The elephant in the rooms of our stately homes | Letters

National Trust visits | Bill Tidy | Standing stones | Gene editing | Trampoline ban

As a long-term member of the National Trust, I find that it usually takes me until the third room of any visit to one of their stately homes before thoughts of what exploitation of workers was necessary to provide me with a pleasant afternoon’s diversion turn enjoyment into irritation and occasionally anger (Letters, 24 March). It used to take until the fourth room, but I’ve got older and less tolerant.
Gerald Wells
Congleton, Cheshire

• It would have been difficult for the writer of Bill Tidy’s obituary (20 March) to mention all of his output, but I would like to add Grimbledon Down to the list. I’m sure that I was not the only government scientist for whom this was the first page I turned to in each week’s New Scientist.
Dr Richard Towers
Budleigh Salterton, Devon

Continue reading...

* This article was originally published here

How long should I save tax records? Matt Paxton of ‘Hoarders’ took your questions.

Matt Paxton joins Jura Koncius to take reader questions about organizing papers in your house.

* This article was originally published here

Keep these rude, aggressive plants out of your garden

These plants aren’t necessarily defined as invasive but may be just as undesirable because they overtake everything else.

* This article was originally published here

Marvelling at Madeira’s natural bounty

A nostalgic trip to the island of Madeira leaves us inspired and also envious of the soil, flowers and incredible vistas

We are in Madeira, walking in Ina’s footsteps. It has been near a year now since she died and we arrive on her birthday. Henri’s follows just a few days later.

She wanted to mark the week visiting her mother’s favourite island. Ina had been here a few times in the past few years. It is easy to understand why.

Continue reading...

* This article was originally published here

* This article was originally published here

Marvelling at Madeira’s natural bounty

A nostalgic trip to the island of Madeira leaves us inspired and also envious of the soil, flowers and incredible vistas

We are in Madeira, walking in Ina’s footsteps. It has been near a year now since she died and we arrive on her birthday. Henri’s follows just a few days later.

She wanted to mark the week visiting her mother’s favourite island. Ina had been here a few times in the past few years. It is easy to understand why.

Continue reading...

* This article was originally published here

‘It was a magical place to grow up’: the artist using her childhood home as a canvas

Carla von der Becke has turned her South Downs home into a crucible of creativity

I’m still getting used to this. It’s quite disconcerting,” says Carla von der Becke, looking up at an assemblage of agricultural tools – hefty saws included – hanging around a rustic chandelier in the kitchen of her home in the South Downs. The perilous-looking arrangement is the latest intervention here, in the house Carla grew up in, by her friend the South African artist HelenA Pritchard (who intervened in her own name to add the “A” in at the end).

The two women met a decade ago through mutual friends in the art world – Carla is co-director of London-based PR agency Albany Arts – and HelenA had occasionally been a visitor to the house when Carla was staying with her parents. Then, early in 2021, Carla’s mother died “quite unexpectedly. She had been caring for my dad, who has dementia, so then I was here caring for him, and it was quite intense…” It was at this point that HelenA offered to come and stay for a longer spell. “Carla didn’t have any help, she was doing everything herself and I thought she might just need a friend. And I love getting out into the country.”

Continue reading...

* This article was originally published here

Spring into action: five easy, affordable gardening tasks now winter is over

Cold snaps and unseasonably warm spells have played havoc with my garden. But now it’s time to get to work – and I have a few ideas

My endeavour to keep our new small Hampshire garden low-cost and environmentally sound continues. The guiding principle of “home-sown” rather than nursery-grown plantings has been mightily tested by ever-tempting spring stock lists, and I’m still searching for a thrifty yet water-based weatherproofing paint for the boundary fence. But rich compost has appeared like manna from the composter, and the makeshift cold frame has done its job, bringing frost-vulnerable sowings through the short, dark days and out into the vernal sunshine.

The weather has not been easy, with winter delivering the lamentable combination of sharp cold spells broken by unseasonably mild temperatures and widespread thaws, which has led to curious patterns of growth – did anyone else’s bearded irises confuse January for June? During hard hoar frosts I watched our almond tree through clasped hands, and surveyed my autumn planted cuttings almost daily.

Continue reading...

* This article was originally published here

How to find mid-century modern stuff? Answers to thrifting questions.

Thrifting experts Allison Engel and Reise Moore answer your questions

* This article was originally published here

How gardening can sharpen your power of attention

Gardening’s practical health benefits are well known. But less is shared about the way that developing "gardener's eyes" can reshape what you notice.

* This article was originally published here

Having a wedding at home is special — but not always easy or cheap

Wedding planners and couples who got married in their backyards share what it takes to transform a family home into a wedding venue.

* This article was originally published here

RIVERMONT DENTAL REVEAL

There is an upside to not blogging regularly and that is I have a backlog of content for you:) Meaning.....I have another reveal...before and after for you today!  This was actually a commercial project that I completed before Christmas and I have to tell you that it was a labor of love!  I had a huge gallery wall to put together and Rose and I shopped relentlessly for the art. I can tell

* This article was originally published here

Rooms in bloom: the flower-filled château of a French artist

Claire Basler has covered the walls of many of the rooms in her ancient château with exquisite floral murals

The château of artist Claire Basler, nestled in the languid hills of central France, is filled with flowers inside and surrounded by them outside. Not only are flowers the favourite subjects of her paintings, they are her favourite décor, too, and she arranges them like installations in each room to complement the murals she paints on walls, ceilings and doors. Being inside the home she shares with her husband, Pierre Imhof, is like being inside one of her paintings – mesmerising, magical and otherworldly.

Claire’s ability to create unique and deeply moving interior environments comes, in part, from her desire to share the power of several seminal childhood experiences. When she was 12, she had an epiphany at a Gothic palace in Avignon. While other youngsters might have been tugging at their parents’ sleeves begging for early release from sightseeing at the Palais des Papes, Claire was immovable inside its 14th-century walls. Enveloped on all sides by ancient frescoes inside Pope Clement VI’s private study, the chambre du cerf, she was overcome. “I had the strong impression that I was not just looking at the painting,” she recalls, “but was part of the painting.”

Continue reading...

* This article was originally published here

Pope Francis is no champion of women | Brief letters

The Catholic church | Spade confusion | Junior doctors’ pay | Pardon my English | T-shirt slogans

Your editorial (13 March) claims that Pope Francis champions “the marginal, peripheral and excluded”. His church does not champion women, however, denying them equality and fertility control and refusing their participation as priests. You say that the pope emphasises “mercy over judgment”. What is the sin here? Who are the sinners?
Michele Roberts
London

• Despite Dave Young describing the difference between a shovel and a spade (Letters, 14 March), I’m confused. In Thursday’s crossword a clue asks: Dug up by a shovel (6). The answer is Spaded. Dave, help us out here please.
Peter Stewart
London

Continue reading...

* This article was originally published here

How do you clean a glass shower door? Your questions answered.

Caroline Utz of The Spruce joins Jura Koncius to talk about cleaning kitchens and baths.

* This article was originally published here

John Bramble obituary

My former tutor John Bramble, who has died aged 78, was one of a group of Latinists who, between the late 1960s and 80s, used new critical approaches to rejuvenate the study of ancient Latin texts.

John was born in Salford to Clifton Bramble, a finance manager in the Manchester Corporation’s transport department, and Louisa (nee Murray), an administrator with the Co-operative wholesale society.

Continue reading...

* This article was originally published here

Badgers, moles and hungry birds… the local wildlife has made itself at home

Returning to the Danish house, and it’s clear the flora and fauna have been busy

March 12, the day before Mum’s birthday. While Dudley was the king of his vegetable patch, his orchard and croft, his dreams of an egg empire, it was Lilian who more quietly managed the boys and her flowers.

Spring snowdrops and primroses often conjure her. Particularly at the summerhouse where I feel some of her patient spirit still lives. Our house near the sea, like hers at Heron’s Reach. The meadow and cottage garden flowers echo there, too.

Continue reading...

* This article was originally published here

THE GREEN BASEMENT REVEAL

Happy Saturday guys!  We are having all kinds of crazy weather here in Atlanta....not like out in California but none the less I go from turning the AC on to turning on the heat:) I have some reveal pictures today of the green basement that I installed on Tuesday!  I am loving how it turned out....so warm and cozy.  This is a lower level family room but it is right off the playroom so it's

* This article was originally published here

Christine Wilson obituary

My friend Christine Wilson, who has died aged 78 of a heart attack, was a fellow traveller in setting up one of Norwich’s first park friends’ groups.

Christine was born in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, to Irene (nee May) and William Wilson, who were both bank clerks. She went to Berkhamsted school for girls and South-West Herts FE College, where she trained as an administrator (1962-63).

Continue reading...

* This article was originally published here

How to replant tulips and mulch madness. Your garden questions answered.

Viveka Neveln of Better Homes & Gardens joins Jura Koncius for a chat on how to prepare your garden for spring.

* This article was originally published here

The case for a (somewhat) messy spring garden

Resisting the urge to wipe the garden clean of leaves and spent perennials now can help foster a wildlife habitat for beneficial insects.

* This article was originally published here

Car wrecks, pay cheques and puppy palaces: the fringes of the share economy

From boats to backyards, peer-to-peer lending services have gone well beyond spare rooms. While renting your assets to strangers can be lucrative, there are risks

• Get our weekend culture and lifestyle email

Trianda Jubian is getting ready to host a one-year-old’s birthday party. The event will take place in her back yard, in the Sydney suburb of Sylvania Waters, but it’s not for Jubian’s own child. Rather, the party is being held by a group of 22 strangers who are paying $80 an hour for the use of her home pool. She’ll greet them when they arrive, take them through some rules (no bombing, diving or peeing in the pool, please), then go inside and draw the blinds until the booking is over. So does Jubian feel a bit odd about that?

“No, not at all,” she says. “In actual fact, I’m proud because I’ve got this beautiful place … I’ve worked hard for all of this, so why not share it?”

Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning

Continue reading...

* This article was originally published here

Rainbow colours and mystical symbols bring Irish magic to an Italian home

Once the refuge of artist Brian O’Doherty, Casa Dipinta is an Umbrian house immersed in colour and full of history

In the ancient heart of 13th-century town of Todi in Italy lies the Casa Dipinta (the painted house), a home that became a refuge for the Irish conceptual artist Brian O’Doherty and his wife, art historian Barbara Novak, amid political turmoil in the 1970s. O’Doherty died in 2022 but his home has become a museum and tribute to the imagination, experimentation, and Celtic origins of the artist.

The couple were motivated to explore Italy and later buy the house in the wake of the Bloody Sunday killings in Derry in 1972. After those events, Todi became place where they could escape from the anger and violence engulfing Northern Ireland – a space in which to create and rest. O’Doherty, a pacifist by nature, former doctor, teacher and art critic, as well as author of nonfiction texts on art, also decided that “there would be no more” and became “Patrick Ireland” in response to the killings – an alias that symbolised his roots (although, in 2008, he decided to go back to being O’Doherty).

Continue reading...

* This article was originally published here

How to salvage rusted patio furniture

You can repaint rusted patio furniture yourself, but a professional job will be much easier and last longer.

* This article was originally published here

A designer answered questions about glue on your carpet and layering rugs

Houston designer Sherrell Neal joins Jura Koncius for a chat about choosing and buying area rugs and carpet.

* This article was originally published here

Eagerly awaiting the arrival of frogspawn | Brief letters

Pond life | No shortage of tomatoes | Mark Spencer | Johnson’s jugs | Letter getter

My family suggests that my frogspawn records over the last 15 years are a sign of eccentricity, so I was delighted to read the letter from Evvy Edwards (28 February). The earliest date for our pond was 21 February in 2011; the latest was 16 March in 2013. We moved house last year and, of course, the frogs came too. I am anxiously waiting to hear the loud croaking chorus that is a sign that the frogspawn will arrive in the next few days.
Judith Abbs
London

• No tomatoes? No problem in the little greengrocers in my Thames valley town (Lidl becomes latest retailer to ration sales of salad ingredients, 27 February). There’s all manner of salad stuff. Peppers galore and beautiful tomatoes – big, little, all colours, striped ones, flattish ones, all stacked against the walls of this tiny shop. I’m spoilt for choice.
Jo Burden
Marlow, Buckinghamshire

Continue reading...

* This article was originally published here