ROCHESTER February 10, 2011 WHORNES PLACE, CUXTON Price: £850,000 A magical home with a unique blend of old and new qualities. This property is grade II listed and steeped in history. It even has a coat of arms inscribed above the front door. However, it has been renvovated to the highest standards of modern luxury. The walled garden is more [...]
PROPERTY NEWS February 10, 2011 HEATHROW GETS PROPERTY BOOST The regeneration of West London’s “Heathrow Quarter” has been given a further boost by the launch of The Hurley Apartments at St George’s innovative Parkwest development. The anticipated arrival of Crossrail is giving this up-and-coming area an added edge, and investors in The Hurley’s apartments can look forward to a rental [...]
BUYING February 10, 2011 Q.I am thinking of buying a buy-to-let property in central London. What type of property makes the best rental and which tenant market should I be going after? A.We tend to advise our investment clients to opt for a two double bedroom, two bathroom configuration for a rental investment. This set-up will appeal to a [...]
From scruffy hack to dashing banker February 10, 2011 I MUST make a confession. Before researching this piece, I had only visited Selfridges once, and only then to buy Lucky Charms and jelly beans. So going in to meet Ben Leaver, Selfridges’ exceedingly well-dressed men’s formal wear buyer, was frankly rather daunting. What would he make me wear? What are these … looks? Surely [...]
Coens inspire with a gritty Western February 10, 2011 Film TRUE GRIT Cert: 15 In this Coen Brothers-directed re-make of a John Wayne Western, Jeff Bridges is the maverick, whisky-slugging gun-slinger Marshall Rooster Cogburn, a self-professed “foolish old-man who has been drawn into a wild goose chase by a harpy in trousers and a nincompoop”. The harpy is 14-year-old Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld), who, [...]
ALSO OUT THIS WEEKEND February 10, 2011 FILMS JUST GO WITH IT Rom com with Adam Sandler and Jennifer Anniston. For masochists only. YOGI BEAR New animated version of the Sixties cartoon, with Dan Ackroyd on “pick-a-nick basket” duties. SON OF BABYLON Iraqi drama about a boy and his grandmother in the chaos of modern Iraq. DVD EAT PRAY LOVE Julia Roberts [...]
Why the love of your life is just a click away February 9, 2011 CHRISTMAS and New Year are over. You’re feeling fat, poor, anxious and – if you’re single – panicked. What do you do? You vow to go on a diet, you cut back on the expensive nights out and, in the hopes of sticking to the one resolution you really care about, you sign up to [...]
Scents to make the one you love (or like) swoon February 9, 2011 FOR HER FEMME FATALE: LOVE IN BLACK BY CREED Dark, powdery and seductive – the silent screen siren of scent. Florentine iris, glorious pure Damascus rose and a violet encore. Love In Black by Creed £142/75mls from www.creedfragrances.co.uk SENSUAL: SKIN PETALS BY ILLUMINUM Succulent apple blossom and wild berry, mellows into a duo of fragile [...]
Pocket camcorders February 9, 2011 PUT it down to the rise of the video blogger, the omnipotence of YouTube or the influence of mobile phones and digital cameras with video options, but the game has changed when it comes to recording moving images. Everyone’s a filmmaker these days, and you don’t need mini-DV to do it. A couple of years [...]
WHAT’S NEW IN GADGETS AND TECHNOLOGY February 9, 2011 ALL NEW IPAD ON THE WAY Get those sleeping bags, thermos flasks and cagoules ready and prepare again for the kind of ultra-queuing hardship that occurs only with the release of a new Apple gadget. According to reports in the Wall Street Journal and elsewhere yesterday, the iPad 2 is now in production. Thinner, lighter [...]