Homes & Gardens

Homes across Exeter are to come under close scrutiny in a major review of supposedly empty properties across the city to check that they are actually unoccupied.

The action is being taken because many people do not inform the Council when empty properties become occupied. This can lead to the local authorities missing out on council tax payments as well as New Homes Bonus payments that are paid out by the government on every home brought back into use.

Cllr Rob Hannaford, Lead Councillor for Housing, Community Involvement and Maintaining Assets said: "Houses that have been...

A Passivhaus project in which Exeter-based Aspect Windows installed the windows and doors has won a national award.

Totnes Passivhaus B&B, in Dartington, near Totnes, was announced the winner in the private housing category of the UK Passivhaus Awards 2013 at a ceremony in London on 4 July. The national awards celebrate the design and performance of Passivhaus in the UK.

Aspect Windows worked with the designer and builder and supplied and installed the property’s triple-glazed Internorm windows and doors to achieve the Passivhaus standard. The Totnes Passivhaus, the...

Ever since I began studying Feng Shui back in the early 90s, I noticed that there seems to be a great deal of misinformation and ignorance about it. Although many articles have already been written on the subject, some people still think Feng Shui is about superstition, decorating a building with Chinese ornaments, ‘impractical mumbo jumbo’ and only relevant to Chinese culture. Over the years, it has been commercially exploited, with the sale of so-called ‘lucky’ trinkets, and this has given it a somewhat shallow reputation. However, this is a small and tarnished fraction of the full...

Overbeck’s, the exotic garden perched high on the cliffs above Salcombe, has its first ever Artist in Residence – local illustrator Charlotte Atkinson.

Charlotte has set up her studio in a small outdoor building within the sheltered Banana Garden, home to some of Overbeck’s most tender tropic plants. She will be documenting a full year in the garden, from this summer to next, capturing and preserving the plants, flowers and vistas as they change through the seasons. These works will be exhibited at Overbeck’s for all to see.

Born in Devon and trained as an illustrator,...