Watches of 2010 March 25, 2010 OVER the past ten days the world’s leading watch-making companies have been displaying their new creations in the Swiss city of Basel, for the BaselWorld Watch and Jewellery show. We’ve gathered together some of the best and most innovative watches that were on show in Basel and at February’s even more exclusive SIHH show in [...]
Beat the blues with a slice of Caribbean sun March 25, 2010 WINTER is finally over, and the sun has been reminding us all of its existence in the past week or so. If you are already thinking ahead to next year and wondering how you will get through another few months of darkness and “snow days”, there’s a solution: buy a home in the Caribbean. Barbados [...]
you can still wear a bow tie in the city March 25, 2010 HOW many men in the City would be comfortable wearing a bow tie to work? Answer: very few, even among those who can actually tie one. It may once have been a cornerstone of the banking look, but now it’s about as common a sight in the Square Mile as a bowler hat. That’s a [...]
Going underground to extend your home March 25, 2010 IT seems we Britons are spending more and more time down under – in our basements, that is. No longer storerooms for junk, these subterranean spaces are increasingly becoming part of our homes, and their uses increasingly varied, with owners busy moulding cinema rooms, saunas, gyms, even golf simulator rooms. And that’s just in your [...]
2010 is the year of the big move to the country March 25, 2010 MANY who earn their crust in London dream of living in the country, and there are good reasons to make 2010 the year to make the move. While the property markets in the desirable parts of London have now fully recovered, with prices similar to those achieved in the 2007 peak, the same isn’t true [...]
A central London property means you can avoid the Tube crush and commute on foot March 25, 2010 ONE in 500 Londoners currently walks to work, and those who have witnessed the capital’s rush-hour crush, when mild-mannered professionals turn into a baying rabble, stamping over the elderly, the sick or the pregnant – anyone who gets in between them and a seat – will understand the appeal of this arrangement. The journey to [...]
Light at the end of the tunnel, but buyers should stay cautious March 25, 2010 IT’S the perennial dinner party question: what will happen to house prices in the coming year? With a hung parliament on the cards come May and economists divided over when the Bank of England will decide to raise interest rates, those who are looking to move property remain understandably nervous. Mortgages are still hard to [...]
BUYING March 25, 2010 Camilla Dell MANAGING PARTNER AT BLACK BRICK Q.Dear Camilla, I am looking to sell my house in the near future and I was wondering how the property will be valued. A.The process of valuation in the current property market has become a very tricky business. Traditionally, valuers have depended, at least partially, on sale prices [...]
Add some verve and value to your home March 25, 2010 WE all know that moving house at the moment is tricky, but for those who are bored of their home, there is another option apart from upping sticks. Instead of moving, many people are opting to improve their homes this year to add a bit of pizazz. However, that is easier said than done in [...]
The brainiest Brit in Hollywood March 24, 2010 JASON Isaacs likes to say that he travels by Tube to film premieres, where he goes undetected until he arrives. That’s when the fans – many of them female – explode in excited frenzy. For Isaacs treads that odd line between A-list celebrity, a face that a critical mass knows and cares about viscerally, and, [...]