Get fit… and make a difference too April 2, 2012 FIT IN THE CITY Picture the scene: it’s 6.30pm on a Wednesday evening at the Reebok Sports Club and instead of being full of weary looking execs wishing they were in the pub, the reception is buzzing with an eager group of runners about to head out to a local community garden to enjoy a [...]
Honeymooning for one in the Maldives April 1, 2012 GOING on holiday alone is one thing. Going on holiday alone to the world’s foremost couples’ destination is rather another. I wasn’t off to backpack around the villages of the Himalayas or go down and out in Bangkok and Hanoi, bumping into new people and places every five minutes. No: I set off on a [...]
Hotel for all seasons at idyllic South Sands in Salcombe April 1, 2012 Twenty minutes’ walk from Salcombe, the year-old South Sands hotel sits on its own beach: a perfectly secluded spot and just what posh old Salcombe needs. There’s a New England charm to the hotel – white-picket chic but unstuffy and airy – alongside a friendly laid-back feel from the Antipodean staff, who are unassumingly and [...]
Not for flower girls these days: Covent Garden’s luxury new flats March 29, 2012 Less than a mile up the road in Mayfair, property sells for at least £2,000 per square foot. Covent Garden, arguably a more vibrant area of central London, is still roughly half as expensive – homes can be had at prices from £1,000 per square foot. Perhaps not for long, though: one of the reasons [...]
A vision of the future: how the rental sector can reward investors March 29, 2012 Institutional investors, such as pension funds and investment funds, have been debating whether to dip their toe in the residential property market for years. Such investment is the lifeblood of the UK’s commercial sector, but despite much talk, institutions have very little exposure to residential property. This fact has often been blamed on factors such [...]
To sell or not to sell in light of the Budget March 29, 2012 DIRECTOR, DOUGLAS AND GORDON Q In light of the Budget I’m wondering whether I should put my house in Battersea on the market as it’s been valued at just over £2m. A The Budget has confused a lot of people but the most pronounced effect is where a property is being bought, with a value [...]
PROPERTY NEWS March 29, 2012 Savills selling historic Provencal mas Savills is selling Mas de l’Hospitalet, a historic Provencal mas where Oscar winning actor, Jean Dujardin held his wedding ceremony in 2009. The property dates back to the 12th century and was built by Templar Knights on the order of the King of France. Currently, the property is a boutique [...]
Crash of the Titans as sequel bombs March 29, 2012 FILM WRATH OF THE TITANS Cert: 12A ** SOMETIMES it’s a mixture of little things that let a film down. Sometimes it’s one hugely important thing like, for example, the entire script. Certainly, making a sequel to Clash of The Titans, with its woeful dialogue, unintentionally hilarious accents and hulking, dull storyline is a gutsy [...]
Some good shapes don’t save this dance March 29, 2012 FILM STREETDANCE 2 Cert: PG ** Streetdance was, if not a masterpiece, at least a refreshingly British take on the many schmaltzy dance movies churned out in the last decade (Honey, Step Up and Save The Last Dance anyone?). So it’s odd that in the sequel the hero is American (Falk Hentschel) and furthermore, that [...]
AROUND TOWN March 29, 2012 ■ Theatrewise, the Barbican is on fire. Currently running is a hugely acclaimed production of Mikhael Bulgakov’s classic Soviet satire, The Master and Margarita, staged by Simon McBurney’s award-winning company Complicite. By turns violent, poetic and surreal, this is a corker of a show. Be sure to book, too, for the Sydney Theatre’s production of [...]