open
fireplace housing a wood-burning stove exude country
charm in the drawing/dining room. A study, fourth
bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and large conservatory
on to the garden are also downstairs. Three further
bedrooms — one en-suite — are upstairs.
London Victoria is an hour away by train. Priced
£625,000 through John D Wood. Visit: www.
homesandproperty.co.uk/sales/856103.
IT’S OFF to Stoke St Gregory in Somerset for
Windmill Green Farm, with more than an acre of
grounds, a large hay barn and several other
outbuildings to play with, all for £600,000. Along
with four bedrooms, kitchen/breakfast room,
utility, bathroom and sitting room comes a dining
room with beams and an inglenook. Trains reach
Paddington in one hour and 45 minutes. Available
through Palmer Snell. Visit www.homesand
property.co.uk/sales/677667.
Faye Greenslade
Homes gossip
Compton Miller
PAUL MERTON’S GOT NEWS FOR YOU — HE’S SELLING UP
Paul Merton
Richard Shepherd
Kate Middleton
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BARRY BATCHELOR
O NIGHTCLUB owner Louis
Buckworth is selling his converted
photographic studio in Battersea for
£1.25 million through Douglas &
Gordon, after the break-up of his
18-month marriage to Chloe, the
socialite daughter of Chelsea
property tycoon Charles Delevigne.
The four-bedroom house features
25ft ceilings, an open-plan living
area, two roof terraces and a
12-person steam room.
“It’s been a great place to live and
entertain in,” says the rakish,
Australian barrister’s son who has
since dated actress and model
Shirley Leigh-Wood Oakes,
granddaughter of Richard Greene,
TV’s original Robin Hood.
“I’m now looking for a twobedroom flat, costing about
£800,000, in South Kensington or
Knightsbridge near my club.”
In 2002 he co-founded the Firehouse
club-restaurant, a favourite haunt of
Prince Harry and Princess Beatrice.
He now plans to open a new
restaurant on the Fulham Road site
of Sixties trattoria San Frediano.
MARK CHAPMAN
dramatic sea views.” Merton was
previously married to two other
brilliant comediennes, Caroline
Quentin and the late Sarah Parkinson.
JOHN ROBERTSON
Louis and Shirley
ALAN DAVIDSON
HAVE I Got News For You panellist
Paul Merton is selling his clifftop
Arts & Crafts house near Hastings for
£925,000 through local agent
Freeman Forman. The thatched,
three-bedroom home has all the
boys’ toys, including home cinema,
games room, conservatory and
revolving summerhouse.
The move follows the Parsons
Green-born Tube driver’s son’s third
marriage to comedienne Suki
Webster last autumn. “With a new
wife in tow Paul probably wanted a
change,” says a neighbour. “It’s a
beautiful house up a long drive, with
O AFTER 34 years of running his
Langan’s Brasserie restaurant
empire, Richard Shepherd has sold
his five-bedroom Victorian house
in Ealing for £1.5 million and
“bought the place where I
eventually want to retire”.
His new pad is a modern villa near
Cassis in the South of France.
“I was determined to be within
striking distance of an airport,
autoroute, golf course, ski slope
and Nice,” says the award-winning
Weston-super-Mare-born superchef.
“The locals call this area the ‘secret
St Tropez’! I’m not going to end my
days on the Costa del Ealing!”
Shepherd and his wife, Christine,
retain their Westminster flat near
his restaurant, Shepherd’s.
O IF YOU fancy a brush with royalty,
the Duchy of Cornwall still has
a few weeks spare at Restormel Manor,
a mini stately home near Lostwithiel in
Cornwall. It became famous last
Christmas when Michael and Carole
Middleton, parents of Prince William’s
squeeze, Kate, rented a wing there.
The same four-bedroom property
costs £1,500 to £2,900 a week.
“The manor house has just been
refurbished and has all mod cons,”
explains the duchy. “It makes a
wonderful retreat as it overlooks the
beautiful Fowey Valley.”
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6
Homes & Property New trends
DOING THE
CONTINENTAL
Young Londoners love to rent.
It offers the chance to live
centrally for less and the
freedom of a flexible lifestyle,
discovers David Spittles
L
£500 a week:
two-bedroom,
15th-floor flat in
Berkeley Tower,
Canary Wharf,
E14. Through
Foxtons (020
7133 7777)
£380 a week:
two-bedroom
flat in Dove Road
East, N1. Call
Grainger
Residential
Management on
0845 262 6222
ONDONERS are adopting
the European property
habit of renting instead of
buying a home. In continental cities such as Paris,
Berlin, Brussels and
Amsterdam, up to 60 per
cent of households rent
privately — far higher than in London,
where the figure is less than 15 per cent.
However, private renting in the capital
— which was popular right up to the
Sixties, before the home-ownership
boom of recent decades — is becoming
a new lifestyle choice.
A whole raft of recent surveys and
reports shows that home ownership
has lost some of its sparkle; the attitude
of many people to ownership has
simply changed, and not because they
have been priced out of the owneroccupation market.
Almost 50 per cent of private renters
are aged below 34, and about 55 per cent
of the total 3.1 million renters — a million
more than 10 years ago — are either singles or childless couples, according to
government figures. A growing number
have no wish to buy a property, and say
they never will. Families and middleaged downsizers are getting in on the
rental act, too (see below).
HOW THE FIGURES ADD UP
Renting allows people more choice and
enables them to be more flexible.
Apart from lifestyle, there can be compelling financial reasons for renting.
Buyers incur much higher costs when
moving: stamp duty, legal and survey
fees typically come to about £50,000
when buying a £500,000 property.
And often, the amount borrowers pay
in mortgage interest (not the capital
repayments) is more than the rent for
an equivalent property. Renters can
also take advantage of price dips to
enter the market and buy a bargain.
The huge number of better-quality
homes available to rent in London
leads renters to say they can find
homes that are bigger and in a more
desirable or glamorous neighbourhood
than they could ever afford if they were
to buy the same house.
“About 200,000 households have
been added to the London rental market over the past decade,” says Adam
Challis of property consultant CB Richard Ellis. “The stigma of renting is fading for the younger generation of
professionals. Many more people are
realising the benefits of flexible housing arrangements.”
Renting should be a middle-class
aspiration, according to Jonathan
Shaw, Minister for the South-East.
Giving evidence to a parliamentary
housing inquiry last month, he said:
“Renting is perfectly desirable and
meets needs and aspirations. It should
be seen more as something that
people across the socio-economic
spectrum do.”
The Government and the property
industry are trying to hatch a new
“business model” for private rented
housing. Backed by institutions such
as big insurance companies, it is likely
to take the form of a mid-market “hotel
chain”, with branded, well-managed,
affordable accommodation in prime
central locations.
Home ownership is deeply rooted in
British culture, and for many owners
property has proved a handsome
investment when looked at over many
years. Often renting is dismissed as
“dead money”, but studies show that
on average it is cheaper than buying
over a 25-year period — £11,342
less, according to a report published
last week.
Demographic changes — more single
households, economic migrants, divorcees and students — are boosting rental
demand. Moreover, people are getting
married and starting families much
later in life, so the average first-time
buyer age is creeping up, from 27 in the
Eighties to 36 now.
Forty-eight per cent of all private
rented homes in the UK are in “suburban locations”. Remarkably, only eight
per cent are in city centres.
£6,750 a week: Blade Mews, a new
four-bedroom detached house in
Putney. For more information, call
Hamptons on 020 8780 0077
BE PART OF THE ACTION
Rental properties are available at every
level of the market in London, from
cheap studios to luxury houses, from
about £120 to £12,000 a week. Niche
companies are sprouting up to serve this
burgeoning business. Residential Land
has assembled a portfolio of 1,200 homes
in central postcodes. Private developers
are embracing rentals, too, letting flats
instead of selling them because they
provide a steady stream of income.
Aristocratic estate landlords such as
Cadogan, Grosvenor and Howard de
Walden, all past masters at property
investment, now routinely offer rentals
(rather than granting long leases), as
do charitable trusts. Walcot Estate, an
oasis of Georgian and Victorian
properties within the parliamentary
division bell in Kennington, benignly
gives grants to local community groups
from the rents it receives, helping to
improve the neighbourhood in which
renters live. Three- and four-bedroom
houses are available for rent at £550 a
week through Cluttons (call 020 7407
3669). Winkworth, which has an extensive network of branches across London and in the suburbs, has found a
considerable variation in rents.
£190 to £295 a week: So Bow in E3 is a development of 144 apartments built by
Telford Homes. For rental enquiries, call agent Cityzen on 020 7790 1818
7
New trends Homes & Property
WHERE TO LOOK AND
WHAT TO PAY
In general, rents are lower in south
London, outer north London and parts
of east London. While the cost of a onebedroom flat in Notting Hill ranges
between £1,200 and £2,600 a month,
in Crystal Palace it is considerably less,
at £625 to £820.
Three-bedroom houses in Islington
range from £2,000 to £4,500 a
month. In Kensington & Chelsea, the
price range is £3,600 to £8,500 a
month. For more information, visit
www.winkworth.co.uk.
Figures by FindaProperty.com show
that the average London rent for a flat
is £1,487 a month, and for a house it
is £2,264.
You can find out the cost of renting
in any area of London by using a new
interactive website set up by Mayor
Boris Johnson.
Simply key in the street or postcode
and you get area averages for the size
of accommodation you want.
This “rents map” reveals that South
Kensington is the most expensive
place in London to rent (typically,
£1,150 a week: you can even rent a
river view if you live in a flat at Tea
Tree Wharf, Shad Thames, SE1. Call
Cluttons on 020 7407 3669
£625 a week). However, the current
average rent for a shared house in the
capital is only £92 a week. Visit www.
london.gov.uk/rents for more information.
Such is the competition for rental
properties that central London lettings
agent WA Ellis reports “bidding wars”,
with tenants paying 20 per cent or
more over the asking rent.
Gumtree.com, a rental website, says
there has been a 36 per cent “spike”,
or increase, in the number of flat and
house shares in London over the past
year. Owners renting out rooms to get
extra income during the recession may
have boosted supply.
But there is no doubt that the London
r e n t a l s e c t o r i s u n d e r go i n g a
sea change.
FOR US IT’S ALL
ABOUT LIFESTYLE
A
MONTH ago, Jennie
Whittaker and her partner,
Michael Haines, both in their
thirties, moved to a onebedroom garden flat, part of a grand
period town house, in Cranley
Gardens, South Kensington, which
costs them £1,600 a month. They had
been previously renting together in
London for eight years, mostly in the
Fulham area.
“To buy the same property would
cost at least £600,000, which we
could never afford, but we have no
desire to buy in the foreseeable
future anyway,” says Jenny, an
operations director for a Fleet Streetbased media firm. Michael is a
commercial property surveyor.
“For us, living anywhere other than
in central London would be a
compromise. We love it here. It’s
safe and so close to everything —
the museums, restaurants and the
Royal Parks.
“Some people say renting is money
down the drain but we don’t feel
we’re squandering cash or missing
out. We’re still managing to save and
have thought about investments,
even in property, as a buy-to-let.
Maybe eventually we will get on the
property ladder, but we have no
intention of chasing the market. For
us it’s about lifestyle.
“Longer term, the ideal situation
for us would be to a have weekend
cottage in Hampshire that we could
escape to, while continuing to rent
in London.”
£1,600 a month: Jennie
Whittaker’s onebedroom flat in Cranley
Gardens, Kensington,
below, would cost more
than £600,000
8
Homes & Property Vintage homes
As spring’s bric-a-brac
stalls open, a new
TV show launches
tonight offering tips
on where to buy —
and how to handle —
antiques, reports
Anthea Masey
L
ONGER spring and
summer days give lovers
of antiques their chance
to rummage, from openair bric-a-brac fairs and
c ar-boot sales to the
backyards of junk shops.
And it’s the season for
auction houses, too.
Tonight, a timely BBC2 series
launches with interior designer
Kathryn Rayward and antiques expert
Mark Hill, called Cracking Antiques.
Handled well, antiques add style and
character to homes old and new. We
asked Kathryn and Mark for tips on
where to hunt down the best buys and
how to display your newly acquired
treasures.
Their show, which airs at 8.30pm,
aims to take the mystique out of the
subject of buying second-hand and
vintage. The pair have a sixth sense for
tracking down the beautiful and the
unusual, and for spotting the next
trend in hot collectibles.
ANTIQUE VALUE
Kathryn’s great talent is for taking
unloved pieces of furniture and transforming them into one-off modern
pieces using vintage fabrics and traditional craft techniques. Mark, meanwhile, learned his skills at top auction
houses Bonhams and Sotheby’s and is
now the 20th-century design and
collectibles specialist for Miller’s, the
antiques price guide. He also provides
expert advice on BBC’s long-running
Antiques Road Show.
Kathryn wants antiques taken off
their pedestal. “They are great value
for money. A piece of second-hand
furniture will often be better-made
than most laminated fibre-board flatpack furniture from a chain store,” she
says. “I love picking up things cheaply
and breathing new life into them. It’s
good to get a deal in these creditcrunch times and create something
really special.”
Mark likes mixing old and new. He
says: “A lot of people inherit furniture
from their relatives which they think
is dreary and dowdy but it is only a
matter of displaying it better. A beautiful antique cupboard set apart against
a white wall will look very different
from when it was crowded around with
other heavy furniture.
“I love homes with personality; my
home is my nest and when I go home
at night I want to be surrounded by
things that make me happy.”
So where do you start looking if you
are after those special pieces for your
home? And if you enjoy those areas of
London with a historic and vintage
look, where do you choose to live?
TWO HOT SPOTS
The two top spots for antiques are
south-east London and Islington,
In search of the old: Cracking Antiques presenters, interior designer Kathryn Rayward and antiques expert Mark Hill, who show how antiques can be cheap and stylish
WHEN OLD IS GOLD
HOMES WITH THAT
VINTAGE APPEAL
£389,995: three-bedroom house in
Bowes Park, Wood Green, N22. Call
Brien Firmin on 020 8889 9944
£1.875 million: four-bedroom
house in Cambridge Road, SW11.
Call John D Wood (020 7228 0174)
£1.275 million: three-bedroom early
Victorian house in Canonbury Grove,
Islington. Call Savills (020 7226 1313)
‘Second-hand furniture’s
often better-made than
modern. And it’s good to get
a deal in the credit crunch’
where there are concentrations of
secret and hidden-away auction rooms,
shops and warehouses, although our
experts also recommend other favourites in Marylebone, Spitalfields, Battersea and Alexandra Palace.
In south-east London, one of Mark’s
secret finds is Crystal Palace Antiques
in Jasper Road, where, in a crumbling
warehouse stretching over four floors,
there is everything from Georgian
cabinets to Victorian chests of drawers
and mid-20th century modern furniture. Look out in particular for Designs
of Modernity, which sells Eames,
Jacobsen et al at reasonable prices.
Not far away, in Knights Hill in West
Norwood, auction house Rosebery’s is
a south London institution. Its monthly
general sales are worth a rummage for
good-value ceramics, glass, pictures,
rugs and furniture. Every third monthly
auction is more specialist. The next
general auction is being held today and
tomorrow. The next specialist sale takes
place on 8 to 10 June.
Moving into nearby Dulwich, the
regular mid-20th century design fairs
Midcentury.modern, held in the Sixties
concrete-and-glass, Christison-designed
refectory at Dulwich College, are worth
making a date in your diary for — the next
one is on Sunday 16 November. Spread
over two floors, this is a great place to
find a concentration of dealers specialising in this period plus a number of young
British designers.
Islington in north London is bursting
with rich antique pickings. The TV
team’s favourites include Past Caring
in Essex Road, which is run by a
number of dealers who scour car-boot
sales and junk shops for retro and vintage glass, ceramics and furniture, with
prices starting from a few pounds.
The shop is so low-key that there is no
phone number or website. Odyssey in
Camden Passage offers a similar mix but
with slightly higher prices. Opposite
Past Caring, also in Essex Road, the
Criterion auction room with its weekly
Monday evening sales has become a
magnet for north London treasurehunters. User-friendly and informal,
viewings take place every Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday before the
sale. Together with its Wandsworth
branch, Criterion sells more than 1,200
lots a week of furniture, art, silver, jewellery, porcelain and decorative items.
WHERE ELSE TO BUY
Outside these two key areas, Kathyrn
and Mark single out Alfies Antique
Market in Church Street, Marylebone.
This long-established market in a converted Thirties department store has
nearly 70 dealers under one roof. Mark
says look out for Robinson Antiques,
which sells some of the 20th-century
ceramics, glass and metalware featured
in the programme.
Also worth seeking out are the huge
antiques fairs held at Alexandra Palace,
with more than 600 dealers, that take
place four times a year (the next is on
25 April) and the more exclusive Decorative Antiques and Textiles Fairs, held
three times a year in Battersea Park —
the next is between 20 and 25 April —
with around 140 dealers.
One of Kathryn’s top tips is Elemental
in the Old Spitalfields Market. This
shop sells unusual lighting and furniture, which is described as “antique,
recycled, re-used, sometimes re-imagined and green”.
WHERE TO
BROWSE
O Crystal Palace Antiques: Imperial
House, Jasper Road, Crystal Palace,
SE19 (020 8480 7042; www.crystal
palaceantiques.com). Also, Designs of
Modernity, at Crystal Palace Antiques
and Modern, as above (www.
designsofmodernity.com).
O Rosebery’s: 74-76 Knights Hill,
West Norwood, SE27 (020 8761 2522;
www.roseberys.co.uk).
O Midcentury.Modern Fairs:
Dulwich College, Dulwich Common,
SE21 (www.modernshows.com).
O Past Caring: 76 Essex Road,
Islington, N1.
O Criterion Auctions: 53 Essex Road,
Islington, N1 (020 7359 5707) and 4147 Chatfield Road, Wandsworth, SW11
(020 7228 5563), or visit www.
criterionauctions.co.uk.
O Alfies Antique Market: 13-25
Church Street, Marylebone, NW8 (020
7723 6066; www.alfies antiques.com).
O Alexandra Palace Antiques and
Collectors’ Fair: Alexandra Palace,
Alexandra Palace Way, Wood Green,
N22 (01263 888111; www.nelsonfairs.
co.uk).
O Decorative Antiques and Textiles
Fair: The Marquee, Battersea Park,
Battersea, SW11 (020 7624 5173; www.
decorativefair.com).
O Elemental: Old Spitalfields Market,
67 Brushfield Street, E1 (020 7247
7588; www.elemental.uk.com).
For more home and shopping ideas,
visit:homesandproperty.co.uk
9
Affordable Homes & Property
ON YOUR
WAY TO
WEMBLEY
First-time buyers and football fans can find the
dream ticket at Wembley where new homes
overlook the iconic stadium. By Tom Lewis
C
HELSEA are set to
play Aston Villa in the
FA Cup semi-final at
Wembley Stadium
on Saturday. Fans
arriving via the area’s
two Tube stations will
not fail to notice the
hundreds of new apartments that
have been built as part of Brent
council’s regeneration plans.
The giant Wembley City
development is well under way on
85 acres of land surrounding the
splendid new stadium, while
Wembley Central is a mixed-use
scheme in the old town centre.
Only half a mile divides them — yet
they are quite different in character.
Wembley City is a stand-alone,
brand-new commercial hub, one of
London’s biggest and costliest
regeneration projects. It is the size of
Leicester Square, Trafalgar Square
and Covent Garden combined, and
has attracted £2.5 billion investment.
If the construction timetable goes
to plan, within 10 years Wembley
City will be a 3.7 million sq ft “town”,
with up to 4,200 new homes, offices,
hotels, retail and leisure outlets.
Brent wants it to become the focus of
the borough, and plans to relocate to a
new town hall and municipal base on
the site. By contrast, Wembley Central
is right in the middle of a busy retail
parade which is stuck in a time warp.
St Modwen, the developer, specialises
in such sites. It buys tired-looking,
Sixties shopping centres in
“secondary” locations and pockets
an income from the retailers while
working up planning proposals for
wholesale redevelopment. Elephant
& Castle shopping centre is another
of its projects.
At Wembley, it has taken seven
years for St Modwen to get to the
stage where it can sell completed
apartments. The development sits
alongside and above the train station
of the same name, a complicated
engineering project as it also had to
accommodate six levels of
underground parking. Centrepiece
of the scheme is a 13-storey tower
with 117 apartments, priced from
£199,995. Call 0844 371 1301.
It is one of the tallest buildings in
the area so the upper flats have good
views. Interiors are smart and aboveaverage quality.
Elisabetta Barone is a university
lecturer at King’s College. Originally
from Italy, she has spent most of her
professional life in London, renting
mainly in Docklands. Last year, she
decided to buy and searched for an
From £169,995: Quadrant Court flats at Wembley City have
views over landscaped courtyards — and the famous arch
affordable, up-and-coming area.
Quick Tube links to central London
were another priority. Impressed by
the scale of Wembley City, she
bought a new one-bedroom flat.
“I saw what happened to prices at
Canary Wharf in the Nineties and I
think the same could happen here at
Wembley, especially as it’s worldrenowned and is an official Olympics
venue,” she said.
Served by the Bakerloo, Jubilee,
Metropolitan and Piccadilly Tube
lines, Wembley is one of the capital’s
best-connected places and also a
fairly cheap location, a combination
that seems to have been overlooked
by a lot of young, first-time buyers
Quintain, developer of Wembley
City, talks of bringing West End-style
glitz and glamour to the area, with
fashion boutiques, bars, nightclubs
and “destination restaurants”
alongside the well-established
concert and entertainment venues,
of which there are seven in total.
Quadrant Court, the second phase
of homes, has been launched — 234
studios, one- and two-bedroom
apartments, with prices starting at
£169,995, lower than when the first
phase was launched two years ago.
Call 0845 201 1205. Homes overlook
landscaped courtyards and all have
From £199,995: finished apartments are now available at
Wembley Central, over the train station. Call 0844 371 1301
City-dweller: Elisabetta Barone owns
a Wembley City apartment for its good
transport links and affordability
Above-average looks: Wembley
Central flats have smart interiors
either a balcony or terrace,
underfloor heating and built-in
wardrobes. By this summer, about
800 residents will be in situ and
benefiting from “extras” unavailable
at other housing schemes.
Quintain has invested heavily in
infrastructure and is not only the
developer, but also the management
company, concierge and broadband
supplier. It owns the roads, provides
parking and on-site security, and has
set up an underground waste recycling
scheme. Residents place rubbish in
colour-coded chutes which open twice
a day and transfer the contents direct
to a community waste station.
Quintain expects to make a profit
from all these individual services, but
says residents will benefit from lower
service charges because of
economies of scale. Already they can
buy season tickets for car parking
and furniture packs for the flats.
Designated “affordable” housing is
part of the mix. Family Mosaic
housing association is selling flats on
a shared-ownership basis. Buying 25
per cent of a one-bedroom flat costs
from £47,000. Normally, rent is paid
at 2.75 per cent of the unpurchased
equity, but Family Mosaic is offering
a six-month rent waiver, a saving of
£2,500. Call 020 7089 1315.
10
Homes & Property Homes abroad
A NATURAL
BEAUTY
For more property
overseas, visit:
homesand
property.co.uk
ST LUCIA
IS A
BUYERS’
PARADISE
Left and below:
Andrew and
Catrin Waugh,
from Dulwich,
bought at The
Landings, St
Lucia, and enjoy
breaks there
with sons
Matthew, Owen,
Daniel and
Jonathan
and pals
New tax breaks mean St Lucia is
now a good-value alternative to
its fashionable sister Barbados,
reports Cathy Hawker
D
£363,280: twobedroom flat,
below right, near
Rodney Bay. Call
Sotheby’s on
020 7993 6156
£445,850: fourbedroom house,
below, with
separate onebedroom flat,
through
www.doubloon
realestate.com
ESPITE a winding and
sometimes bumpy
j o u r n e y f ro m t h e
international airport
on St Lucia’s southern
tip up to Rodney Bay
on the north-west
coast, the 90-minute
drive is a good introduction to the
volcanic Caribbean island.
The road skirts the rainforest near the
mighty twin Pitons, revealing glimpses
of blue sea as it twists up steep hills and
passes through villages where smartly
dressed schoolchildren walk home. But
the attractions of St Lucia don’t end with
its visual beauty. There is no VAT, no
inheritance or capital gains tax, and the
island is in the process of changing its
law, so that buyers investing more than
£230,500 can gain residency status.
Rodney Bay is the main destination
for St Lucia’s 350,000 annual visitors
who arrive by cruise ships or air. There
are bars and restaurants, hotels,
beaches and facilities from golf courses
to shopping malls.
“For privacy and perfect natural beauty
the south-west coast is best. But most
British buyers choose the north,” says
Chris Owen of Sotheby’s St Lucia.
“They like the convenience of being
close to Rodney Bay in a safe, wellpoliced area with a range of property and
prices.” A new eight-screen multiplex,
the area’s latest attraction, is already
wildly popular with residents.
A three-bedroom town house in a
small gated community in Rodney Bay
starts from £250,870, or £434,840 if
you add a sea view. Detached villas
start from £501,740 at Rodney Heights
or £2.3 million for a bespoke property
at exclusive Mount du Cap overlooking
Martinique. Prices are up to half of
those on Barbados with little current
demand for isolated or off-plan properties. It’s well-built homes on secure
resorts that are selling, says Owen, as
buyers look less for pure investment
and more for a lifestyle choice.
THE LANDINGS
One of the most popular north-coast
resorts is The Landings, where sales
director Ollie Gobat says he sold 20
homes last year to a mix of Caribbean,
Canadian and European buyers.
“St Lucia has had a tough two years but
overall has fared better than expected,”
says Gobat. “No hotels closed and while
work on major projects like Raffles and
Le Paradis stalled, tourism minister Allen
Chastenet has increased international
flights to the island from the UK, US and
Germany.”
The Landings has completed 122 of
230 spacious, one- to three-bedroom
apartments in four-storey buildings
beside a marina and a peaceful, westfacing beach. In total, 135 flats on the
19-acre estate are sold with prices from
£367,945 to £2.3 million. The waterfront setting has views to Pigeon Point,
a hilly peninsula where the French and
British fought many of their battles as
they swapped control of St Lucia 14
times up to 1814.
The distant buzz of waterskiers and
a flotilla of small sailing boats moored
nearby provide gentle distractions.
This is an idyllic Caribbean scene — but
with 24-hour security, a concierge
service and on-site facilities including
bars and two restaurants, tennis
courts, several small pools and an
impressive gym. The Landings operates as a five-star hotel managed by
RockResorts with pooled rental returns
and occupancy rates of 40 per cent in
its first year of operation.
Most owners are British — though many
of the rentals come from Americans —
and include Radio 1 DJ Trevor Nelson,
who owns a top-floor, two-bedroom
beachfront apartment. “The beach at
The Landings is on reclaimed land, making our apartments the only freehold
beachfront properties for sale in St
Lucia,” says Gobat. “We also have the
only private marina on the island and yet
are minutes from St Lucia Golf Club and
several high-end restaurants.”
Tourist numbers to St Lucia fell by
nearly six per cent last year with an
11 per cent drop in UK arrivals but
the tourism minister reports a strong
start this year. “Visitor figures increased
by 13 per cent in January against the same
month last year,” says Chastenet. “The
figures show three consecutive months
of double-digit growth.”
UK tourists might also be deterred by
last November’s 94 per cent hike in Air
Passenger Duty (APD) for flights from
London to the Caribbean. A family of
four now pays £300 in tax, more than
for flights to Hawaii or Alaska. “We have
had discussions with Gordon Brown
about the unfair APD and we hope that
instead of being in the top category we
can be moved into the same band as
flights to the US,” says Chastenet.
CONTACTS
AND FACT FILE
O The Landings (0845 217 7851;
www.thelandingsstlucia.com)
O Sotheby’s St Lucia (020 7993 6156;
www.stluciasothebysrealty.com)
O Buyers require an Alien Landholding
Licence, arranged through a lawyer.
O Buying costs an average five per
cent including stamp duty of two
per cent.
O Service charges range from £335 to
£670 a month at The Landings.
O BA flies five times a week from
London to St Lucia and Virgin flies
three times a week.
‘IT’S ABOUT
LOCATION’
‘British
buyers like
the north
coast — it’s
safe, well
policed and
with a wide
range of
property
and prices’
From £367,945:
at The Landings,
below, 122
spacious flats are
finished. Call
0845 217 7851
A
FTER several holidays sailing
in the Grenadines, Andrew
Waugh promised himself a
boat by the time he turned 50.
“It was a boat or an Aston Martin,” says
Waugh. “And I can fit all of my family in
a boat.” That boat is now moored at
The Landings in St Lucia where he and
his wife Catrin, both 50 and from
Dulwich, bought a three-bedroom
apartment two years ago.
“St Lucia’s location is ideal,” says
Waugh, a barrister. “You can sail
north to Martinique or south to St
Vincent and the Grenadines. There
are direct flights from London, the
people are lovely, property is half the
price of Barbados and the weather is
perfect year-round.”
The couple’s four sons, aged 13 to
21, play golf locally and enjoy going
out in Rodney Bay. “We go to Friday
night jump up in Gros Islet which is
basically a weekly street party,” says
Waugh. “You hear mixed reports on
the island’s security but they police
Rodney Bay well and we feel safe.”
12
Homes & Property Shopping
Design news
PLEASE, TAKE
A MACSEAT
LOVE A LOT
HANHAM COURT
ANTIQUES dealers Isabel and
Julian Bannerman hope to
raise about £400,000 from an
auction of 300 lots from
Hanham Court, their medieval
abbey home between Bath and
Bristol. The money will go
towards maintaining the
house and garden. Lots
include a terracotta bust once
owned by Vita Sackville-West,
and garden statuary. The sale
is at 10am next Wednesday at
Christie’s South Kensington,
85, Old Brompton Road, with
viewing from Saturday.
See the catalogue at www.
christies.com/calendar
Katie Law
MAC&MAC INTERIORS
LIGHT UP
DESIGNER
DELIGHTS
Husband and wife team Emma and
Owen Mackrell are in the process of
opening a huge warehouse in
Farnham selling pieces of European
designer furniture like these Magis
Trattoria chairs, below, which have a
polycarbonate seat on a natural solid
beech frame.
The couple originally started their
business as an online-only concern,
but are only now turning their
attention to running a retail
operation. The chairs cost £205 each
and come in a choice of five colours.
All prices include delivery. See www.
macandmacinteriors.com.
▼
LOLLIPOP SHOPPE
The online and Brighton-based
homeware and furniture business
has finally opened its retail doors in
London, in Old Spitalfields Market,
where customers will find a huge
selection of designer pieces,
including De La Warr Pavilion chairs
by Established & Sons (£587), special
edition blue Wishbone chairs by Carl
Hansen (£510), Muuto’s wood lamps
(£144) and Verner Panton’s wire
table lamps (£800), above.
Find the Lollipop Shoppe at 10 Lamb
Street, Old Spitalfields Market, E1
(020 7655 4540; www.
thelollipopshoppe.co.uk)
SCANDINAVIAN COOL ▲
BOOK OF THE WEEK
Simply Scandinavian
edited by Sara Norrman
Since the bleached-out, driftwood
look from Scandinavia is one that
never fails to please us, and can be
so easily replicated under our own
grey skies, a new book of Nordic
interiors has to be inspiring.
The look, with simple white
shelving for books, white-painted
floorboards and a minimum of
clutter, is inexpensive and
easy to achieve with the help of a
paintbrush and some pots of white
and grey paint. Simply Scandinavian
will be available for £17.99, including
postage and packaging (rrp £19.99)
by telephoning Macmillan
Distribution on 01256 302 699 and
quoting the reference GLR 3JI.
FREE CHILD
WORKSHOPS
CAA
Enrol your child, from eight to
teenage, on one of the CAA’s free
workshops. This includes a viewing
of its exhibition, The Honey Bee
and the Hive. The exhibition brings
together metal, glass, textiles and
ceramics with a busy bee theme,
including Michael Brennand-Wood’s
Flight Path, (right). The workshops
run until the end of the month and the
exhibition closes on 1 May at the CAA,
2 Percy Street, W1; (020 7586 0110;
www.caa.org.uk). To book, Call Clare
or Harriet on 020 7436 2344 or email
[email protected].
COOK UP A
WIN SLIMLINE
STORM GO
HEATING WORTH £1,568
ONLINE FOR
KITCHENWARE
SUMMERILL
AND BISHOP
Until now customers have had to visit
the Notting Hill-based shop of June
Summerill and Bernadette
Bishop to buy a slice
of their sundrenched lifestyle
and kitchenwares.
But now we can
buy it online
too. It’s all here —
from the famous Black Forest
brushes amd Lebanese trays to
the French vintage table linens
and Laguiole knives.
Tempting new products
include olivewood boards (£45)
and salad servers (£29.50); a
galvanised soft grey metal
candelabrum (£85) left, and a
folding shiny red canvas
shopping trolley (£110).
Visit www.summerill
andbishop.com.
FINALLY the design, energy
efficiency and flexibility
failings of electric home
heating may well become a
thing of the past. Intelli Heat
has just launched NEEDO, a
super energy-efficient electric
heating system with an exciting
range of ultra-slim designer
radiators. Quick and easy to
install, wirelessly controlled,
and without the need for any
plumbing, NEEDO is the perfect
central heating solution.
Intelli Heat (www.intelligentheat.
co.uk) has teamed up with Homes
& Property to give away two T line
NEEDO radiators (1,000w and
1,250w) with a MyNEEDO control/
programming centre, together worth
£1,568, to one lucky reader.
TO ENTER: Text HP NEEDO
followed by your email address to
65400 (eg HP NEEDO suesmith@
email.com). Or call 0901 292 5002
and leave your details. Or visit www.
homesandproperty.co.uk/offers.
Competition
closes at 23:59pm
on 30 April. Texts
cost £1 plus your
standard network
charge. Calls cost
£1 from a BT
landline. Other
networks and
mobiles may vary.
If you call or text
after the closing
date your entry
will not count but
you may still be
charged. Usual
competition rules
apply — visit www.
standard.co.uk.
13
Reader promotions
Bargain news
GREAT DEALS ON
STUNNING KITCHENS
If you are looking
for a new kitchen
with a real wow
factor, then get
down to Lifestyle
Interiors by ASQ
for a great deal,
with prices of
some ex-display
kitchens slashed
from £20,000 to
£11,000. Visit www.lifestylebyasq.co.uk
or call 020 8671 5454.
SHEDDING
SOME
LIGHT
The fabulous Arco floor lamp, with its
“small footprint” marble base, was a
must-have interior accessory for
contemporary apartments of the
Sixties. This replica of the original by
Achille Castiglioni, is from Iconic Lights
and is a great deal at only £200.
Visit www.iconiclights.co.uk or call
0161 837 3288.
O The companies listed here are wholly independent of the
Evening Standard. While care is taken to establish that
they are bona fide, we recommend you carry out your own
checks prior to entering into an agreement. To give us your
feedback on any of the companies mentioned here, email
[email protected] with “Bargain News”
in the subject line. For more bargains visit www.homes
andbargains.co.uk and find more offers at www.
homesandproperty.co.uk/offers.
Alison Cork
IDEA
OF THE
WEEK
THE prestigious Oxford Landscape
Company is offering a 10 per cent
discount on all Colourfence materials
this spring. The firm won a gold medal
at Blenheim Flower Show, and
featured at both Chelsea and
Hampton Court Flower Shows.
Totally weatherproof and with
advanced high-tensile steel
properties, Colourfence has a
Zincalume paint finish that is
designed not to chip, rust or flake
and comes with a 25-year guarantee,
making Colourfence my choice for
practical replacements of treated
softwood timber fences.
So whether it’s fencing you want or
PUT YOUR
FEET UP…
FOR FREE
DISCOUNT
OF THE WEEK
O To claim: visit www.fantastic
furniture.co.uk or call 0870 0671
970 before the end of this month
GOLD MEDAL
FENCING
a total new look for your garden,
call the Oxford Landscape team for a
spring makeover. Visit www.
theoxfordlandscapecompany.co.uk
to claim this offer; alternatively call
0845 539 2253 quoting ESAPR10.
Offer closes 6 May.
O Contact details: visit theoxford
landscapecompany.co.uk, or call
0845 539 2253
LOVED by celebrities, Fantastic
Furniture’s high-quality reproductions
of classics such as Florence Knoll and
Charles Eames are an affordable way
to be in fashion.
This Barcelona chair, made of
polished steel with hand-stitched
leather from individual pieces of hide,
is just £395. And you get a matching
footstool absolutely free.
To claim this offer simply visit www.
fantasticfurniture.co.uk.
Alternatively call 0870 0671
970. Free UK mainland delivery on
orders of £1,000 or more.
Offer ends 30 April, or while stocks
last.
SNOOZE IN THE SUN
LOOK
OF THE
WEEK
O To order:
visit www.
kingshall
furniture.co.uk,
or call 01296
339925
USUALLY £699, Homes & Property
readers can buy this rattan Toledo
outdoor set from Kingshall for only
£499. The Toledo outdoor daybed is
a great example of value for money,
consisting of one curved sofa and a
large footstool as well as all the
cushions. The set is UV-resistant and
waterproof — perfect for the dodgy
UK climate. Woven around an
aluminium frame, the set is both
durable and lightweight so it can be
moved around with minimum fuss
and effort.
16
Homes & Property My home
homesandpr
ADD ROOM TO A MEWS
The home’s warm, walnut-lined entrance hall is lit by skylight
IT’S
LITTLE
BUT
LARGE
How does a family with four children fit into a small
Kensington mews house? Designer Jonathan Tuckey
found some very clever answers, says Dinah Hall
M
Two bedrooms, this one with an en suite, are built into the roof
of the compact, three-storey house in a Kensington side street
caution:
may cause
drowsiness
For reader offers, please visit:
www.sofa.com/eve
Call FREE on 0800 988 6696
or visit our London showroom
EWS houses haven’t
always been fashionable. It wasn’t
until the Sixties,
when actors and
photographers gave
them a bohemian
charm, that they
threw off their stigma. Originally built to
house the horses and grooms of the
houses they served, but generally accommodating other servants and children,
too, they were described in 1861 as “hell
holes… heaped with rubbish… with
unendurable stench”.
With four children, the owners of this
Kensington mews house might have
seemed in danger of recreating the overcrowded conditions of the 19th century.
But that is reckoning without the skill of
their architectural designer, Jonathan
Tuckey, who has converted what was a
warren of small rooms cowering under
floral wallpapers and mock Georgian
features into a deceptively spacious
home, with just the right balance of
enclosure and open plan.
The fairly stern brick façade gives nothing away – but this is far more in keeping
with the original spirit of mews housing
than the inappropriately cottagey sash
windows that were there before. Tuckey
explains that he wanted to return it to
the “live/work, rough aesthetic of
mews”, to make it appear more in keeping with its original purpose.
There is also a practical sense to the
façade: mews were designed without pavements, making their relationship with the
street much more immediate, so invariably
people who add windows then keep the
blinds down. To Tuckey, it made more
sense to blank the house off at low level,
bringing in light from above, and give the
family privacy on the ground floor.
Unlike a house that exposes itself
instantly, leaving no sense of discovery,
this one quietly unfolds itself. You enter
into a walnut-lined, double-height
entrance hall; a slightly ajar door gives
a glimpse into the ground-floor family
room but the light from above, together
It made
more sense
to blank the
house off at
low level
and bring
in light
from above
Photographs by:
Jefferson Smith
Words and pictures ©
Condé Nast Publications
For more amazing
homes, visit:
homesand
property.co.uk
The redesigned home has just the right ba
with the instinctive sense of direction
that comes from clever planning, lead
you upstairs to the main living space.
Because the house is comparatively
small, the clients wanted to keep things as
open as possible, but there is still a sense
of separation between sitting, kitchen and
dining areas, which Tuckey has emphasised by his ceiling treatment. It is painted
a dark grey, with white over the dining
area, and has clear demarcations.
Originally, the house had a central
staircase, which was a waste of precious
space; in fact, it was Tuckey’s idea that
the stairs connecting the three floors
should be moved to the edges of the
house that won him the job, recalls the
client. Three hidden flights of stairs lead
to and from the first-floor living space.
The first, from the ground-floor hall, is
white brick; the other two are hidden
behind the kitchen wall — one, leading up
to the bedroom floor, is lined with walnut,
and the other, leading down to the family
room, is in poured resin with a side dish
of screaming-yellow walls. (The client
doesn’t remember sanctioning this colour but gives Tuckey the benefit of the
doubt when he assures her she did.)
“You can slip in and out of a room
without really being noticed if the
staircase is at the side of the room,”
Tuckey explains. It is, he says, a model
that was used in Palladian houses, but
which he thinks rather suits the dynamics of a modern family with teenagers.
17
My home Homes & Property
roperty.co.uk
alance of enclosure and open-plan living, and the divisions are marked by a dark grey ceiling treatment
While mews rooms are small, these have a feeling of space
This variety in materials and palette is
played out in the rest of the house, giving
each floor a distinct character. The
clients wanted their home to be modern
but not blandly minimalist, and they felt
the way to express this was through the
materials they used. So the white bricks
that extend up the walls and out on to
the rear terrace, while nodding to the
mews aesthetic, are a more interesting,
textured alternative to the predictable
expanse of limestone floor.
Unusually for an architect, Tuckey
credits council planners with part of the
house’s success. Philosophically, he suggests that the delay in planning permission was a benefit because it allowed him
to see how the family functioned in their
environment, with the design evolving
to accommodate this.
Because the family live mostly in the
country, and the children are away at
school and university, it was sensible to
devote minimum space to sleeping and
more to living. The four children happily
bunk together in one of the bedrooms — a
surprisingly neat solution. But it was also
important to have enough different areas
to allow a variety of simultaneous activities — for example, the television room
downstairs can be closed off so that sound
doesn’t travel through the house. Planning
restrictions, Tuckey suggests, also added
to the design.
Originally, mews houses were built with
no windows at all at the back so that the
The fairly stern brick façade gives little away but returns to the “live/work, rough aesthetic” of the mews
cat couldn’t look at the king. For aesthetic reasons, today’s planners will not
allow the huge expanses of glazing that
are de rigueur in most other modern
conversions. So Tuckey came up with a
design that looks as if it could have been
there for ever, with perfectly proportioned openings on to the terrace.
This terrace overshadows the one
below where the owner, who is a garden
designer, has cleverly created a pool —
puddle-like in depth but which, with the
black slate underneath, looks bottomless. Next to it there is an exquisitely
contained garden, planted to give variety
all year round. All very much more fragrant than it would have been just over
100 years ago when horses as well as
humans were in residence.
Jonathan Tuckey Design: 020 8960 1909;
www.jonathantuckey.com
The full
version of
this article
can be seen
in the May
issue of
House &
Garden, on
sale from
tomorrow
White bricks are modern without being blandly minimalist
20
Homes & Property Outdoors
Plants are the stars
of every great
garden. Our top
designers reveal their
sure-fire favourites
Give your garden a professional edge
by using the plants the experts choose
for their great looks and reliability
DON’T MISS
Keep up with Pattie Barron’s latest
gardening news on her blog. Visit
homesandproperty.co.uk/blogs
Pattie
Barron
Gardening problems?
email our RHS expert at: gardenproblems
@standard.co.uk
GAP PHOTOS/FRIEDRICH STRAUSS
L
PLANT SMART
create a frothy, lime-green background
through May and June.”
Claire Mee, like every London garden
designer, puts evergreen Trachelospermum jasminoides at the top of her
climbers list.
“Clients don’t want plants that drop
leaves or look messy, and this keeps its
shape. The flowers are white, pretty and
smell of jasmine. I’ve used it as ground
cover, pinning it along the ground.”
She frequently plants the felty-leaved
shrub Brachyglottis Sunshine. “It’s a
useful evergrey with a soft, light
appearance that needs clipping to keep
in shape. I use olive trees a lot, too,
GAP PHOTOS/ZARA NAPIER
‘Lavender ticks every box:
it’s fragrant, tough, beautiful
in bloom, easy to look after
and looks good all year’
Many designers favour the elegant
multi-stemmed Himalayan birch
SEE IT BUY IT
SEE IT: LONDON’S ALTERNATIVE
CHELSEA FLOWER SHOW If you
can’t make Chelsea this year but
would like to see some fabulous
gardens in the same week, book a
ticket on a river cruise and marvel at
seven floating barges, moored next
to Tower Bridge, for the ultimate in
container planting. You will also visit
the Inner Temple Garden at the
Embankment, float upstream while
you lunch on board, then view
several small, jewel-like gardens
along the esplanade at Chiswick
because they have silky leaves that
bring light into the garden.”
Lilies are not the only summer bulbs.
“I put Gladiolus murielae in every garden I do,” says Philip Nixon. “They
have a wonderful scent, are moderately
tall and look beautiful planted en
masse, drifting through grasses. Plant
the bulbs early or start them in a greenhouse. They may not survive a damp
winter but they are cheap to buy.”
Hydrangea arborescens Annabelle is
a favourite of several garden designers,
including Sara Jane Rothwell. “It’s the
most gorgeous hydrangea, yet it is
undemanding. The lime-white blooms
are blowsy, beautiful and at their best
in shade.” She also loves penstemons,
notably Garnet, White Bedder and the
pearly mauve-pink Sour Grapes.
“I use them constantly because
they’re semi-evergreen and they
repeat-flower if you deadhead them
from summer to early autumn.”
H
Hellebore hybridus are invaluable
because they flower early in the year
Be one of the first to grow the new
fully hardy gerbera, Everlast Carmine
comprises three plug plants of
orange-scented, pale mauve Prince
of Orange; spicy-scented Royal Oak,
or Sweet Mimosa, with sugar-pink
flowers, for £6.99, or buy all nine
plants for £14.97, saving £6.
The online shop is also offering
hardy versions of gerbera. Buy three
plants of Everlast Pink, Everlast
White or Everlast Carmine for £18.99,
or buy all nine for £46.97, saving
£10. Get 15 per cent off everything at
the shop, including the two offers, by
visiting www.rhsplants.co.uk, or
calling 0844 557 2622, and using
code 300410. Offer ends on 4 May.
Mall. The River Thames Tour, part of a
number of tours organised by Gardens
Etc in association with the National
Gardens Scheme, is on 25 May and
costs £100, but Homes & Property
readers can take £10 off the price by
visiting www.gardentoursetc.co.uk and
entering code NGSETC2505.
Tower Bridge’s flowering barges are
part of a river cruise garden tour
BUY IT: THE TWO SUMMER PLANT
ESSENTIALS The bedding plant no
London gardener should be without is
the pelargonium. Try a different kind,
one that has fragrant foliage, too. The
scented-leaved pelargonium collection
offered by the RHS online plant shop
Designer James Aldridge plants two
exotics repeatedly, both of which he
claims are hardy in town gardens.
“Aloe striatula looks fantastic through
the year, either in a container or in the
ground, where it looks especially good
among grasses. Astelia chathamica
Silver Spear has sword-like leaves but
doesn’t have the harshness of a
phormium. It’s tolerant, but the silver
foliage is best in semi-shade.”
The principal of the English Gardening School, Rosemary Alexander, loves
irises. “In a sunny spot, irises provide
a great vertical, spiky shape. Lavenderblue Jane Phillips has the best leaves
and flower height, and flowers from
late spring for quite a while.
“For shade, Hellebore hybridus are
unbeatable in providing flowers early
in the year and are so easy, provided
you cut back the leaves in early
December.”
London’s gardens need plants with
good structure and scale, not fleeting
flowers, says designer Declan Buckley.
“Agapanthus africanus fits the bill
because the foliage stays evergreen, it
has good, strappy leaves and fantastic
big blue flowers.”
E HAS traded box,
which can get blight,
for safer bet Euonymus
japonicus Microphyllus, which has a similar
leaf and can be clipped
like box. “And if you
leave it, it makes a nice
little dome all on its own.” Pleached
trees make great living screens and
Buckley favours two. “You can now
buy pleached holly as well as Magnifolia grandiflora, which is investment
dressing but worth every penny.”
Richard Reynolds, London’s chief
guerrilla gardener, depends on plants
that thrive on neglect. His secret
weapon: “Lavender! It ticks every box:
it’s fragrant, tough, beautiful in bloom,
easy to look after and looks good all
year round.”
GAP PHOTOS/SHARON PEARSON
ONDON gardeners can
learn from garden designers who need to use
plants that look great, are
easy to maintain and
have a long season. What
do the pros plant over
and over in London gardens? For limited spaces, they choose
small trees with big impact.
Designer Charlotte Rowe loves multistemmed Himalayan birch, Betula
utilis var jacquemontii. “With its silvery-white trunk and diaphanous
upper reaches, it looks great in both
summer and winter, and is perfect for
small spaces, including roof terraces.”
Multi-stemmed Amelanchier lamarckii
is another favourite of hers. “It provides early blossom, has a great form
in winter and is tough as old boots.”
Fillers such as ground cover geraniums are indispensable. “Good old
Alchemilla mollis is wonderful,” says
Rowe. “It mixes well with lavender,
santolina and many other plants to
24
Homes & Property Property search
The blossom is out along the tree-lined
avenues of Putney, where good transport
and excellent schools provide the perfect
mix for families, says Anthea Masey
SPOTLIGHT ON
PUTNEY
£625,000: in Putney Hill, Putney, SW15, a split-level,
two double-bedroom flat on the ground floor of a
Victorian villa. Through Kinleigh Folkard & Hayward
(020 8780 0033)
Visit homesandproperty.co.uk/sales/428290
S
ITTING happily and prosperously between the
Thames and the wild open
spaces of Putney Heath,
Wimbledon Common and
Richmond Park, Putney is
a charmed part of southwest London. At the top
of the hill there was once a telegraph
station that transmitted messages from
Portsmouth to the Admiralty in London
during the Napoleonic wars. At the
Telegraph pub in Putney, and also at the
cricket ground, you could almost be in
the heart of the country.
A walk along the riverbank passes
through pretty parks; a new riverside
piazza; the starting point for the annual
Oxford and Cambridge boat race, and
a quiet corner where the water laps
FIND MORE
HOMES AT
homesandproperty.co.uk/
putney
£1.2 million: at Putney Wharf, a three-bedroom, two
bathroom apartment with stunning views and a
private balcony. Through agents SW15 (020 8788 5330).
Visit homesandproperty.co.uk/sales/350440.
£399,950: in Keswick Road, moments from East
Putney Tube, a two-bedroom flat with off-street
parking and communal gardens. Through agents
Kinleigh Folkard & Hayward (020 8780 0033).
Visit homesandproperty.co.uk/sales/666691.
£699,950: in Carlton Drive, central Putney, this
immaculate, two-bedroom penthouse has a 996-year
lease. Through Chesterton Humberts (020 8246 5959).
Visit homesandproperty.co.uk/sales/548773
ESTATE AGENTS who would like to be on our site
should call 020 8973 2904 or 020 8973 2913
Tales of the
riverbank:
Putney’s
position on the
Thames is
enviable
LIVING THE
A riverside
setting, and
large houses
where
couples can
put down
roots — once
settled here,
people tend
to stay
over the towpath towards a ramshackle
row of boathouses.
It is hard to believe that this wealthy
suburb was once the centre of the
radical Putney Debates. These historic
hearings were held in 1647 in St Mary’s,
the church close to Putney Bridge,
between the radical levellers and generals from Cromwell’s New Model
Army, an event now celebrated with a
permanent exhibition in the church.
Today, Putney is a Tory stronghold
and its MP, Justine Greening, the
shadow minister for London, is a rising
star with a strong local following. James
French at estate agents Douglas & Gordon, who grew up in Putney, says the
area attracts families who want the best
of both worlds. “Putney is the nearest
thing to country living without moving
out of London, and it has a good choice
of great schools.”
LOWDOWN ON PUTNEY
Below: The wellto-do, suburban
character of
roads within
Putney’s dozen
conservation
areas is highly
valued and
jealously
guarded
The area attracts: Couples seeking large
houses where they and their children
can put down long-term roots.
Staying power: Once settled in Putney,
families tend to stay.
Best postcodes: Putney is in SW15.
Best streets: There are 12 conservation
areas. For those drawn to the riverside
setting, the two best roads are Deodar
Road and Ruvigny Gardens on either
side of Putney Bridge. Almost uniquely
in London, some of the houses in
Deodar Road run down directly to the
Thames.
For those who like the rural aspect of
Putney, the best road is Lower Common South where there are large,
detached Victorian houses dating from
the 1880s. Houses here sell for around
£2 million and the most expensive went
for £4.4 million — one of the highest
prices ever for a house in Putney.
Even more rural is Putney Heath, at
the top of Putney Hill, from where you
can walk for miles through the woods
and the open spaces of the heath itself
and the connecting Wimbledon Common and Richmond Park.
This area is dominated by three mansion blocks: Manor Fields, Wildcroft
Manor and Highlands Heath. In Bowling Green Close there are a number of
Thirties Modern Movement houses.
Moonside, designed by Thomas Wallis,
the architect of the Hoover building on
the Great West Road, is currently for
sale through Hamptons (020 8780
0077) for £2.25 million. The most
expensive house on the market now in
Putney is in Bristol Gardens, a crescent
of large, detached houses. Savills (020
8780 9900) is selling this seven-bedroom house for £4.95 million.
West Putney and, more specifically, the
Above: Ruvigny
Gardens offers
family homes
next to the river
at Putney Bridge
25
Property search Homes & Property
The “medallion”
family houses of
Gwendolen
Avenue are
among the most
expensive in the
area, starting at
£2.5 million
In the Telegraph’s garden, you could
almost be enjoying a country pub
AGENTS
DIRECTORY:
homesandproperty.co.uk/
agents-putney
Wandsworth
Park is a quiet
retreat moments
from Putney
High Street
CHARMED LIFE
SALES AND RENTING
Average sales prices
in SW15
One-bedroom flat: £241,772
Two-bedroom flat: £349,435
Two-bedroom house: £420,674
Three-bedroom house: £508,053
Four-bedroom house: £843,765
(source: Hometrack)
Average lettings prices
in SW15
One-bedroom flat : £1,000 to £1,300pm
Two-bedroom flat : £1,250 to £2,000pm
Three-bedroom house: £1,700 to
£3,000pm
Four-bedroom house: £3,000 to
£4,000pm
Five-plus bedroom houses: £4,000 to
£8,000pm
Top and above
right: The
Putney Exchange
shopping centre
offers top brands
area south of Richmond Road, is more
popular than East Putney — the area
between Putney Hill and West Hill. West
Putney has a mixture of large, late-Victorian and Edwardian houses. This is a
good place to find large family houses
and converted flats. The most expensive
houses are the “medallion houses” in
Gwendolen Avenue, where prices start
at £2.5 million and have gone as high as
£4.4 million, a price equalled only by
Lower Common South.
Up-and-coming areas: The Rusholme
Road conservation area takes in a section of West Hill and a number of surrounding streets of mainly Edwardian
detached and semi-detached houses.
While expensive, prices are still
cheaper than in West Putney. The
Dover Court Estate, east of Roehampton Lane, a former LCC cottage estate,
is cheaper than anywhere else in
Putney. Expect to pay £350,000 for
a three-bedroom house.
What’s new: Putney Square is a large
development of 210, studio, one-, twoand three-bedroom flats and penthouses on the site of the old South
Thames College on Putney Hill by
Barratt (020 8326 7171), for completion
in autumn next year. Housing association A2Dominion (0800 783 2159)
will be selling the 54 affordable flats.
Schools: Four of the best state primaries are in West Putney. They are:
Hotham, St Mary’s CofE, Our Lady of
Victories RC and All Saints CofE. A fifth
— Brandlehow — is in East Putney. Lion
To buy a home
in Putney,
visit:
House, Putney Park, Prospect House
and Hurlingham are the local prep
schools. The best state secondary is
Ashcroft Technology College, judged
“outstanding” by Ofsted. The private
Putney High for girls, nearby St Paul’s
boys’ school in Barnes, St Paul’s girls’
school in Hammersmith and King’s
College in Wimbledon are all highly
academic and get excellent results.
Shops and restaurants: Putney High
Street and the Putney Exchange shopping centre offer top high street names
including Waitrose and Sainsbury’s. Independent shops abound on Putney
Bridge Road in West Putney. Alfresco
eating at Carluccio’s or the Boathouse
pub overlooking the river in the piazza
at Putney Wharf is a tucked-away pleasure on a sunny evening. Pubs include
the Duke’s Head close to the start of the
boat race; the Half Moon a famous music
venue; and the Telegraph, hidden away
in the heart of Putney Heath. Enoteca
Turi in the high street is Putney’s favourite Italian restaurant. MasterChef judge
Gregg Wallace recently opened his first
restaurant, Wallace & Co, on Upper Richmond Road, to mixed reviews.
Transport: Putney Bridge, Fulham, and
Putney East Tube stations are in Zone 2
and are on the Wimbledon branch of the
District line; Putney station has trains to
Clapham Junction (six minutes) and Waterloo (17 minutes). Putney itself is on the
A3 connecting it to Guildford and
Portsmouth. An annual travelcard covering Zones 1 and 2 costs £1,032.
Council: Putney is in Wandsworth
and the Band D council tax for 2010/11
is £682.
Alfresco
eating
in the piazza
at Putney
Wharf
is a tucked
away
pleasure
on a sunny
evening
DON’T MISS
Spotlight on
Kilburn next
week and on
Richmond on
21 April
Photographs by:
Barry Phillips
O Allan Fuller Estate Agents
020 8788 8822
O Andrews Estate Agents
020 8780 2233
O Brinkley’s Estate Agents
020 8785 3652
O Chartwell Residential
020 8780 6790
O Desouza Residential
020 8870 4161
O Dexters Sales: 020 8789
9999. Lettings: 020 8789 9090
O Douglas and Gordon
East Putney: sales 020 8788
3000; lettings 020 8788 3333.
West Putney: sales 020 8785
6666; lettings: 020 8788 3333
O Foxtons 020 8355 1000
O Savills 020 8780 9900
O Hamptons Sales: 020 8780
0077. Lettings: 020 8780 0900
O James Anderson Estate
Agents 020 8788 6611 and
020 8785 4400
O Kinleigh Folkard & Hayward
Sales: 020 8780 0033 and 020
8785 2122. Lettings 020 8785
3433
O Lauristons 020 8780 8780
O Marcus Kemp Estates
020 7384 1909
O One London Property
0845 118 4566
O Oscar Knight 020 8823 0741
O Purpleproperty.com
020 8871 2424
O Rawlings & Co
020 7384 9544
O Riverhomes.co.uk
020 7407 8000
O Sebastian Estates
020 7610 9902
O Seymour Green
020 8870 0111
O Sullivan Thomas Sales: 020
7731 3333. Lettings: 020 7751
8898
O SW15 020 8788 5330
O The Real World Rental
Company 020 7736 1600
O Tomlinson Property 020
7384 0686
O Townends 020 8785 4244
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29
Letting on Homes & Property
THE NOT-VERY-HANDY HANDYMAN
THE
£450pw: a
one-bedroom
house in
Huntsworth
Mews,
Marylebone,
available
through
Foxtons.
For more
pictures and
details, visit
homesand
property.co.uk/
lettings/613077
ACCIDENTAL
LANDLORD
A
NEW tenant
complained that the
curtains in her
bedroom were so
thin that she was
being woken too
early in the morning
so, ignoring my
husband’s sarcastic comments about
profits going down drains, I spent £15
on a blackout blind which, I told him
smugly, was money well spent if it
kept the tenant happy.
Only now I need someone to put it
up. I daren’t ask my husband who
seems to have downed tools. And as
I’m not handy with a drill I Google
“Londonhandyman”. Up pop at least a
dozen firms specialising in odd jobs.
They all charge a £20 call-out fee and
£20 per half hour, which means I’ll
have to pay at least £40 plus VAT. I
start to regret my generosity.
I pick the first handyman outfit on
the list, which promises to send me a
“multiskilled and very experienced
handyman”. When he arrives I
discover he is also monosyllabic and
Victoria Whitlock pays a high price to keep her tenant happy
very grumpy, but he gets quickly to
work, which is good as the clock is
ticking.
The clock hasn’t ticked for very
long when the handyman shuffles
out of the bedroom with a broken
bedside lamp in his hands. He has
accidentally smashed the base with
his spirit level. “I’ll knock it off the
bill,” he grumbles in an Eeyore sort
of way.
He finishes the job in less than 30
minutes but when I inspect the blind
it’s sagging across the top and when I
unroll the fabric, which is smeared in
grubby fingerprints, it’s so wonky
that it scrapes the wall at one side
and leaves a one-inch gap at the
other. Clearly putting up blinds is not
one of this handyman’s many skills.
He goes back to work and the clock
starts ticking again.
Two of the other tenants are home
and they take the opportunity to tell
me that they’re moving out. I’m
surprised, they only signed a new lease
a few weeks ago, and disappointed
because although these Aussie girls
can’t change a light bulb, have
difficulty operating the central heating
(what’s a thermostat?) and blew up the
microwave, they’re very nice.
“It’s not the flat,” they assure me.
Then what is it? They glance
uncomfortably at one another then
one of them blurts out: “It’s the new
girls, they’re Mormons!” I’m taken
aback. I’ve never knowingly met a
Mormon before (though I did once
propose to Donny Osmond by post)
and I don’t know anything about the
religion so I ask why this is a
problem.
“Oh it’s okay them being
Mormons,” one of the girls says
defensively, “but they have rules, like
no boyfriends, which they want us to
follow, which is just, well, bloody
annoying.” Yes, I can see it might be.
The Aussie girls have found a couple
of friends to take over their lease and
as they are determined to move out
there’s nothing I can do about it.
I pay the handyman £131 (trying not
to cry) and go home to find out more
about Mormonism. When I read on
the BBC website that there are only
190,000 Mormons in the whole of
the UK, I feel privileged to have not
one but two living in my flat. It
sounds like an easy-going, live-andlet-live form of Christianity, but when
I get to a bit about no sex before
marriage (including petting or
necking), no alcohol, no smoking and
no soft drinks containing caffeine, I
realise how this might cramp the
style of two hard-drinking, chainsmoking Aussies. I just hope their
friends who are moving into the flat
are teetotal and celibate.
Victoria Whitlock is a mother of two
who lets three properties in south
London.
30
Homes & Property Inside story
MONDAY
THURSDAY
Driving into Salisbury this morning, I
notice that the daffodils are blossoming. Is spring finally here? Given the
shortage of good houses, I’m hoping
the sunny weather will encourage a
few people to move.
My first appointment is at a delightful
manor house. On walking into an
impressive panelled bedroom, the
owner tells me that it is known as
Monck’s Room, after George Monck,
later the 1st Duke of Albemarle, who
helped return Charles II to the throne.
As the owner admits: “Gordon Brown
owes all his problems to this house!”
My afternoon is spent at a beautiful
late-Georgian house we sold to the current owners 12 years ago. Since then
they have given the house an exquisite
overhaul, restoring the original charm
but giving it a modern feel. The stable
block has been turned into a state-ofthe-art recording studio, with a collection of vintage guitars used on some of
the top albums of the past 10 years.
I have an appointment to visit clients
who have been in touch with me for
seven years, but the house never quite
manages to come to the market. I was
supposed to visit them last week but
they cancelled, and sounded strangely
frazzled. The reason for the delay is
two newly adopted young rescue dogs
— a doberman and a foxhound — which
chewed through the inlet pipe of a
fridge freezer and managed to flood
the boot room.
Undeterred, the redecoration is now
finished. It is a lovely period house with
stables and six acres surrounded by
excellent riding country. After Easter
is a good time to bring it to market. The
indoor swimming pool is now gone.
TUESDAY
The morning is dominated by intense
negotiation over the sale of a remarkable Queen Anne house with views and
river frontage. We have a good offer
but there are still keen buyers who are
desperate to visit the house. We agree
a sale at the guide price.
Later, we get an acceptable offer on
a very handsome house with a large
garden and its own lake. Usually in the
run-up to a general election, the property market slows down but there
seems to be little evidence of it today.
FRIDAY
DIARY OF AN ESTATE AGENT
Our agent discovers an economist with a pet parrot, two dogs with
their own indoor swimming pool and a collection of vintage guitars
I spend the afternoon at a delightful
farmhouse with superb period barns
from the early 16th century. There are
also formal gardens, stables and paddocks, and the house sits in an
extremely tranquil and popular position. We are confident that it will attract
a premium buyer. The day’s activity
leaves me with the feeling that the
majority of our clients have discounted
the election and Budget, and just want
to get on with their lives.
WEDNESDAY
We are advising a shrewd economist
on the potential sale of his house, and
it is fascinating to hear his take on the
country’s financial position. Our
serious chat about the global money
markets is given a bizarre twist by the
beautiful parrot that’s perched on his
shoulder.
I take on a new instruction for a
superb thatched house in a very popular village near Longleat. The majority
of houses there are still owned by the
estate so the rare freehold sales always
create a stir; the last house I sold in the
village went for 16 per cent over the
guide price, so the bar is set high.
Saturday and Sunday certainly won’t
be quiet as a charming but dilapidated
house in a breathtaking position is
attracting huge interest. I explain to
numerous buyers that even a basic
overhaul will cost about £200,000.
However, if anyone is brave enough to
spend half a million on it they will end
up with a stunning house with panormic views for 30 miles.
Driving home on Friday, I notice the
first blossom in the hedgerow. I must
ring the owners of Cherry Tree Cottage
— it’s the perfect time to sell.
Andrew Grice is an agent at Strutt &
Parker’s Salisbury office (01722 328741)
For more estate agents’ diaries, visit:
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31
Ask the expert Homes & Property
I’M ALL FOR RICHER BUT HE’S FAR POORER
Fiona
McNulty
WHAT’S
YOUR
PROBLEM?
IF YOU have a
question for Fiona
McNulty, email
legalsolutions@
standard.co.uk,
or write to:
Legal Solutions,
Homes &
Property, Evening
Standard,
2 Derry Street,
London W8 5EE.
OUR LAWYER ANSWERS
YOUR QUESTIONS
Q
MY BOYFRIEND and I are
about to buy a property
together for £245,000.
I have the deposit, which
I have saved myself. My boyfriend
has just come out of a relationship,
and so has no money. We have
been offered a joint mortgage. I
have never owned a property
before but he has, so I don’t think
we can benefit from the new stamp
duty holiday. What should we do?
We regret that
questions cannot be
answered individually
but we will try to
feature them here.
Fiona is a partner in
the property team at
Thring Townsend Lee &
Pembertons Solicitors
(www.ttuk.com).
A
IF YOU buy the property in
your name only, instead of
jointly, you will be able to
take advantage of the Stamp
Duty Land Tax (SDLT) holiday
announced in the Budget because
you have never owned a property
before, and the one you are buying is
not more than £250,000 — as long as
you buy it before 25 March 2012.
However, you may be obtaining a
joint mortgage with your boyfriend
because your income is not enough
to support a mortgage in your name
alone. If you need your boyfriend’s
income to be taken into account, the
property will have to be bought in
your joint names, and so you will not
be able to benefit from the SDLT
holiday as your boyfriend has had
a previous interest in a property. As
you are paying the deposit, take legal
advice on whether you should hold
the property as tenants in common
in unequal shares, in order to protect
the investment you have made in the
property.
Q
I HAVE inherited a pretty valuable property
which is in a bad state of repair. I have been
told that if I spend a substantial amount of
money, refurbishing it to a high standard,
I will be able to rent it out for about £1,500 a week.
However, I am also told I will not be able to use the
usual type of assured shorthold tenancy agreement
that my letting agents normally prepare for me.
Why is that ?
A
TO BE an assured shorthold tenancy at the
moment under the Housing Act 1988, the rent
must be between £1,000 and £25,000 a year in
Greater London. Clearly, you would not now be
able to use such an agreement as the annual rental would
be £78,000.
However, from 1 October this year, the law is changing
and tenancies with rents between £25,001 and £100,000
will then fall within the provision of the 1988 Act. If it
takes a few months to carry out the work, by the time you
are ready to let the property in the autumn you will be
able to use an assured shorthold tenancy agreement,
provided it is after 1 October.
This means that you will be able to take advantage of the
accelerated possession proceedings reserved for assured
shorthold tenancies, which reduce the time and cost of
seeking an order for possession by avoiding the necessity
for a court hearing. But do remember that you will
need to register any deposit with an approved tenancy
deposit scheme.
For more legal Q&As, visit: homesand property.co.uk
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Homes Property & A TALENT

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