Homes & Gardens

The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) and The Wildlife Trusts have joined forces to urge gardeners to do more to help protect bumblebees and solitary bees, heroes of the pollinator world. The Bee Creative in the Garden! call comes as bees are under increasing pressure largely due to loss of habitat. In the countryside, 97% of lowland meadow has already been lost and the dramatic decrease in suitable habitats isn’t just confined to rural areas. The network of 15 million gardens that once formed ‘green corridors’ for wildlife is also disappearing at an alarming rate. In response here in the...

Exmouth householders are now recycling almost 60% of their waste every week thanks to a new improved recycling service introduced by East Devon District Council in February.

Provisional findings show that recycling in the town has risen from 44% before the service was launched, to 59% in the first six weeks of the new scheme. Significantly, the amount of rubbish people are throwing away has dropped during the same period from 56% to 41%.

The council’s contractors SUEZ is now collecting, on average, around 90 tonnes of recycling from the town every week – an increase of more...

The threat of your home being burgled can be enough to keep you awake at night or stop you from enjoying a vacation. It is an unfortunate expectation of the world that we live in these days and everybody must be vigilant to the threats of burglary. Whether you live in a quiet area or a busy area, the fact remains that you could be targeted and therefore should be making your home as difficult to break into as you possibly can.

Here are some security features that you could introduce to your home:

1 - Security cameras – Due to the advances in technology, you can now purchase...

Your first family home is an exciting, but slightly scary prospect, a sure indication that you have made a firm commitment.

You might think that once you have negotiated the minefield that is choosing your first home, whether you have chosen to buy or rent, then the hard work is done. Not true – the work is just beginning, as your next job is to furnish your new home from top to bottom.

Here are some pointers to help you create a home that can live up to the wonderful memories that you will soon be creating there.

Plan

You might think you are “not a lists...