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Concrete ideas

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Homes&Property

Wednesday 11 September 2013

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news: Come round and see our gas bill

Read Ruth Bloomfield’s full story at homesandproperty.co.uk

For the latest bargains, visit homesandproperty.co.uk

Or you can buy one from our online shop for only £39.99

hot homes: price reductions

LONDONERS can pick up tips from each other to find ways to slash their heating bills this winter. This month, a total of 17 householders across the city are opening their doors to allow visitors to take a tour and learn more about the green features of their homes. The scheme is being run in conjunction with the annual Superhomes Show.

Visitors will learn how much money they can save from people who have cut their own carbon footprints by a minimum of 60 per cent by retro-fitting their properties with green technology.

Win a pop-up 2-metre Growhouse

Offers over £700,000: this Sussex stunner would make a fabulous B&B, sitting a few miles from Worthing’s seafront and with plenty of space and character. The Grade II-listed 5,000sq ft farmhouse comes with a 45ft barn and outbuildings, a separate annexe you could let and a heated pool in half an acre of gardens. Six bedrooms and three attic rooms are upstairs, while exposed beams, flagstone floors and open fireplaces feature in generous drawing and sitting rooms below, plus a huge wine cellar. Through King & Chasemore.

Visit homesandproperty.co.uk/lifechangerworthing

FIND the properties with the biggest price reductions and you can save on your mortgage money.

There are many reasons why some Londoners need a speedy sale — a new job, school starting dates, transfers abroad, for example. And quick sales can require a generous price drop. So do your homework and find those bargains. We are helping out by taking a property tour to find the latest discounts on offer across the capital.

TO ENTER For your chance to win a Growhouse, visit homesand property.co.uk/offers before the end of September 22.

Terms and conditions: usual rules apply. Visit homesand property.co.uk/rules for details.

London buy of the week deck with a Wimbledon view

Out of town buy of the week Cotswolds location, Regency style

Life changer open a B&B by the sea in Sussex

£725,000: if the fine Regency façade of this Cotswold stone home in Broadway, Worcestershire, isn’t quite enough to tease you away from London, its sizeable plot with potential to extend or build might do the trick. All the character of wide sash windows and open fireplaces is in place in generous sitting and drawing rooms ready for a bit of an

update, while the kitchen/breakfast room is perfect for big family gatherings. Four bedrooms with elegant fireplaces and two bathrooms overlook glorious gardens enclosed by high walls and white gates. Through Hamptons.

Visit homesandproperty.co.uk/swapbroadway

£449,995: the price of this two-bedroom flat in Old Street, EC1, has been slashed for a quick sale.

Visit homes andproperty.co.uk/oldstreet

Homes & Property Online homesandproperty.co.uk with

£725,000: this striking SW20 penthouse has panoramic views over Wimbledon Village. Lateral space of more than 1,400sq ft divides into three double bedrooms (one en suite), a bathroom and a 30ft living area open-plan to a black gloss kitchen, dining space and reception room with bi-folding doors opening to a decked roof terrace. There’s a handy storage space for bikes, or if you want to take the train, Raynes Park station is a stroll away. Through KFH.

Visit homesandproperty.co.uk/buyoftheweekwimbledon

2 WEDNESDAY 11 SEPTEMBER 2013 EVENING STANDARD

GROWING crops outdoors without any protection is fine but there are plenty of bugs, slugs and birds out there that are going to love what you’re growing, too. If you’re keen to propagate succulent, wholesome, mouthwateringly tasty tomatoes, cucumbers, chillies, strawberries, courgettes and more but don’t have space for a greenhouse, the pop-up Growhouse is the answer.

To erect it, simply remove it from its carry bag and with little more than a flick of the wrist, the 1.25m by 1.25m by 2m-tall Growhouse pops into shape. Slide in the fibreglass roof support rods (supplied) and the job’s done. No tools, no sweat and hardly any time at all. When the season’s over, pack and store it for next year.

Buy a Growhouse for only £39.99 from homesandproperty.co.uk/shop

We also have three to give away. To enter, see side panel.

Save:

£20,000

Hot topic: solar roof panels on a London house where the owners are spreading the energy-saving good news SU

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THE Manor in Davies Street in Mayfair was built as a home for dowager countess widows. With large rooms and elegant furnishings, it is easy to imagine the likes of Downton Abbey’s Violet Crawley there, as portrayed by Maggie Smith, left.

The 2nd Duke of Westminster lived next door and in the Twenties romanced Coco Chanel — the fashion house’s symbol of entwined letter Cs remains inscribed on the lamp posts outside. Now a £10 million flat in The Manor is for sale. The 4,000sq ft property has six bedrooms, a staff annexe and access to a terrace. Through Jackson-Stops & Staff.

Vist homesandproperty.co.uk/davies for more details.

Mayfair manor with Chanel design label

In search of your Mr Darcy? Best to look in Bath

Got some gossip? Tweet @amiranews

JANE AUSTEN’S popularity never wanes. The new face of the £10 note has inspired Hollywood romcom Austenland, released on September 27. It stars The Americans’ Keri Russell as a woman who travels to a Jane Austen theme park in search of her Mr Darcy.

Want to spot your own hero? Starting this weekend, Bath’s streets will be filled with Mr Darcys celebrating the 200th anniversary of Pride and Prejudice as part of the nine-day Jane Austen Festival.

To really soak up the atmosphere, stay at the 19th-century Macdonald Bath Spa Hotel, below. The original Greek revival-style house, first home to General Augustus Andrews, was sold in 1860 to the Rev Charles Kemble, Rector of Bath Abbey, and later to Bath College.

In 1939 the property was requisitioned by the Admiralty and the room where Winston Churchill would hold high-level discussions still stands.

The 129-room property overlooks beautiful landscaped gardens and the Vellore Restaurant, once a magnificent ballroom, transports diners back to the elegant Austen era.

Visit homesandproperty.co.uk/austen for more pictures and details

Helen’s ex woos her back — with a house

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CELINE Dion is selling her home on a private island in the centre of Montreal for £18 million.

The 24,000sq ft French-style château comes with almost all contents as well as a library, games room and cinema.

The singer, right, whose new album Loved Me Back to Life is out in November, has listed her residence with luxuryestate.com.

Situated out of view from any public roads and completely fenced off from its surroundings, it should appeal to a star looking for absolute privacy.

Actor Gerard Butler grew up in Montreal before moving back to his native Scotland, so if he wanted to return in style, this could be the ideal pad.

Other Canadian success stories with big budgets include Justin Bieber, Ryan Gosling, Ryan Reynolds and Michael Bublé.

Celine’s private island home in Montreal is for sale at £18m

By Amira Hashish

Homes & PropertyNewshomesandproperty.co.uk with

CORRIE star-turned-I’m a Celebrity... contestant Helen Flanagan, right, recently swapped the house she shared with her footballer ex-boyfriend Scott Sinclair for a bachelorette pad, following allegations that he sent inappropriate messages to a TV presenter. She has now settled into her flat in central Manchester.

In a bid to win her back, Sinclair is rumoured to be pulling out all the stops to get her on the property ladder by buying a house for her. A grand gesture, but the 23-year-old may be too busy with Channel 5’s new reality show, Celebrity Super Spa, which starts on Friday.

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Homes & Property New homes homesandproperty.co.uk with

More space and better value when you live on the edge

Fringe benefits

Zone 2 has overtaken prime central London. Buyers can find variety, bigger family homes and friendly neighbours. By David Spittles


ZONE 2, ringing central Lon-don’s most expensive neigh-bourhoods, is the area of choice this autumn for smart home buyers searching for

space and good value.Developers are stepping up to build

more homes in Zone 2 areas — finding that they can build bigger and sell to a market likely to thrive in the next five years. Leading estate agents also predict these so-called “non-prime” areas will see the biggest price gains.

“Even some wealthy buyers cannot afford to live in the best central loca-tions,” says Andrew Palmer of property consultant DTZ. “This has triggered a hunt for cheaper addresses that are still close in.”

Holborn and Aldgate are changing fast as they return to residential, and have still to reach their full potential

across London. The main flows are from north and west London to south London, where family houses are sig-nificantly cheaper and new London Overground stations are helping to revitalise areas such as Brockley, Dulwich and Crystal Palace.

Buyers are realising they can get a property twice as big for half the price and still get to work quickly. One hot address is Telegraph Hill, SE14, where large Victorian houses priced up to £1.3 million are attracting City people, doctors and lawyers from other parts of London. The commute to London Bridge is six minutes. Houses with the same floorspace in, say, Pimlico would cost £3.5 million-plus.

Research by property data company Lonres shows square-foot values in south London average £650. This compares with £956 in north London

and £1,075 in west London. New devel-opments are of varying quality and scale, and many are under construc-tion, meaning buyers have to beware and do their homework.

For family buyers, the good news is that planners are keen to encourage more and better new-build houses. Five years ago, 95 per cent of all new homes in the capital were apartments whereas by 2015 about 30 per cent of new homes will be houses.

“Well-designed townhouses do not have to cost a fortune and boost areas by attracting families, who demand better schools, libraries, parks and neighbourhood shops,” according to Sean Ellis, managing director of St James, soon to launch 13 four-bedroom houses at Hurlingham Gate, Fulham. Coming later are 68 apartments. Call 020 8246 4199.

FOLLOW THE NEW HOMESIn the spotlight are Islington, South-wark, Lambeth, Wandsworth, Ham-mersmith, Fulham, Camden and Hackney. Up to 60 per cent of the 278,000 new homes planned for London during the next decade will be built in inner-London boroughs.

DOWN BY THE RIVERSIDERiverside districts on the south bank of the Thames are set to jump in price during the next five years, says Knight Frank. “Nine Elms to Vauxhall will change out of all recognition, while the extension of Tate Modern, due for completion next year, will see Bankside values rising even higher.”

South Bank Tower is a refurbishment of an office skyscraper in Stamford Street bringing 173 private homes. Prices from £625,000. Call 020 7409 8756. Directly opposite on the north side of the river is Holborn, which takes in the former newspaper district around Fleet Street and the historic Inns of C our t , and borders G eorg ian Bloomsbury.

Global law firms have moved in recently, sparking demand for local

for prime inner London. Buyers are also looking with fresh eyes at Bloomsbury and Barnsbury, and fam-ily-friendly neighbourhoods such as Primrose Hill, Wandsworth and Ful-ham, where smart riverside develop-ments are under way.

Increased stamp duty thresholds are having an impact, too. Buyers want to avoid the higher rate payable on homes priced above £1 million (five per cent) and £2 million (seven per cent).

Often this boils down to buying a home with a value of no more than £1,000 a square foot, a price point that has spread to reach Hammersmith in the west, Lambeth to the south, Swiss Cottage in the north and Shoreditch in east London.

“Second-tier areas often have a greater variety of property and a more village-like feel, which makes them a

prime opportunity even if they are not ‘prime’ areas,” says Nicholas Finn, director of Garrington Property Finders.

PLAYING CATCH-UPThe property experts are beginning to think that the top-tier areas, such as Knightsbridge and Mayfair, have peaked in value and that a “catching-up” process is kicking in as developers deliver better homes in fringe areas.

This is borne out by the latest Land Registry data showing some Zone 2 boroughs registered double-digit price rises over the last year, ahead of Kensington and Chelsea.

FLOWING ACROSS THE RIVERCross-river moves, once uncommon, are another market trend, according to Winkworth, which has 60 branches

New start: developer London Square hopes to scoop up emigrés from SW3 with its Farm Lane scheme of 40 townhouses in SW6. Building is under way. Call 01895 627 300

From £790,000: Taylor Wimpey is carving 76 apartments from a former tired office building at St Dunstan’s Court, Fetter Lane. Call 020 3675 0673

Homes & PropertyNew homeshomesandproperty.co.uk with


main homes, and crash pads for high-earning career professionals. There are niche developments of boutique flats, in keeping with the area’s individuality, but bigger projects are under way.

A slab of nondescript office blocks by Temple station has been bulldozed to make way for a courtyard complex of 206 apartments. To register, call Berkeley Homes on 020 7118 9190.

St Dunstan’s Court, an outdated office building on Fetter Lane, is being redeveloped by Taylor Wimpey into 76 apartments. Prices from £790,000. Call 020 3675 0673.

FUTURE FULHAMFulham is described as “affordably prime” by Jo Eccles of Sourcing Prop-erty. Family houses sell for approxi-mately £1.5 million to £3 million, the same as a prestige apartment in one of

Chelsea’s best roads. Waterfront regen-eration is bringing cafés, bars, bou-tiques and galleries to former industrial zones. Fulham Riverside, between leafy, polo-playing Hurlingham Park and sought-after Peterborough Estate, replaces a supermarket depot. The 8.25-acre development will have 463 homes either side of a central piazza and boulevard leading to the river. Prices from £525,000. Call Barratt on 0844 8114334.

Developer London Square is aiming to capture SW3 emigrés at Farm Lane townhouses. The two-acre site, once a base for horses and Hackney carriages, is set to become a traffic-free retreat with 40 homes.

Residents will have use of an under-ground private garage with direct access to the house. Construction is under way. Call 01895 627 300.

Left: riverside areas on the south bank of the Thames are expected to see considerable price hikes in the next five years. Vauxhall is likely to change most dramatically, with the arrival of thousands of new homes and the US embassy at Nine Elms

Right: prices in Hammersmith now routinely reach £1,000 a square foot. Developers have been quick to spot increased interest in this district of west London. The impressive Sovereign Court scheme in W6 has flats from £499,950. Call 0800 008 6977

Here first: Italo deli, left, in Bonnington Square, Vauxhall, has become a local institution but new shops and cafés are opening up nearby at a rapid pace, as buyers spot the area’s exceptional location and potential

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Homes & Property Area watch

Perfect setting for romance

Stars have fallen for this Palladian beauty. Discover your own love among the Wycombe hills, says Ruth Bloomfield

AUSTENLAND is the latest film to be shot at West Wy c o m b e P a r k , t h e country house estate owned by the National

Trust in Buckinghamshire, which has become a star in its own right as the backdrop for an extraordinary roll-call of movies and television series.

The Palladian beauty has become the go-to location for everything from The Duchess to I Capture the Castle, Cran-ford and, of course, Downton Abbey.

The latest addition to this list, Austen-land, is a romantic comedy starring Keri Russell (recently in The Americans) and JJ Feild, about an American woman obsessed with the writings of Jane Austen and with Mr Darcy — as played by Colin Firth in particular.

The film, which is released on Sep-tember 27, follows our heroine as she travels to a Pride and Prejudice theme park in the English countryside. The movie shows off the Grade I-listed house and its sweeping parklands to perfection, as well as the village of West Wycombe, which is something of a secret gem in the Chiltern Hills — not just as perfect backdrop for a romcom but also as a wonderful place for a commuter to live.

WEST WYCOMBEThe village is largely owned by the National Trust and it has worked hard to preserve its old-fashioned charm. Most of the property there is leased by the trust, which is currently offering a one-bedroom cottage just off the high street for rent at £875 a month (visit nationaltrust.org.uk/lettings).

“There is also a precious handful of houses in the village which are freehold and can be bought and sold, although they are very rare,” said Graeme Pierce, a director at JNP Partnership. He is selling a traditional brick-and-flint two-bedroom cottage for £325,000 — only the third time in his 30-year career that a village-centre home is for sale.

A more likely, and spacious, option would be a house on the outskirts. Substantial detached houses and barns range from £750,000 to £2 million and often come with a parcel of land.

On the downside, the quaintness of the village is slightly marred when juggernauts come roaring through it down the A40. And while West Wycombe Park is enough of a tourist attraction with three pubs and a hand-ful of shops, locals might find the week-end influx of day-trippers trying.

But if you have a family, the village school, West Wycombe Combined

School, is rated “good” by Ofsted, and seniors can go on to one of High Wycombe’s highly rated grammars.

The other key advantage of West Wycombe is its commutability. Trains from High Wycombe station, three miles away, take 31 minutes to Maryle-bone thanks to an upgraded line, and an annual season ticket costs £3,940.

HIGH WYCOMBEFor commuters who like to have things right on their doorstep and might find West Wycombe too much of a one-horse town, High Wycombe is itself worth consideration despite its rather tarnished reputation.

On the face of it, High Wycombe should be more popular than it is. As well as its transport links, its three single-sex grammar schools — The Royal Grammar School (chef Heston Blumenthal is an old boy), John Hampden Grammar School, and the High School for Girls — are among the best in the country.

The town centre has a pedestrianised area around the Guildhall and plenty of shops, a cinema and restaurants in the smart, newly opened Eden centre. The presence of Buckinghamshire New Uni-versity gives the town a bit of buzz.

Damage was done in the Sixties, how-ever, when a hideously complex road

network was installed, and the high street went downhill. Happily, there are plans to rejig the roads, including potentially removing a flyover known as the Berlin Wall of Wycombe.

There is tremendous variety in the qual i t y of houses across High Wycombe. Some areas are extremely run down. Giles Davidson, of Hamp-tons International, tips the Daws Hill Lane area to the south of town, close to the famous Wycombe Abbey School, as the best place for family homes.

A four-bedroom, detached house built in the Eighties would cost from about £500,000, while for £1.5 million you could secure a six- to seven-bedroom Thirties home, fully renovated and extended, and with a sizeable garden.

Peter Reilly, branch manager of The Frost Partnership, recommends the Twenties and Thirties homes in the Bassetsbury Lane conservation area. For £350,000 you could buy a three-bedroom semi-detached house there, while £700,000 will secure a four-bed-room detached house with a good garden.

Bassetsbury Lane is on the Beacons-field side of town and the price differ-ential between Wycombe and its more affluent neighbour five miles away is substantial.

Offers over £1 million: a barn conversion, right, in West Wycombe. Call 01494 217312

£650,000: a four-bedroom house in High Wycombe, far right. Call 01494 956305

Austen-mad: above, JJ Feild, Bret McKenzie and Keri Russell in the new film Austenland. Right, West Wycombe Park


Homes & PropertyThe discount market

‘People are not getting pay rises but prices are going up, and the bubble isn’t going to burst soon’

‘Affordable’ homes you can actually afford

If you are on the housing list in west London’s White City, read on, says Ruth BloomfieldO

NE OF the biggest criticisms of affordable housing, particularly in central London, is how incredibly unaffordable

it is for many young first-time buyers. Last year a housing association

offered shared-ownership flats in Clerkenwell with market prices of up to £705,000 — buying a 25 per cent share of a flat in Central Square would therefore cost up to £2,322 a month for rent and mortgage.

A new scheme that launches later this month is using a new model of shared ownership to break this pattern, helping buyers on low incomes in one of London’s most expensive boroughs, Hammersmith & Fulham.

The Bloom has 170 apartments, ranging from one to three bedrooms, and is in Bloemfontein Road, White City (nhhg.org.uk/bloom). The budget option is to buy a property using a new type of affordable scheme, discount market sale, which is being underwritten by Hammersmith & Fulham council.

Some 42 one-bedroom flats, with a guide price of £290,000, will be sold under this scheme to people on the council’s housing waiting list.

They will need to get a mortgage to buy a proportion of the property — usually 40 per cent, although other options will be available depending on individual circumstances. The council will own the remainder, and these homes are being targeted at buyers with a household income of less than £40,500.

THE CRUCIAL DIFFERENCEDiscount market sale differs from shared ownership in that people will not be expected to pay any rent for the portion of the property the council owns, making monthly outgoings significantly less – an estimated £718, including service charge. When owners want to move on they will share the proceeds of the sale with the council.

“It is becoming more and more difficult for people to afford even affordable housing,” said Wendy Gordon, sales manager at Notting Hill Home Ownership, which is running the scheme. “It is something that we

are very aware of. People are not getting big increases in their pay but prices are going up and the bubble does not look like it is going to burst anytime soon.”

For buyers on slightly higher salaries the remainder of the homes will be sold under normal shared- ownership terms.

Final prices have not yet been confirmed but buying a 25 per cent share of a one-bedroom flat will cost about £72,500, and the estimated monthly outgoings, including mortgage, rent and service charge, will be from about £1,200. Two-bedroom flats start at £427,500. Buying a 25 per cent share will mean a total monthly cost of about £1,230.

FAMILY HOMES BONUSThere are also eight three-bedroom homes on the site, which will be put on sale in a later phase of the scheme. These are likely to be valued at about £545,000, which will mean that a 25 per cent share will cost £1,460.

Priority is given to people who live or work locally and who earn less than £66,000 (for one- and two- bedroom flats) or £80,000 (for three bedrooms).

The first homes will be ready to move into in November, with the development completed in January.

The seven-storey block has been designed by award-winners Penoyre & Prasad and will include a supermarket and health centre.

From £72,500: for a quarter share of a one-bedroom flat at The Bloom in White City. Visit nhhg.org.uk/bloom

Pretty view: the block in Bloemfontein Road overlooks Wormholt Park


Unveiled: dazzling Marina di ScarlinoEmbrace the Ferragamo lifestyle in this new luxury Tuscan resort, says Cathy Hawker

Homes & Property Homes abroad homesandproperty.co.uk with

LEONARDO Ferragamo knows about the finer things in life. Whether at work in his Floren-tine palazzo overseeing his boutique hotel company The

Lungarno Collection, or holidaying off the Sicilian coast with his family on his Swan 90 yacht, his lifestyle is one of understated elegance.

So when he chose to develop a Tuscan resort you might picture a pale, stone borgo in the vine-clad hills near Siena. But no, Leonardo has chosen to create a contemporary marina resort along the wild, undeveloped and — for most Britons — unknown Maremma coast in southern Tuscany. His exciting plans for Marina di Scarlino are not without their challenges but Leonardo’s infectious passion for both the area and for yachting means he might just pull this off.

“I spent most of my childhood summers along the Maremma so yes there is a sentimental attachment,” he acknowledged. “It has intense, unspoilt nature.”

Leonardo’s late father Salvatore made his name creating bedazzling shoes for

Hollywood’s finest, from Judy Garland to Marilyn Monroe. He set up shop beside the Arno in Florence in 1938, is credited with inventing the wedge sandal and laid the foundations for the highly reputable and successful Salva-

tore Ferragamo international empire.His son, now 58, entered the family company aged 20. Today, along with his hotel business, he also owns two luxury boating brands — Nautor’s Swan and Camper & Nicholsons.

MEDITERRANEAN HUBMarina di Scarlino is 90 minutes from Pisa airport and Siena, two hours from Rome and Florence. For boat-lovers its location in the Med is faultless: it looks across to Elba, one of seven islands in the Tuscan archipelago all within an hour or two. Corsica and Sardinia are to the north, the South of France is five hours west and Portofino within three hours.

Leonardo bought the marina in 2011 and has created a hi-tech, efficient and attractive operation with 960 berths of 19ft to 118ft. Along the quayside there are small, quirky boutiques — a refresh-ing absence of high-fashion expensive names — affordable restaurants and food shops, a functional laundry and full concierge services.

0pened this summer is a smart

Balearic-inspired Puro Beach Club, a surprisingly urban choice perhaps for rural Tuscany but its all-white, wafting-linen décor is welcoming and reso-lutely family friendly.

There are 39 completed apartments

£1.06 million: for a waterside apartment with a berth, plus your own cruiser, below right, at Marina di Scarlino

From £264,500: flats and houses are set around a beautiful pool, left, at Marina di Scarlino. Leonardo, inset

for sale on the waterfront, all different — from one-bedrooms of 517sq ft to two-bedrooms of 1,345sq ft. All have large terraces and while there is no compul-sion to rent, Puro Beach will manage lettings from its marina office. Low-sea-son weekly rents start from £1,020.

Apartments start from £264,500 with modern, well-chosen furniture pack-ages from £16,200. An issue for some buyers has been the apartments’ 85-year government lease, typical said Leonardo for property on the Italian coast. There is also the chance to buy an apartment, a berth and a 45ft Endeavour 42 Camper & Nicholson boat for £1.06 million.

THE MAREMMA COASTMany Italian noble families have size-able estates nearby, including the Antinoris, among the country’s most illustrious wine makers, whose must-visit vineyard Le Mortelle, 20 minutes from the marina, serves farm-fresh food in their old farmhouse restaurant next door to a super-modern subter-ranean £11 million winery.

Leonardo has clear plans for the marina’s future, adding more homes, holding more regattas and increasing the range of sports on offer.

“What will never change is the Maremma’s natural beauty,” he added. “We have a marina resort next to a national park, truly one of the finest places in the Med to have a boat.”

CONTACTS

Marina di Scarlino: marinadiscarlino.com

Le Mortelle: antinori.it/en/passione-in-evoluzione/le-mortelle


Homes & Property The knowledge

JULES WRIGHTDIRECTOR OF THE WAPPING PROJECT

JULES WRIGHT, former director of the Royal Court Theatre, is director of The Wapping Project, the east London arts centre housed in

a late-Victorian hydraulic power station, where the original engine and turbine house has been turned into a restaurant and bar.

Here she tells KATIE LAW why she has never cooked a meal at home, keeps bees on her roof and prefers rain to sunshine on her days off. She also reveals her daily ritual for collecting her thoughts.

WHERE I LIVEI live in a one-bedroom apartment in Bankside, next to Tate with amazing views. I originally bought it off-plan in 1998 as a buy-to-let and lived in Wapping. But that was too close to work and I found that I never crossed the Thames. So in 2003, I moved into it and now I like to walk everywhere as it’s in the centre of the city, which I love, so it really suits me.

MY SECRET SHOPIt’s not exactly a secret, but I find The Republic of Fritz Hansen an irresistible shop. I love the whole period of the Fifties and have lots and lots of Scandinavian stuff, so this shop has all the kind of furniture I like best (fritzhansen.com).

MOST INTERESTING NEW DESIGNERAm I allowed to have architects? If so it would be 6a Architects. They did the extension to the South London Gallery very beautifully and also converted the London house of some friends of mine very elegantly; it’s all timber-lined, white-painted and Scandinavian in feel (6a.co.uk).

FAVOURITE GALLERYIt’s the Victoria Miro Gallery. I like a lot of people they represent and I like the fact that they always try to sell me something. The last thing I bought there was by Idris Khan.However, I also think it’s a well-designed space: seductive, elegant and understated and it doesn’t feel like an institution (Victoria-miro.com).

GREAT ESCAPEI have little rituals that are always connected to whatever work I’m doing and what I need to do in my head at that time. For example, this week I’ve adopted a place that I’d never go to normally, called the Cinnamon Coffee Shop, on the corner of Cinnamon Street in Wapping. I go very early and order a double espresso and then I concentrate on how I want to handle the day.

I always find a place like that wherever I am, because I need to have somewhere I can be alone and no one I know is going to walk in. It can be quite hard to find.

FAVOURITE MARKETMaltby Street market is still special. There are lovely traders, including the London Honey Company — I’ve got his hives on my roof. Then there’s the Irish butcher, O’Shea in Druid Street. I feel I can buy things there which aren’t imported and are genuinely wholesome (maltby.st).

BEST RESTAURANTI never cook. I’ve never even used the oven since I moved into my apartment. Isn’t that disgusting? I


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eat out all the time and by myself at least three evenings a week — I’m completely happy doing that. If I want to have something really nice, I go to Roka. I like to sit at the bar on my own and eat while I watch the cooking (rokarestaurant.com).

MOST STRIKING BUILDING I have a great passion for Victorian theatres and I will always love the Royal Court the most because it’s a perfect doll’s house. You can stand in the centre of the stage and touch the back of the Circle and it’s a place where you can make magic with very little effort (royalcourttheatre.com).

MY LAZY SUNDAYMy lazy Sunday would mean not coming into work and that’s very rare. It would also involve finding a place to have brunch and meeting friends, especially if it was raining. I always want it to rain on Sundays, or any day I am off work, because you get kind of embraced and surrounded.

Made, Unmade, a film installation by Julie Brook, is at the Boiler House, The Wapping Project, until October 6.

The Wapping Project is at Wapping Wall, E1. Call 020 7680 2080 (thewappingproject.com).

Secret escape: Cinnamon, far left, provides the perfect spot for a quiet coffee

Top restaurant: Jules heads to Roka in Canary Wharf, left, and sits at the bar watching the cooking

Favourite market: Maltby Street market in Ropewalk, right.

Art work: Jules in the engine and turbine house restaurant at The Wapping Project

Favourite “designer”: an extension of the South London Gallery, right, by 6A Architects

Secret shop: above and above right, the Ro chair by Jaime Hayon and a sofa at Fritz Hansen

Best gallery: Jules says the Victoria Miro Gallery in Shoreditch, right, is a well-designed space

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It’s the place to buy über-cool — from carbon-fibre chairs to laser-cut paperclips

London Design Festival

By Barbara Chandler

AGLOBALLY important design event that everyone should visit is the London Design Festival, which opens for

its eleventh year on Saturday. It is the start of an eight-day programme of hundreds of events that will have an enormous impact on the capital.

“Design creates thousands of jobs and generates billions of pounds for London,” Mayor Boris Johnson reminds us, so check out the events and get involved.

Use the “my festival” option at londondesignfestival.com to “pin” a personalised game plan, then share it with your friends. And get a free printed guide from any venue — it makes for a great souvenir.

THE BIG FOUR

1 TENT LONDON & SUPER BRANDS LONDON For raw new talent, visit the Old Truman Brewery in Brick Lane, E1 (September 19-22; tentlondon.co.uk) where a cutting-edge crowd shows and views at Tent London, with Super Brands London as an altogether more glossy affair. Many events are free, for others book before Friday for a two-for-one ticket, quoting code ESTL241 (not valid on door).

2 DESIGNERSBLOCK. Free and always fun is Designersblock on the South Bank, with designers, craftspeople and idiosyncratic techno-wizards making your visit so worthwhile (verydesignersblock.com).

3 DESIGNJUNCTION Ultra-accessible is the West End’s designjunction, with three floors of shopping, food and bars, a mix of big brands and start-ups, plus free entry with a Visa card, or pre-register online. The Sorting Office, 21-23 New Oxford Street, WC1 (thedesignjunction.co.uk). 4 100% DESIGN Polished and assured is the 100% Design trade show at Earls Court, SW5, with five halls, big international names and show-stopping installations, plus an avenue for young emerging talent. Public day, September 21; £15 or readers’ offer two-for-one: show this page and quote code pub100.

THE BOLD AND NEW

BURNING BRIGHTSee how new technology and energy-saving rules have radically changed the shape of lights — domestic lighting is a big trend this year. For example, visit lightjunction (at designjunction) in the West End.

POP-UP, POP-INBuy something different at the festival’s impromptu design shops. Visit welder-turned-designer Tom Dixon’s grand show for items normally for sale only online, but here available to handle and buy. Portobello Dock, 344 Ladbroke Grove, W10 (tomdixon.net). Please be seated: Concrete Stool by Sam Jennings at Brink, Tent London

Collective efforts: at Nous, the new graduate show at Tent London, see the April Chair by Veronica Wesolowski; Bird Brick, a nesting box for birds, by Aaron Dunkerton; Coat Hook from Tyrone Chan and the blue Flip Chair, far right, designed by Giho Yang

Odd one out: the Galvin Brothers’ Imperfect Stool, £195, at Tent London

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FUTURE GAZING

What is the future of design? Be amazed by the festival’s new ideas.

The international metalworking machine-giant TRUMPF will create a Laser Lab at Tom Dixon (tomdixon.net) with live on-site manufacturing. Get free rulers and paperclips with your name on them.

Talks and presentations at the Design Museum this Friday evening (8pm) investigate The Shape of Things to Come with South Kiosk creative agency: £17, students £12, members £8.50. Digits2Widgets will showcase 3D printing in NW1 (digitstowidgets.com), while at the Design Museum you’ll find a concept car and a carbon-fibre chair by Ross Lovegrove.

JOIN A WORKSHOPThe festival offers workshops, walks, talks and debates, all listed at londondesignfestival.com. The V&A has a theme for each day. This weekend it’s graphics, while Monday spotlights the future, Tuesday deals with materials and making is the topic for next Wednesday — London’s queen of knits, Donna Wilson, will add your efforts to her 10th birthday show in Leonard Street, EC2 (donnawilson.com). DESIGNED TO TASTEFoodies have discovered design — it had to happen. Cafés at the big shows

sport adventurous décor, and there are earnest discussions on the future of food. Sip micro-filtered instant hot water from a new dome-shaped Quooker tap in a free cuppa from Nick Munro’s Super Brands Geezer bar, and admire Munro’s exquisite chinaware at the Old Truman Brewery in Brick Lane, E1 (tentlondon.co.uk).

Pop-up shops: design agency Retail Facility will sell its own-brand items (September 17-20) at 20 Britton Street, EC1, with big discounts. These elegant Bell clocks, left, are only £39

Mini-me: London Icons, architectural sculptures by Chisel & Mouse, are £140 each, at Tent London (chiselandmouse.com), while tile company Domus shows 20 doll’s houses by top architects at its new W1 showroom (domustiles.com)

Doubly useful: Gareth Batowksi, right, with his dual-purpose Parity pedestal and drawers (£1,495) showing at Tent London (garethbatowski.co.uk) Rest easy: Woven

Easy Chair by Alexander Mueller at Brink, Tent London (alexander mueller.co.uk(


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Those crafty IrishBeautiful, functional leprechaun-free homeware delights. By Corinne Julius

FOR most people “Irish craft” summons up shamrocks and leprechauns on cheap linen, pottery and roughly woven baskets.

Ireland can do kitsch — but also craft. Both have their roots in rural life and the production of simple, functional objects, with craft given a contemporary twist to convey quality and purpose

You can see this in Brick Lane, E1, at Vernacular, during the London Design Festival this month.

Take the beautifully designed and made coloured stoneware and celadon-glazed porcelain of Derek Wilson — or Jack Doherty’s subtly coloured Café Ceramic production range. In the same quiet vein are Alison Fitzgerald’s refined willow baskets, based on the traditional Irish sciathóg used to drain and serve potatoes, and Aileen Anne Brannigan’s soft natural Irish Limestone bowls for indoor and out.

An interest in nature and landscape and its impact on social history is evident in many Irish designs. The resin furniture of Sasha Sykes of Farm 21 gives this an urban take. She embeds things she finds in the fields of her home in County Carlow in acrylics and hand-cast resins. Sykes’s Month of November screen highlights the beauty of the ordinary — beech leaves that she collects with her daughter Elinor on their daily walk to feed the chickens. A similar relationship to the countryside is evident in the woven wool fabrics of Cushendale Mill. Wool is spun, dyed

and woven on site, as it has been for generations.

A relationship to the countryside is also explicit in Donna Bates’s Parlour Lighting lamps and pendants, based on the glass jars used to collect cows’ milk on the farm where she grew up.

Collaboration between craftspeople and designers and architects is a trend. Design entrepreneurs Makers and Brothers undertake many such collaborations, the most recent with the family-run glass company Jerpoint Glass Studio to create a water carafe and glass. Another partnership is that of Ovis Design, the combined talents of felt designer Jamie Lewis and industrial designer Ben Harris, who created a felt storage table that turns the common perception of wool and felt on its head, as the cylinder of felt supports the removable wooden table top.

A further joint venture is “Falling Dansu” a contemporary wall-hung ash bureau, with a sandblasted exterior and numerous inner compartments made in the workshop of Joseph Walsh, the renowned craft furniture maker, and designed by leading architects O’Donnell+Twomey.

Furniture features significantly. Wooden Leg is a partnership of two designers who produce pieces such as Teepee, a small table, and Module hexagonal mini tables, displaying the very Irish characteristic of the understanding of materials. Design

Goat, one of Ireland’s emerging design practices show similatuor skills in their homage to Eileen Gray, the 5.12 Chair.

Vernacular’s co-curator Ann Mulrooney said: “This exhibition demonstrates how vernacular Irish tradition can be interpreted as a contemporary expression in the 21st century. Not as twee Celtic romanticism, but as a confident and understated expression of a place that has come to terms with its history. Vernacular describes our ability, as a small island nation, to assimilate influences in the creation of a distinct visual language.”

The designs will be on show at Vernacular and objects can be purchased via the websites.

VERNACULARPart of the London Design Festival, the exhibition runs from September 19-22, at Ground Floor, Gallery 13, Tent London in the Old Truman Brewery, Brick Lane, E1.

Nature lover: Sasha Sykes of Farm 21 embeds things she finds in the fields near her County Carlow home into resins and acrylics to create brightly coloured furniture

Weave: Philip Cushen of Cushendale Mill, Graiguenamanagh, Co Kilkenny, where modern design is given a traditional spin

Teamwork: collaborative wool furniture by Ovis Design — felt designer Jamie Lewis and Ben Harris, an industrial designer

Storage: Falling Dansu cabinet in ash ply, designed by leading Irish architects O’Donnell+ Twomey

The natural look: Jack Doherty’s subtly coloured Café Ceramic range

LONDON DESIGN FESTIVAL

Stoneware: Derek Wilson Ceramics’ teal-coloured “engobe” water pitcher


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By Katie LawHARNESSING CRAFTThe New Craftsmen Garage is a pop-up gallery that opened in June, turning a Victorian stables in Mayfair into a “multi-sensory evocation of craft and its roots”. Now it is part of the London Design Festival, hosting a series of fantastic events, from a bridle leather workshop to design masterclasses and a celebration of Sheffield — well, its stainless steel industry. Find it at The Garage, 14 Adams Row, W1. September 17-21 (thenewcraftsmen.com).

SUPER SWATCHESHotelier Mr and Mrs Smith has launched its first interiors range inspired by the firm’s global travels. It has also come up with the idea of iPatches, a smart improvement on fiddly colour paint swatches. These are A4-size and will stick to a wall without damaging it so you can see how the colour really works, then you can peel it off again and try it somewhere else or take it with you on your hunt for matching fabrics and furnishings. Available in 28 colours, the samples are £2.99 each (mrandmrssmith.com).

DECORATIVE LIVINGCaroline Zoob and Hetty Purbrick’s popular Decorative Living Fair is coming to Chelsea. The one-day event sold out in Tunbridge Wells, so they’ve decided to give it a go in the capital. A great place to find luscious textiles and pieces to create a stylish

garden, it is at Chelsea Old Town Hall, King’s Road, SW3 on September 18, 11am to 7pm. Admission £5.

SMARTER AGAAga, famous for its country kitchen ovens, has now produced a version for busy Londoners. The electric Aga iTotal Control is a bit smaller than a country version — but it’s also a whole lot cleverer. It comes with an App so you can control it with a swipe of your iPad from your desk, getting the dinner started before you’ve even left the office. It will even text you back to tell you supper’s on its way. It costs £10,090 and you’ll have to find a further £5.99 a month for the little box that sits on the wall waiting to receive and reply to your instructions (agaliving.com).

LEGS AND COThe first Ikea side table — which sparked the flatpack revolution — is being revived. It is said that in 1956 Swede Gillis Lundgren collected a side table he’d designed from his carpenter but couldn’t fit it into his car, so he sawed off its legs and reattached them when he got home.

Now Lundgren’s original Lovet design has been updated and relaunched as the Lövbacken side table, left. It has a poplar veneer top, solid beech legs dipped in gold foil, and costs £40 — flat-packed, obviously (ikea.com).

Craft meets style: a straw-backed Brodgar bench, below, by Gareth Neal and Kevin Gauld features at The New Craftsmen Garage, Mayfair


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Homes & Property Architecture homesandpropertyhomesandproperty

IT’S THE ONE WE ALL WANTA ramshackle Victorian terrace became a sumptuous, highly considered space with interior finishes, colours and fabrics to die for, discovers Philippa Stockley

BAYSWATER, a village crossed with a white-stucco wedding cake, has the power to surprise and delight. Its secret back streets, with their tucked-away gardens, lead in sleepy crescents and plaster curlicues towards the design shops and restaurants

of Westbourne Grove. Here, in 2010, lawyer Miranda Yeung and her partner Jeremy

Wrigley, an accountant, went to see a house they’d spotted in a local magazine. Jeremy was divorced, with five sons — now aged between 11 and 19 — from the marriage and the boys all loved visiting in a pack, so the couple wanted to find a house flexible enough to fit everyone in when required. Jeremy knew Notting Hill well, so they started their search between there and Marylebone.

The house they’d noticed was a flaking Victorian terrace that had a fourth floor added, plus an extra bit tacked on to one side, and a conservatory built on the back.

When Miranda and Jeremy walked in, the staircase sailed right up the middle with a row of small rooms squashed into the side extension. Little had been done to it since the Sixties but the house had a happy, rather hippyish feel, including a spiral staircase leading to a flat roof with beehives.

“I’m pretty instinctive,” said Miranda. “Either you go in and like it, or you don’t. I liked it but live by a simple rule: a home should have room shapes that are regular with plenty of light. You can then add the rest later with fabrics and textures — which you can change when you get bored.”

On their second visit, the couple took architect Luke Tozer of Pitman Tozer, who had worked on Miranda’s previous flat. To get those regular shapes and more light, Luke suggested pushing the staircase right over to one side, making a very wide space with room for a sumptuous drawing room running front to back, and a huge kitchen below.

“That advice was worth its weight in gold,” Miranda said, “because it’s hard to find houses in London that offer the width we wanted.”

Moving the stairs was just the beginning. The house is in a conservation area, but not listed, so while they preserved the now immaculately painted front, the rest was all change, into a high-spec, smoothly modern, beautifully finished family house, with a floor for the boys, and a top floor given over to a master bedroom, with a bathroom and a walk-in dressing room.

An important aspect of working with a trusted team is that Luke, the quantity surveyor and, later, the contractor, made sure that their figures stacked up. Going over budget in a job with major structural work can be punitively costly. “And if

Roof with a view: the terrace has a sink and coffee machine, which encourages alfresco breakfasts


y.co.uk with Homes & PropertyArchitecturey.co.uk with

you have to tell your contractor every single detail, there will be no end to your project,” Miranda added.

As well as moving the staircase, the couple demolished the conservatory and extended the house at the back at basement level, with full-height, full-width sliding glass doors that go softly into a pocket at one side. In the big, fresh room, the pale oak dining table is top-lit with a sliver of rooflight, and five beautiful suspended lamps. The kitchen, soft grey, with two islands and a big bank of cooking equipment down one side, still has a comfortable feel because of a pair of sofas that Jeremy brought with him, plus paintings (including some by Miranda), and a mustard-yellow accent wall.

The extension also creates a stylish decked terrace outside the drawing room, with steps made of Kebony — a hardened timber — leading gently to the garden.

Last, they replaced the shaky spiral stair to the roof with a strong straight one, opening to a large terrace with romantic chimneypot views and, very cleverly, a sink and coffee machine, because, said Miranda, “that gets us up here, for breakfast, and drinks, otherwise we’d probably stay downstairs.”

Two things stand out in this house. The first is its design — both in terms of the highly considered layout, but also in features such as the glass balustrade on the basement stair and the terrace, a wrap-around window in Jeremy’s study, and the crisp cornicing in the drawing room, recast from the tired original version.

Secondly, there are the interior finishes, which display Miranda’s acute sense of colour and fabric. Choosing elegant, muted tones from Farrow & Ball ranging from greys to duck-egg blue, offset with similarly subtle fabric-textured wallpa-pers, all the rooms blend elegance with comfort, with highlight colours provided by silk cushions, glassware, and paintings. Personal touches include the huge Bampton Design sofa that can take five sprawling boys at once, and the sliding cover for

the vast television, “because I hate to see a big TV in a room if you’re not watching it”. Attention to detail includes different fittings — all from CP Hart — in each bathroom, from a plain Duravit basin downstairs to the curvy, rather deco glass-topped double basin in the master bathroom.

The garden is equally transformed. Set between the house and a new garden room at one end — which holds a multi-functional space, bathroom and sleeping platform for guests — it shows what a good designer can do with an overgrown wilderness. Emma Griffin used a mix of pale stone paving with designed-in planters, and planted seasonally, so that each month the view changes from a phalanx of black Queen of the Night tulips in spring, to swathes of Agapanthus in June.

It isn’t easy to mix an ultra-stylish house with a family home, but Miranda and Jeremy have pulled it off.

MIRANDA’S TIPS:

With a big job that includes structural work, get a fixed-price contract and however well you know anyone, put them under competitive pricing. But don’t automatically choose the cheapest people, choose the best for your job.

Create clean lines. They are easier to work with, then you can put anything in the interior.

WHERE TO BUYArchitect: Luke Tozer (pitmantozer.com) Contractor: J&Z Construction (jandzconstruction.co.uk)Quantity surveyor: Andrew Ohl (andrewohlassociates.com)Garden designer: Emma Griffin (emmagriffingardens.com)Bathroom fitting: cphart.co.ukBespoke sofa and kitchen table: bamptondesign.co.ukPaint: farrow-ball.com Sliding glass doors by Skyframe from cantifix.co.ukGarden decking and stairs: kebony.com

Artful design: the sleek kitchen (top) has two large islands but assorted paintings ensure it retains a homely feel

Couched in luxury: the huge red sofas (above centre) are big enough to fit the whole family of five sprawling boys at once

Bathing beauty: Miranda’s attention to detail comes to the fore in the bathrooms (above), each of which has different fittings

Light box: full-width sliding doors lead out to the courtyard (above), flood the kitchen with light and make the most of the outdoor space

Photographs:: Charles Hosea

Room outdoors: Miranda (left) can now sit back and enjoy the fruits of her labour in a garden designed to provide a year-round show

On the up: moving the staircase (far left) provided enough space for a sumptuous drawing room and the huge kitchen


My new loveUntil just a year ago David Sexton had never owned a garden. Now he’s a convert

Homes & Property Outdoors homesandproperty.co.uk with

FOR seven years, I lived in a sunny first-floor flat in Highbury Hill without any garden whatsoever. All I ever grew there was basil in

pots from the supermarket.During this time I was, however,

becoming ever more obsessed with gardening in all its forms, incessantly reading about it, visiting gardens and making notes for future use.

By the time my girlfriend and I finally bought a terrace house in north London — in the Harringay Ladder district and with a 40ft back garden, I was like one of those jets on a short runway with its engines revved up to the max with the brakes still on.

That was last summer. The south-facing garden at the new house was an indecipherable mess. Overgrown with brambles and nettles, it still sported some thorny old roses and bluebells and columbines prospering among the weeds.

The main problem was that it was entirely overshadowed by two vast and ugly sycamores at the far end.They were expensively removed in a single day by a gung-ho team of tree surgeons (Tree Amigos from Stoke Newington). Afterwards the garden looked as though a bomb had gone off — but at least there was light.

So overgrown had the garden been, I hadn’t realised it had a definite structure already: raised beds around the edges, with a concrete path going all the way around them, enclosing what had once been a lawn.

A SIMPLE PLANThis might have been the point to redesign the whole thing with curves and different areas, taking inspiration from Dan Pearson’s lovely London gardening book, Home Ground. I didn’t, though. I liked its simple plan, and, intending to plant the whole garden as fulsomely as possible, hoped the constraint of the beds would work well with such anarchy.

While the borders were all bare earth, I dug in 40 or 50 bin bags of well-rotted horse manure, carefully carried in through the house, this being the only access to the garden.

Then the planting, so long anticipated, began. There was still time to enjoy some summer

the Californian Tree Poppy, romneya coulteri, half-price (£7.50) from Alexandra Palace Garden Centre has romped away, flowering non-stop.

Having a garden is one of the great joys and privileges of home ownership. The day a plant you have never grown, or perhaps even seen in real life before flowers for the first time is a special happiness. It’s been a year of many such firsts for me. When you make a garden, though you are expressing yourself in a plan and plants, you never do control it: plants grow as they will and you have to learn to work with them. Perhaps after this first year it will all become routine, even a chore? But I doubt it.

flowering, if I was quick. I went white, mostly. From Columbia Road I got a big tray of white Cosmos Purity cheap, plus some gaura, lavender stoechas alba and anemone Honorine Jobert. From a National Garden Scheme garden in Alexandra Palace came lots of verbena bonariensis at £1 each. All these plants, in open ground, thrived through August and it felt happy straightaway.

In October we made an expedition to The Place for Plants in East Bergholt and packed five trees into the car. For the centre of the lawn, as it was yet to become, we chose a Robinia x slavinii Hillieri, a bit of a punt since I hadn’t seen it in real life: as it has turned out, its pinky-purple blossom is lovely and its feathery foliage even better. Otherwise, we went for the obvious: a pear, a crab apple, a winter-flowering cherry and a magnolia (x loebneri Leonard Messel).

Then there were the roses. I bought bare-root from David Austin and put in just before Christmas, Mme Alfred Carrière for the north fence; in the side borders, Gloire de Dijon, Alister Stella Grey and the first actual Austin rose I’ve tried, The Generous Gardener; in the front border, visible though the house, I planted Mutabilis, ever-flowering, ever-changing (if you plant one rose, make it this) and a

French favourite, General Schablikine.The gloom of this year’s dismal spring was lightened by a dozen wild primroses (£1.75 each from Rassells) I put out on February 1, which flowered for many weeks.

Eventually, though, it became possible to plant out some annuals: seedlings of Spencer sweet peas (a little pot picked up for £1.50) and poppy seeds (Shirley, Ladybird, White Cloud from Chiltern Seeds), which I proceeded to weed out enthusiastically when they came up, until I learned to recognise them. They’ve carried on all summer.

BORDERING ON OBSESSIONI bought wherever possible from NGS open gardens and became a repeat visitor to Enfield to buy top-quality plants at amazingly good prices from Clockhouse Nursery.

The main expenses were turf for the lawn (£54) and a basic garden shed bought online (£170). From Criterion Auctions in Islington I bought an old, silvery teak bench at probably slightly more (£120) than a new one would have cost.

Around the tiled area for sitting out, I have concentrated on scent, with trachelospermum and honeysuckle climbing the fence, Lilium regale and the new variety of scented daphne, x

atlantica Eternal Fragrance, all out-done by masses of tobacco plants, both affinis and the monster sylvestris.

The borders soon filled with erigeron, violas, phlox, salvias, scabious, erysimums (mutabilis as well as the essential Bowles’ Mauve), euphorbias, all kinds of verbena (rigida and hastata, as well as now self-seeding bonariensis) and flax. As this hot summer has progressed, the garden has become abundant, a joyous muddle, blowsy even, beyond all expectations.

After gardening only in the imagination for so long, I’ve been surprised by how easy it seems to grow anything and everything in London:

Gardening maniac: David Sexton (right) and his plot (left) at home in the Harringay Ladder district


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Gardening problems? Email our RHS expert at: [email protected]

Pattie Barron

Pot yourself a blooming lovely Indian SummerAutumn is here — but without much effort you can still keep your garden looking good through October and well beyond

CREATE an Indian summer with flowering latecomers that keep blooming until October and beyond. Daisy flowers predominate, with

rudbeckias, the golden-rayed, brown-centred coneflowers, providing the sunniest splash of late colour. The RHS has justifiably given Rudbeckia fulgida var sullivantii Goldsturm, which has single, yolk-yellow flowers centred with chocolate-coloured cones, an Award of Garden Merit. Create high jinks in the border by teaming it with another coneflower, the deep pink, rust- centred Echinacea purpurea.

Asters provide a more familiar, smaller-headed daisy, but choose with care, as many varieties are susceptible to mildew. Aster frikartii Monch is the fail-safe variety that, grown en masse, creates a pool of lavender blue; Little Carlow, reaching a more modest 80cm, is ideal for containers.

Clematis will put on a late-summer show that lasts through autumn, pro-vided you buy the right variety. Clematis tangutica has striking lantern flowers in sharp acid yellow from late summer to October, and follows these — sometimes at the same time — with silvery, silken seed heads, the size of your fist, that ask to be stroked. Just cut the stems back to a pair of strong buds above ground level in early spring for a repeat performance.

Every garden should have an exotic or two to add a little spice: Salvia guara-nitica Black’n’Blue bucks the trend of late-summer’s fiery tones with dark purple spikes bearing sage flowers of a wonderful royal blue that will keep coming until late autumn. This is a stunning plant for either a container or a sheltered spot.

Grasses look magical in late summer

and autumn light. If you’ve never tried them in your garden, buy a trio of Stipa tenuissima, plant them around any flow-ering perennial and you will be hooked on the teasing way they swish in the wind and catch the sunlight, flattering the flowers around them like a gauzy veil. All you need do to keep this golden, shim-mering grass hitting its peak every year is cut off the old growth in spring to allow for the new fresh growth.

Viburnum opulus Compactum, the compact version of our native guelder rose, is a jewel of a shrub and, at this time of year, the bunches of translucent scar-let berries which hang from the stems resemble the most beautiful Venetian

glass earrings. Coupled with shapely leaves that turn a dark purple in autumn, and clusters of pretty white lace-cap flowers in June, this is a real showcase shrub that will not grow larger than 1.5 metres yet will add a touch of the countryside to the town garden.

Sedums are late-summer stalwarts that just keep getting better as the weeks roll on, their flat flower heads gradually intensifying in colour. Autumn Joy is drought-tolerant, dependable and its flower heads start out a pale green and pink, intensifying through brick and finally to copper in October and November. Try, too, one of the sedums with dark stems and foli-age such as Purple Emperor, that has deep ruby foliage, which complements the rich pink flowers. One sedum in the border looks good; several grouped together look sensational and will create a mini-sanctuary positively buzzing with bees and butterflies.

For maximum flower power, how-ever, simply buy yourself a pot full of mini-mums. Garden centres and nurs-eries are currently offering the fullest, fattest plants that form a full, wide parasol of crowded button chrysanthe-mum heads, too numerous to count. Just a pair of these on the patio, at their finest in shades of rich gold or deep garnet, will keep the summer sun burn-ing for weeks and remind you, in the nicest possible way, that autumn is not so very far away.

Bountiful blooms: mini chrysanthemums make great container displays

Prairie queen: American beauty Echinacea purpurea is a welcome latecomerLemon lanterns: Clematis tangutica

Photographs:: Marianne Majerus Garden Images


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£595,000THIS refurbished split-level flat in Penpoll Road has a private entrance, a garden and two double bedrooms. Through Keatons.

homesandproperty.co.uk/penpoll

£1,595,000FOXTONS has this four-bedroom house close to London Fields with modern interiors and a garden.

homesandproperty.co.uk/lansdowne

£400,000A NEW, three-bedroom apartment in Matchmakers Wharf, with a private balcony and a secure parking space. Through Cornerstone.

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£425,000A ONE-BEDROOM garden flat in Montague Court with wood floors, high ceilings and smart, modern kitchen. Through Stirling Ackroyd.

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SpotlightHackney Central

Still full of contrasts, now packed with styleArty types and City slickers flock to a neighbourhood rich in independent shops and colourful cafés, says Anthea Masey

BUSY Mare Street sets the scene for the contrasts that bring such character to the north-east London neigh-bourhood of central Hack-

ney. Sitting alongside the “cultural quarter” with its Edwardian town hall, the Hackney Empire, a wonderful new library and now a new Picturehouse cinema, there is a high street domi-nated by cheap takeaways, phone shops and nail bars.

Yet a wander down the back streets paints a more complex picture, with a new wave of independent retailers that could tell Mary Portas a thing or two about retail revival. Broadway Market has already established itself as a hub of cafés, pubs, bookshops and stores serving a fresh generation of young and arty newcomers, and now it is the turn of Wilton Way and Ment-more Terrace to show the way.

Many homes in Wilton Way were created from shop conversions. Now, to everyone’s surprise, some have been turned back into interesting independ-ent shops and cafés. There is good coffee at the Wilton Way Café, cupcakes at the café attached to Violet bakery, and fine wines at Borough Wines.

Estate agent Sovereign House (020 8985 5800) is selling a two-bedroom house in Wilton Way for £599,950 with a ground f loor that could be converted back into a shop.

In Mentmore Terrace, meanwhile, similar retailers, such as the E5 Bake-house, an artisan baker with a café attached, are popping up in the railway arches close to London Fields station.

Back on lively Mare Street, the sight of a gaggle of young Japanese tourists clutching Burberry, Aquascu-tum and Pringle bags adds another bizarre twist to this multi-layered neighbourhood. They have found their way to the off-the-tourist-beaten-track designer outlet shops to be found in Chatham Place, off Morning Lane, a destination that has proved so successful that Hackney council, Network Rail and the Manhattan Loft Corporation are planning to develop it further with more designer shops, start-up fashion businesses, cafés and restaurants.

WHAT THERE IS TO BUYLike everywhere else in the borough, housing at the heart of Hackney presents a contrasting picture. Large council estates sit next to rows of fine Georgian houses — there is a particu-larly lovely terrace in Mare Street — while there are mid-Victorian terraces in the gentrified London Fields area, plus lofts in warehouse conversions and new flats. The most expensive

house currently for sale in central Hackney is in Lansdowne Drive, where Foxtons (020 7386 6565) is selling a four-bedroom detached Victorian house for £1,595,000.

Typical of Hackney’s loft-style homes is the three-bedroom property that Keatons (020 8525 7788) is selling for £1.1 million at the Academy Apartments in Dalston Lane.

In one of the prettiest streets in the London Fields area, Parkholme Road, Foxtons (see above) has a three- bedroom maisonette for sale for an eye-watering £790,000. According to Carl Schmid, of estate agent Fyfe McDade, 10 years ago homes in De Beauvoir town, which are closer to Islington, were more expensive than those in London Fields; now there has been a reversal of fortunes, with London Fields outperforming its close neighbour. The area attracts: Hackney tradition-

ally draws a creative crowd who work in new media, art or fashion, although with improvements to the East London Overground line, an increasing number of buyers are employed in the City and at Canary Wharf. According to Carl Schmid, Hackney has wide appeal.

“This is a place where people want to spend time at the weekend. We get buyers moving over from more settled areas such as Notting Hill, and it is popu-lar with European buyers, too.”Staying power: London Fields is popular with young families but once children reach secondary school age some families move to be closer to the school of their choice.

Lock-in: Regent’s Canal at the end of Broadway Market provides enjoyable waterside walks

Booked up: Hackney’s cultural quarter includes a fantastic new library, above, and a new cinema Get fresh: a stall in Mare Street, which, like hugely popular Broadway Market, is a magnet for shoppers


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■WHAT HOMES COST:BUYING IN HACKNEY (Average prices)One-bedroom flat £315,000Two-bedroom flat £454,000Three-bedroom flat £645,000Four-bedroom house £1.21 million

Source: Zoopla.co.uk

RENTING IN HACKNEY (Average rates)One-bedroom flat £1,415 monthTwo-bedroom flat £1,830 a monthTwo-bedroom house £1,994 a monthThree-bedroom house £2,480 a monthFour-bedroom house £2,967 a month

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THANKS to reader James Corner for suggesting Hackney. Is there an area you’d like us to Spotlight? Tweet us @homesproperty

SHOPS AND RESTAURANTSMare Street is the main shopping street and though it buzzes, it has seen better days. Interesting independent shops are found by exploring the back streets. Broadway Market is a favourite place to hang out at the weekend and new retail areas are developing along Wilton Way and Morning Lane. A new designer outlet village — the developers are call-ing it a fashion hub — will join Burberry, Aquascutum and Pringle on Chatham Place and Morning Lane.

Eating out is a favourite activity but it is a case of the relaxed and the quirky, rather than fine dining. There are two cafés/restaurants on Morning

Lane: the Railroad and Brew for Two. Climpson & Sons on Broadway market is a local institution. Lardo is a new pizzeria on Richmond Road that has opened a pop-up restaurant, Coppa, housed in a series of beach huts on a rooftop in Martello Street. Green Papaya and Tre Viet are two popular Vietnamese restaurants on Mare Street. Rawduck on Amhurst Road close to Hackney Central station is a newcomer: it is a café by day and wine bar at night.

OPEN SPACELondon Fields is the area’s green lung, and the high point is the newly planted

wild flower meadows. Nearby Victoria Park is, as the name suggests, one of London’s great Victorian parks. It is the oldest public park in London and recently had a £12 million facelift.

LEISURE AND THE ARTSLondon Fields Lido, heated and open all year round, has been a particularly popular haunt during this brilliant summer. The beautiful Frank Matcham-designed Hackney Empire theatre reopened in 2004 after a £17 million refit. It is the jewel in Hackney’s crown and shows a mix of comedy, opera, musicals, plays and community events. The Picturehouse across the

street is the local multiplex cinema showing a mix of first-release and art house films. Travel: Hackney Central is on the Overground and the journey to the City and Canary Wharf has improved since the arrival of the East London Over-ground line at Dalston Junction. Lon-don Fields station has trains to Liverpool Street. All stations are in Zone 2 and an annual travelcard to Zone 1 is £1,216.Council: Hackney council (Labour-controlled); band D council tax for the 2013/2014 year is £1,301.45.

Photographs::Graham Husssey

Splash out: lifeguard Zuza Bien at London Fields Lido, which is heated year-round Regeneration: Wilton Way’s shops became homes... and now many have reverted back to independent shops and cafés


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The word from the streetDavid Spittles

Swept away by chimneys

Reborn Rotherhithe is continuing upmarket

NOW this is an address to boast about: Albury Park Mansion, part of the Duke of Northumberland’s 150-acre Surrey estate

where 10 magnificent apartments have been created. Few properties set the heart racing as much as these fine heritage conversions, which provide a splendid sense of arrival as well as a grand interior and private gardens.

This is not the first time the old Jacobean mansion has seen massive change. In the early-19th century, “God’s architect”, Augustus Pugin, was tasked with giving the ramshackle house a Gothic-Tudor-

style makeover. He added an extra floor and 63 candlestick chimneys. A later addition is Sir John Soane’s head-turning cantilevered staircase.

Like Pugin’s chimneys, every apartment is individual, with a unique floorplan, high ceilings, tall windows and lots of original features. It is a meticulous restoration by specialist developer Michael Wilson, who says country buyers “like a peaceful and secluded setting but don’t want to be too cut off from civilisation”. The commuter town of Guildford is six miles away.

Prices start at £1 million. Call Strutt & Parker on 01483 306565.

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SELLAR Property Group has unveiled a scheme for 1,046 homes designed by award-winning international architect David Chipperfield in Rotherhithe, a short hop from its Shard of Glass at London Bridge. Meanwhile, property giant British Land and Tesco have announced a makeover of the outdated Surrey Quays shopping mall, part of the £1 billion Canada Quays project which includes much-improved public realm space and a head-turning new library in the shape of an inverted pyramid.

As well as stylish new homes, the Sellar scheme will bring restaurants, shops and recreational space around a new public square and dock basin (visit sellarcanada water.com for details).

It will be a while before these homes come to the market but other local schemes have been launched. Marine Wharf, a 529-home development by Berkeley Homes, has interlinking apartment blocks with central court-yards. Duplexes and penthouses, all on 999-year leases, have good-size terraces and the development includes a gym, car club and concierge. Prices from £456,500 for two-bedroom apartments. Call 020 8694 3100.

From £456,500: for a flat with terrace at Marine Wharf


BRUTALISM TO LUXURY MAKEOVER FOR CAR PARK

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CROSSRAIL construction upheaval at Farringdon has made Clerkenwell a place to avoid. But only for a while. The area, famous for its designer lofts and creative community, will be a much bigger business district once the new east-west rail link is up and running in 2018. As one of London’s key transport hubs with gleaming new office developments, Clerkenwell’s character may change a little.

For the past 30 years, the area’s best building, the splendid Old Sessions House on Clerkenwell Green, has been home to the Masons, but now the secret is out.

From £1 million: an apartment at Albury Park Mansion in Surrey. Call 01483 306565

AN UGLY Sixties car park in Marylebone has been bulldozed to make way for The Chilterns, 44 luxury flats backing on to a green space called Paddington Gardens.

Designed by architect Squire and Partners, it is a step up for the area, a high-quality, contemporary-style new-build with a “lifestyle package” of extras — concierge services, spa, gym, private cinema and wine cellar — for residents.

Completion is due in 2015. Joint developers Frogmore and Galliard report brisk overseas sales — despite asking prices of £3,000 a square foot — ahead of the UK launch next month. For more information, call 020 7620 1500.

The Masons’ secret is out at lastThe Georgian courthouse has been snapped up by Silvertown, a veteran local developer, for a £30 million transformation into a private members club.

Meanwhile, resourceful residential developers continue to unlock historic sites for boutique apartments. Launching next week is Ragged House at Vine Hill.

The handsome Victorian building was once a charitable school offering free education to the destitute. One- and two-bedroom flats are priced from £545,000. Call Hurford Salvi Carr on 020 7250 4950.

£545,000: boutique apartments at Ragged House. Call 020 7250 4950

Former car park: The Chilterns, 44 flats in Marylebone


WHAT’S YOUR PROBLEM?IF YOU have a question for Fiona McNulty, please email [email protected] or write to Legal Solutions, Homes & Property, London Evening Standard, 2 Derry Street, W8 5EE.We regret that questions cannot be answered individually but we will try to feature them here. Fiona McNulty is a partner in the residential property, farms and estates team at Withy King LLP (withyking.co.uk).

These answers can only be a very brief commentary on the issues raised and should not be relied on as legal advice. No liability is accepted for such reliance. If you have similar issues, you should obtain advice from a solicitor.

More legal Q&As Visit: homesand property.co.uk

You’d better stump up the stamp duty

Q I AM hoping to buy a house but the estate agent is warning me that I will have to pay stamp duty.

However, several friends have told me that lots of people are getting away with not paying stamp duty, so how is this done?

A STAMP duty is charged on land and property transactions in the UK and there are different rates and

thresholds for different types of property. The five per cent rate applies to homes where the value is more than £1 million but does not exceed £2 million.

Your friends are probably referring to stamp duty savings schemes, which are designed to reduce or eliminate the correct level of duty payable on a property.

Such schemes tend to be very complex, constantly change and amount to deliberate tax avoidance. Some schemes involve the transfer of rights or sub sales.

The Chancellor made it clear in his

Budget last year that he would not hesitate to use retrospective legislation to close down stamp duty avoidance schemes. In fact, HM Revenue & Customs has warned that “where we find property sale arrangements that have been artificially structured to avoid paying the correct amount of stamp duty, these will be actively challenged through the courts”.

If the Revenue is successful in challenging such a scheme, a buyer could be liable to pay the whole of the tax plus interest, and maybe a

penalty. In addition, the Solicitors Regulation Authority is likely to look very closely at any law firm that is actively involved in these schemes.

Any scheme should be carefully considered by a stamp duty specialist to ensure the implications are fully understood.

Instead of getting involved in tax avoidance, perhaps you should ask your seller to accept a lower price in view of the stamp duty you will have to pay. Or you could buy a less expensive property which will be subject to a lower rate of stamp duty.

WE WANT to buy a flat in an apartment block where we would have a share in the freehold. However, there is only 40 years left on the lease. The estate agent says there

is nothing for us to worry about because when you own the freehold, it is easy and cheap to update the lease. Is this true?

AREMEMBER that the estate agent acts for the seller, not you. If you need a mortgage, then you must establish the unexpired time left on the lease because most lenders won’t accept only 40 years.

In practice, a “share of freehold” means some or all of the flat owners have bought the freehold and manage it between them, usually by setting up a management company. If you buy a flat, your lease will govern the relationship between you and the freeholders, of which you will become one. To extend the lease you need the agreement of the freeholders, which you are likely to get because at some stage they’ll want their leases extended, too. And once you’ve owned the flat for two years, you usually have a legal right to an extension (though check with a solicitor first).

If the seller has been there for two years, ask them to extend the lease before you buy. If they refuse, find out why. If you can’t wait, get the seller to commence the process and then assign any benefit to you under the purchase contract, which may be acceptable to the lender. Remember, too, that the freeholders might want their legal costs covered and may even impose a charge for the extension.

Fiona McNultyOUR LAWYER ANSWERSYOUR QUESTIONS

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46 WEDNESDAY 11 SEPTEMBER 2013 EVENING STANDARD48 WEDNESDAY 11 SEPTEMBER 2013 EVENING STANDARD

MONDAYMondays always start with a morning meeting. I share my findings with the team and run through customer questionnaires. These are sent to all customers, regardless of whether we end up dealing with them to find, sell or let a property. We’ve got lots of good feedback, which is very pleasing. Hannah, our property manager, receives a special mention — her job is one of the hardest as people only ever call with maintenance issues, so if she is getting great feedback, it means our landlords and tenants are happy.

I receive a friendly call from one of my old clients asking me for an update on the value of his freehold property, which consists of a shop and two upper-floor flats. We have let and man-aged his property for many years and have never let him down. Prices in the area have increased since we last valued his property 18 months ago, so I am confident the latest valuation will bring a smile to his face. I get a letter prepared and send it over to him.

TUESDAYMy diary is full with back-to-back meet-ings today. One of these extends into lunch with a commercial agent I met a few weeks ago, who is a real character. I wanted to meet him as he has many years’ experience and an exceptional record in the market. We both know the right way to do business, versus cheap short cuts that are bound to return to haunt you.

We end up at his favourite café, before I return to a long list of appoint-

ments. I will be sharing the tips I had from him with my team in my next Monday morning meeting.

WEDNESDAYMy freeholder calls me to check on the advice to sell his shop and two flats in three separate parts. I reassure him and explain that the value of the units separately is higher than if they were sold as one investment.

I know he wants to offer the shop-keeper a long lease and I therefore suggest he offers him first refusal on that, along with the flat above.

He thanks me for my honesty and says he will update me once he has spoken to the shopkeeper. He goes on to tell me he is off paddle-boarding on the Solent — not bad for someone aged 70-plus. I have always wanted to try this myself and now I have no excuse.

THURSDAYAs I arrive at the office, our property manager Hannah is dealing with an

unhappy pair of tenants who have woken up to a leak at their flat. She gets them to explain the situation fully and calms them down expertly. She explains exactly how the problem will be resolved and then immediately contacts the relevant contractors. She understands the tenants’ needs and this is an almighty asset.

FRIDAYMy favourite day of the week has arrived — not because it is the weekend tomorrow but because it means the first coffee of the week for me. I abstain the rest of the week so when Friday comes, it adds to my excitement when I get back from the gym with my double espresso.

The first thing on my to-do list is to call to get an update from the free-holder. It’s the best outcome for him — the shopkeeper wants to keep the shop and the flat directly above, and we are to look after the sale of the remaining top -floor flat. I am delighted

for my client, and for my sales team, as they get another new instruction to offer to our long list of waiting buyers. Although the team has been breaking records for prices achieved in the local area, instructions have been hard to come by. With money cheap to borrow, many flat owners are holding on to their property and purchasing another home.

I ask our client how the paddle-board-ing went. He says it was tough but the instructor advised him to practise by lying down in the living room on his tummy then standing up on one leg as

quickly as he can without falling over. Watch out coffee table, and the dog.

At close of play, it’s time to head out for a few drinks to round off the week. Having been in the area so long, we know loads of local business owners and residents and, as ever, we end up bumping into some of them. We trade stories about what’s going on in our neighbourhood, and it’s a great way of keeping up with local gossip.

Jonathan Hudson is the founder of

Hudsons Property in Charlotte Street, W1 (020 7323 2277).

Diary of an estate agent

Paddle-boarding pensioner coasts to successful sale

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EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 11 SEPTEMBER 2013 47EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 11 SEPTEMBER 2013 49

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The accidental landlord

Lights, camera, action! I could get used to thisVictoria Whitlock is excited by the idea of making a walk-through video of her rental flat

£2,059 A MONTHIn Austral Street, Kennington, SE11, KFH, has a two-double bedroom, spacious spilt- level Victorian conversion flat with a private decked roof terrace available to rent.

Visit homesand property.co.uk/rentaustral

HERE’S my idea: in a bid to make my rental ad stand out from the trillions of others online, I’m thinking of becoming

one of the very few landlords to include a walk-through video tour of my property —maybe with scripted footage from my current tenants talking about what an awesome place it is to live, and what a fantastic landlord I am.

The idea of a video ad was suggested to me by former BBC producer Anna Shelmerdine who has set up London Property Video Tours to provide professionally shot and edited footage of properties in and around the capital.

Fees start at £120 for a video of a flat with up to two bedrooms, but having watched some of the sample films —mostly of properties for sale, not to let — on londonproperty videotours.com, I don’t see why landlords couldn’t shoot their own footage on a smartphone.

Anna’s videos, complete with classical music, are excellent —and I’m absolutely certain I wouldn’t be able to make anything nearly as slick. But I’m not sure that a video tour set to a violin concerto tells potential viewers that much more than they could glean from a decent set of photos and a link to Google Earth, whereas one that includes personal commentary from the landlord and tenants could be really useful.

It could also be a lot more fun. I might ask my tenants to dress up in sumo suits (a small bribe might be required) and get them to jump out of the wardrobes to show how spacious they are. I could ask one of them to swing a cat in the living room to demonstrate that although it’s small, it’s not that small.

Alternatively, I could film them cooking supper in the super-equipped kitchen, sipping sun-downers on the west-facing balcony, and singing in the power shower. Okay, maybe not the last bit, but you get my drift.

Both Zoopla and Rightmove, the largest property websites, support video ads but Upad, the biggest online letting agent, doesn’t enable landlords to upload them because, says marketing director Alan Duncan, the ones they’ve seen so far have tended to make a property look more like a crime scene than a desirable let.

I know what he means and there’s a danger that if you don’t know what you’re doing you could end up with

wobbly, gloomy footage that will only put off prospective tenants.

However, rival online letting agent OpenRent does enable you to upload your own videos to Zoopla and Rightmove. I watched one of a three-bedroom, recently renovated property in Chelsea, apparently made by the landlord, which was really good. Admittedly there was far more footage of the blank white walls and bare floorboards than strictly necessary, but aside from that, I liked it.

As the landlord walked through the house you got a real sense of the size of the place, and you could tell from

his running commentary — and his occasional whistling — that he was the sort of chap who cared about his property. OpenRent says that even though it has offered landlords the option to upload videos since its launch last May, less than one per cent bother, so I reckon those who do take the trouble have more chance of making their ad stand out.

HOWEVER, if your homemade video makes your property look like a crime scene, it might be better to take the

professional option. After all, as Anna says, you’ll be able to re-use the film for several years and it could create a great first impression of your rental.

Mother-of-two Victoria Whitlock lets three properties in south London. To contact Victoria with your ideas and views, tweet @vicwhitlock

£675 A WEEKA two-bedroom maisonette on the Peterborough Estate, SW6, with a smart interior and patio garden, is available to rent through Hamptons International.

Visit homesand property.co.uk/rentpeterborough


concrete ideas property · 2015-12-15 · property.co.uk/ offers before the end of september 22....

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