This is an unusual idea, it’s a home inside a trailer. Looking a little like a shed on wheels from the outside, the home packs quite a lot into a small space. It has a living area, kitchen and even a bedroom tucked away into the roof. Costing from £10,000 up to £18,000 for a fully fitted home they can apparently sleep up to six people and have a fully functioning kitchen, shower and toilet. It brings a whole new meaning to deceptively spacious.

This is interesting it’s a miniature village created by a retired builder in his garden. The village includes a church, mill, pubs and cottages and even has a mini Big Ben.

If you are thinking of relocating then you might be interested to know that Australia is the happiest country to live in. It ranked number one on an international league table of happiness. Sweden was number two, followed by Canada, Norway, Switzerland, United States, Denmark, the Netherlands, Iceland and at number 10 the UK. Countries were ranked on 11 categories including income, jobs, housing and health. Britain scored well on income levels, high employment, low crime and community spirit but scored badly on overcrowding and a system which favours the rich over the poor. I guess one consolation is that France didn’t make the top ten coming 18th.

Is a question you might think slightly insignificant but perhaps you need to rethink how you decorate your bedroom.  It seems that the colour you choose could impact how you sleep. If you paint your room blue it should slow the heart rate and help reduce your blood pressure. Purple rooms on the other hand can stimulate the brain making it more difficult to get to sleep. I wonder whether lilac being closer to blue has the same benefits, either way, it’s the colour I am going to paint my bedroom.

Living in Sevenoaks I was interested to see the town came third in a list of the 10 richest small towns in Britain. I am aware that parts of Sevenoaks are extremely affluent so wasn’t surprised to find that it made the list of towns where most millionaires are located. Perhaps less surprising is that Windsor topped the list and Weybridge came second. Ascot which I would have expected to feature somewhat higher was number 10. The full list is as follows:

1 Windsor
2 Weybridge
3 Sevenoaks
4 Beaconsfield
5 Henley on Thames
6 Marlow
7 Hale
8 Alderley Edge
9 Bray
10 Ascot (including Sunningdale)

I obviously live in an affluent area, now to work on that millionaire status. 

A Rightmove survey has concluded that Harrogate is the happiest place to live in the UK. The town topped the list in a survey based upon factors such as neighbourliness, safety, amenities, cost and the amount of space people have in their homes. Stockport in Greater Manchester came second with Ipswich coming third. The unhappiest places to live were mainly in London with East London, Croydon and East central London coming top of the list.

I never fail to find it amazing what developers feel they can fit into some spaces. This 14ft wide house is being built in a small space between two houses that was once used as a car parking space. The house has three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a living room and a dining room. At 14ft wide it is one of the thinnest houses in Britain.

With property prices in some areas reaching record highs and silly prices being paid for parking spaces and plots of land I found this article interesting. It looks at the most expensive addresses in the UK, most of which are not surprisingly in the popular area of South Kensington.

The most expensive street in the UK is Egerton Crescent where a terraced house with a communal garden will set you back over £8 million. At 32.5 times the typical house price you are certainly paying for location in this instance.

The 10 most expensive streets in the UK are as follows.

1. Egerton Crescent, Kensington and Chelsea, London, SW3, £8.1 million
2. Parkside, Merton, London, SW19, £5.2 million
3. Campden Hill Square, Kensington and Chelsea, London, W8, £4.9 million
4. Blenheim Crescent, Kensington and Chelsea, London, W11, £4.7 million
5. Lansdowne Road, Kensington and Chelsea, London, W11, £4.7 million
6. Home Park Road, Merton, London, SW19, £4.7 million
7. Drayton Gardens, Kensington and Chelsea, London, SW10, £4.4 million
8. Eaton Square, Westminster, London, SW1, £4.4 million
9. Lancaster Gate, Westminster, London, W2, £4.4 million
10. Duchess of Bedford's Walk, Kensington and Chelsea, London, W8, £4.2 million

This is an interesting idea, it’s a proposal which could see disused garages turned into housing for homeless people. Under the scheme sheds and garages could be turned into temporary accommodation. It it thought that a 11.5 sq.  bedsit could be created inside a disused garage for around £13,000. The structures would be manufactured off-site and delivered as a kit which could be assembled through an apprenticeship scheme. The homes would includes a bedroom and shower room with every fifth garage housing a communal laundry, kitchen and dining area. The picture shows how the layout of the home could look. It’s certainly an interesting idea.

When a parking space can sell for £50,000 I guess we shouldn’t be surprised to see a beach hut on the market for £70,000. The hut in Norfolk has views over the beach as well as a close by water tap and access to a lavatory block. Hardly luxury accommodation for your money.

With property prices at a premium in many parts of the country it may come as no surprise that £50,000 is the asking price for a parking space in Cornwall. Based in St Ives the space has lovely sea views and not much else really. The five parking spaces that are on sale are nicely placed, however, with a 30 second walk to the town centre so I’m sure someone will snap them up.

It seems more and more people are living on their own as marriage rates continue to decline. That’s according to the Office for National Statistics. 2.5 million people aged between 45 and 65 now have no spouse, partner or children living with them. This amount has grown by 50% since the mid 1990s according to an official analysis with the number of men on their own increasing more than women. According to the article the rise in people living alone has increased the demand for housing. It appears that there is also a trend towards people claiming they live alone to get greater benefits payments and tax credits. Either way it seems there are a lot of lonely people out there.

That’s the claim of this article which suggests the sea air in places like Bexhill plays a big part in the residents longevity. In a recent census Bexhill has been found to have more residents over the age of 100 than any other town. In fact there are 66 people over the age of 100 in the borough of Rother which encompasses Bexhill. There are also a further 1,722 residents in their 90s and 7,000 in their 80’s. Whilst this does make interesting reading, I wonder whether the ageing population in the area is simply down to the fact that Bexhill is simply a popular place to retire.

I was interested to see that a couple who shot some burglars breaking into their home will not face charges. The couple were arrested after shooting two masked men who broke into their isolated cottage in the middle of the night. After being confronted in their bedroom by several masked men who had smashed into their home, one of the home owners had used their legally held shotgun to fire a shot, leaving two of the intruders injured.

The fact that the home owners have not been prosecuted may signal a change in how these types of cases are dealt with within the UK. Personally on being confronted with intruders inside my house I would use any means to defend myself, as I’m sure would most people. Whether the intruders were injured would not be my concern, in my view they are in the wrong and are clearly somewhere, they shouldn’t be. Hopefully this case will mean home owners who are forced to defend themselves and their property are given a fairer time in court.

This is a nice story, it’s about a couple in North Yorkshire who spend their time covering their house with flowers. The result certainly looks colourful, it must have taken ages to create, but thankfully they have installed an irrigation system to help with the watering.

This is unusual it’s a house which has been built around a railway carriage. The bungalow looks fairly normal from the outside but inside is a 130 year old restored railway carriage. Jim Higgins has nearly completed the restoration of the carriage which he hopes to open the public once it is completed. The house was built around the carriage because planning rules stated it had stood there so long it couldn’t be moved. The property was originally built by his ex father in law, who tried to get planning permission for a retirement home on the spot. Finding the carriage could not be moved he simply built a home around it using the carriage as the bedrooms.

If you are looking for property in Knightsbridge then you probably already know the answer is not much. This garage measuring just six metres has recently gone on sale at £525,000. At considerably more than we paid for our 3 bedroom house in Kent it seems an exorbitant price for a garage. Even at that price the estate agents selling it expect to receive a lot of interest from those living within walking distance of the garage particularly as many of the large houses nearby have no off street parking.

One avid Star Trek fan has recreated the inside of the Starship Enterprise in his flat. Including a full scale replica of the transporter console his one bedroom flat includes a computerised flight deck and flashing lights. It certainly looks impressive, I’m not sure how practical it is for everyday use, however.

This is interesting its the story of a mummified cat that has recently been found in a property in North Yorkshire. It was found when the owners removed the ceilings from their 18th century property. It is thought the cat has been there for around 100 years and that it was positioned in the roof as a good luck charm to ward off evil spirits.

If you want too purchase a slightly different property then this observatory might be what you are looking for. It has been put on the market by Swansea city council who say they are looking for imaginative proposals for the future of the building. Built in 1988 the building includes a stained glass roof by artist David Pearl and panels of carved poetry by Nigel Jenkins.

The stone mason from Farmington visited this week to fit the new fireplace. Made from natural limestone it has been cut to fit the area exactly and makes a real difference to the room. The colour will change somewhat as the stone dries out and settles and it will be a little while until we can actually use it. We now need the inside of the fireplace to be fitted and within 3 weeks should be able to light our first real fire.

The wood floor is also nearly finished with just under half of it still to do. We hope to have this completed this weekend. Then we need to fit and paint the coving and paint the skirting boards and door frames. The rest of the furniture will come later as we put aside funds to pay for it but for now the bulk of this room is done. Time to start on the nursery.

Since my last post the decorating has been coming along more quickly. Three coats of white base coat have now been applied to the walls followed by two coats of our chosen colour natural wicker. The ceiling has also had a coat of white ceiling paint. This should now complete the bulk of the painting. We have also started laying the floor, a process that started off going fairly quickly. Until that is, we came to what was the join between the old living room and kitchen, which now runs along the centre of our living room. Unfortunately this part of the floor where the old wall used to be was not level requiring parts of the floor to be chipped out so the new wood floor would lay flat. This process has set us back a little bit in our schedule and we now hope to have the flooring finished this coming weekend but the room is finally starting to look like we have done something. I can finally see an end to the project, whether we will have this and the nursery finished before the baby is due in six weeks time is anyone's guess but I am hopeful that the living room will at least be completed.

After many of weekends of work getting to the bare walls, the decorating finally seems to making progress. Rory booked a day off work this week and decided to spend it sanding. The process went surprisingly quickly and we now have nice smooth bare walls. The next step is to apply the base coat. All being well, we might actually have the walls and ceiling painted by the end of the month. Perhaps the end is finally within sight.

We have now been decorating for about two months and progress is still slow. Taking the wallpaper off the walls and ceiling was fairly easy and was completed quite quickly. Taking the several layers of peeling emulsion off the walls has proved to be more time consuming. After spending every weekend scrapping walls it has finally gone. We now have a room with bare plaster walls and a bare ceiling and it has only taken two months of preparation. Based on the time spent so far, I am beginning to see why some people hire firms to do the work for them. I am starting to get a bit sick of living in one room and having no comfortable place in which to relax particularly as I get fatter and less mobile during my pregnancy. It, does, however, feel like we are making some progress. Now the walls are bare, we can begin to fill the holes, before sanding them smooth, hopefully a job for this weekend. If things go to plan I hope to be painting within another couple of weeks. We also have decisions to make, such as what lighting to put in and what to do about the fireplace, both of which require thought now before we start the final paint job on the walls. I estimate another two months of work in total, taking into account we also want to lay new flooring. It’s a long process but hopefully the end results will be worth the effort.

In a moment of madness I decided it was time to start decorating the house. We have been here two years this weekend now, and so far the decor is as it was when we purchased it. As it’s the room we spend most time it seemed most logical to start with the living room. The wallpaper was very easy to take off and just peeled away nicely. What we were not prepared for, was the layers of old emulsion behind it. Unfortunately because it is peeling we can’t just paint over it so it has to come off. We have tried a number of techniques to do this so far with limited success and it really is progressing slowly. Three weeks into the project and we have managed to remove the paint from one wall, with the other three still to do. So far the only thing that really works is to wet the wall and scrap it off. We could be here some time. The plan is to remove the old paint, then plaster any holes and prepare the walls for painting. Once painted we intend to put wood flooring in the place of the nasty pink carpet. With time limited to weekends I estimate a good 2-3 months of work ahead but in some ways it’s nice to have made a start even if it’s taking longer than expected.

That’s according to this article which suggests a million more people now employ a cleaner compared with a decade ago. It seems the main reason is that in households where both partners work there is simply not enough time left to do your own cleaning. I don’t have a cleaner but I must admit finding time to clean the house can be difficult and when I am busy with work, then it simply doesn’t get done. Perhaps I should look into employing a cleaner for a couple of hours a week to make things a little easier.

If you have a bit of spare cash and fancy spending it on something a little unusual, then you might be interested in this article. It highlights two mountain peaks that have recently been put up for sale in the Austrian Alps. The peaks are being sold by the Austrian federal real estate company Bundesimmobiliengesellschaft. Potential buyers will not be be allowed to fence off the mountains or deny a right of way of them so it is unclear what they could be used for. If you are interested in buying them they are on sale at 121,000 euros, approx. £107,000.

This is interesting, it’s a story from Auckland where a mystical swamp monster may end up halting a building project. The project a multibillion dollar railway tunnel has been planned for the city. The problem, however, is that it runs through a swamp which is the realm of a taniwha. The taniwha  is a dragon like creature which plays a part in Maori folklore, using it’s powers to protect the tribe and causing destruction if it in angered. There have already been other problems involving similar monsters. In one incident in 2002 a development on a stretch of road was halted because it ran through the domain on a one eyed taniwha. The local Maori population have since attributed the high number of road deaths in that area to the creature being angry, however, the road was diverted around the area at extra expense. It will be interesting to see what happens in this situation.

According to this article home buyers do not expect to be able to afford their first house until they are aged 38 or aged 43 in London. It seems that for many the fact that house prices are so high and that they need a large deposit mean they simply cannot not afford to buy a property before this, and many have given up trying to buy a property altogether. Although the number of mortgages available for first time buyers has increased during the past year, it seems there are still a limited number of deals available for those looking to but their first home. First time buyers also now need a large deposit with most needing around 23% of the homes value.

This is interesting it’s a functional house with a double bedroom, lounge, shower and kitchen all packed into a 10ft cube. The house which has been showcased at the Edinburgh Science Festival is certainly compact. Despite this the the lounge has a table a and two chairs, it includes a 4ft wide double bed, a full sized shower and a kitchen. It also includes solar panels on the roof to generate electricity. It has been designed to be carbon neutral and is thought to be the smallest eco-home in the world. It certainly looks cosy.

That’s according to this article which suggests it can add as much as £20,000 to the value of the average home. Second on the list is a room extension which can add an average of £16,069 to a homes value, whilst a conservatory adds around £8233. Smaller improvements such as a new kitchen can add around £5617 and new windows £5265. Generally, however, people need to spend a minimum of £10,000 on a conversion or extension in order to see  a return on your investment. Still, it’s interesting reading if you are thinking of doing any home improvements.

That’s the claim made by this article which suggests despite the government spending £4 million to persuade people to eat five a day less people are doing so. Official statistics show that between 2006 and 2009 the percentage of adults actually eating five portions of fruit and veg a day has fallen from 30% to 26%. This is a fall from 12.1million to about 10.9million. Figures found that richer households are more likely to meet the target with 32% of men and 37% women in the highest-income households meet the target, compared to only 18% of men and 19% of women in the lowest income brackets. Personally I eat quite a bit of fruit of veg but I don’t think I manage five portions every day.

That’s according to this article which features an aquarium built by a man called Jack Heathcote. He has built a custom made aquarium underneath his living room. Measuring 12ft 6in x 12ft 8in x 7ft it is the same size as the room above. It also has a viewing window so you can see the fish inside. It currently houses two chainsaw doradids, three 2ft long Pacus, some Pangasius, a Red tail hybrid catfish, two alligator gars, eight enormous stingrays and two Fly River turtles.

Is probably how you would describe this property. At just 7ft wide and 308 square foot inside it is one of Britain’s smallest houses. The house in Framingham, Suffolk has one bedroom with a kitchen, shower room and toilet and sitting room. It was originally part of an Victorian steam mill but the rest of the mill was redeveloped and made into new buildings.

According to this article 2.6 million Britons used their credit card to pay their mortgage or rent last year. The figures come from a report by the housing charity Shelter and suggest that many families face a daily struggle to keep a roof over their heads. I find the figures surprising and would be interested to know whether these people have other outgoings that are taking a greater portion of their income or if they simply don’t earn enough to cover the mortgage payment.

As someone who lived in Staines for a few years I was interested to see that some people are considering changing the name of the town. It seems that there are those who want to lose the association with the Ali G character and the Staines massive and instead call the town Staines on Thames. Some feel the town will do better under the new name. Councillors will be meeting to discuss the proposed change and what it might mean for the town.

An artist has created a life sized Monopoly house as his latest project. An Te Liu built the Monopoly house around a condemned home. Measuring 36ft by 44ft the work of art took two months to build and cost £9,000.

If you have a few million to spend and fancy a flat in town then you might be interested in this one. On the market for £140 million this is One Hyde Park. The flat has a prime location in Knightsbridge,Central London with views over the city. It has a private wine tasting facility and an underground passage to what will be Heston Blumenthal’s new restaurant. The flat itself is a two floor apartment with floor to ceiling windows. It has its own car park and panic room. Security features include bullet proof windows, SAS trained security guards and an air purifier to counteract poison gas attacks. It also has access to spas and squash courts. Whoever buys it will need to pay a massive £5.6 million just in stamp duty.

This is interesting its a new solar cell technology which has recently been developed by a Norwegian company. The company EnSol AS have created a unique patented film which can be coated onto glass and walls to turn them into power generators. The film which they hope to release commercially by 2016 effectively means that you would be able to turn a window into a solar power generator. It is likely to be much cheaper than conventional devices and it is thought the coating could be built into windows and other building materials as part of the manufacturing process. It certainly sounds interesting but I wonder how much more expensive it would be to replace your windows with these. If the price were not a concern I would certainly consider it.

If you have a bit of spare cash to spend then you might be interested in this bath tub. Made out of white crystal it is certainly not any ordinary bath tub and neither is the price tag of £530,000. It has been carved out of a single block of pure white rock crystal which was mined in Brazil. Places have been left rough to maintain the natural beauty of the rock. The tub is 7ft long by 3ft deep. It certainly would make an unusual bathroom centrepiece. The bath tub will be on show at Harrods until the end of July.

This is an interesting idea, it’s a village where the residents have to be over the age of 45 to be able to live there. The village of Firhall is on the outskirts of Nairn in the highlands and requires it’s residents to abide by certain rules. To be able to own a house here residents much be over 45 and have no resident children. Grandchildren and the children of friends are allowed to visit but there are limits on how often this happens and how long they can stay. Residents are not allowed to keep ducks, rabbits, pigeons or bees but each household is allowed to have one dog. The village has attracted some rather negative media reactions which have branded the residents as child haters but I can see why older people who perhaps don’t want children would like to live in a child free haven. It looks like a lovely area and I bet it’s really peaceful.

Tesco have recently started selling a flat pack house for £9,999. The Finnlife home has four rooms and an upstairs storage area with some models also including a terraced decking area. The log cabin style homes are self assembly and can be adapted for a number of uses from a gym to a playroom. They are made of Scandinavian whitewood and are constructed with tongue and groove boards which slot together. Measuring 32ft by 16ft 10 the building has eight double glazed windows, French doors and a shingle roof. They are available online only and customers are advised to check planning permission and building regulations before installation.

According to this article this could be Britain’s biggest wasps nest. The size of a double mattress it was found in the attic of a pub in Southampton. It measured 6ft by 5ft and was around 15 times bigger than the UK average. Apparently it would house up to half a million wasps. The nest was removed by a pest controller who cracked open the top and squirted the colony with a powerful insecticide.

Tesco are backing a new online estate agency. The agency called Spicerhaart is launching the website iSold.com. It will launch initially in the Bristol area and will be advertised to users of the Tesco website. The service offers a basic online selling service for a flat fee of £999 rather than charging a percentage of the selling price as is the norm. All dealings with buyers and sellers will be conducted over the phone and online and the business will be kept separate for the Spicerhaart high street outlets.

According to this article the AA is to launch a new service to help people within the home. The AA will answer calls from householders who have problems with issues such as leaking pipes and broken down boilers or even those who need help putting up a fence or hanging a picture. Householders will use the same call centres which are currently used to dispatch the AA’s breakdown service. People will be given a time of arrival and a reference number and repair men will use an AA van but without the flashing lights. AA members will get a discount on the new service which will also be offered to new customers. The service is split into two parts. The AA Home Emergency Response which is an insurance policy against domestic problems and will tackle burst pipes and leaks. The AA Home Assist will tackle smaller jobs such as putting up curtain rails, mending fences and picture hanging. The service will have a stand alone network of patrolman and vans, separate from the existing fleet of roadside patrol vans. Typical prices for the Home Emergency Response are expected to be £9.95 per month for AA members and £11.95 for non-members.

If you have a bit of spare cash and want to purchase something a bit unusual, then you might be interested in this nuclear bunker. Currently on sale on ebay the bunker is based in the Peak District and comes with a plot of land. It has panoramic views over the Derbyshire Dales and includes much of the original equipment. If you are interested the current bid is £24,100.25.

This article is interesting it points out the impact that globalisation has had on crime statistics within the UK. It seems that it has been responsible for bringing down the prices of household goods as cheaper electronic goods are made in the Far East and so making them less desirable to criminals. As they are likely to get less return for selling stolen goods such as TVs or DVD players, criminals are turning instead to more lucrative crimes such as mugging and car crime which promise better rewards. Trends show that during the 1980s and 1990s staple crimes were usually burglary and car crime as it was easy to break into a house and sell an item for profit. However, trends now show that criminals are increasingly targeting high value portable items such as iPods and phones which are carried on the person and so muggings are becoming more common. The good news for home owners is that you are less likely be burgled.

According to this article St Austell in Cornwall will get £9 million of government money to help its eco-town project. St Austell was named as one of four areas that has been chosen by the government to have eco-towns with the others being in Rackheath in Norfolk, Bicester in Oxfordshire and Whitehill Bordon in East Hants. In all, the four areas will support up to 2,000 local jobs and introduce thousands of people to green living. The project in St Austell will regenerate the china clay area being used to create a number of carbon neutral homes. The homes will initially be used as show homes to help give residents in the local area an example of green living. Other houses will be given a green makeover and will feature water saving systems and smart meters to monitor energy use. They will also have renewable power and electric car charging points.

According to this article cat owners are more educated than dog owners. That’s according to a study carried out by Bristol University. A poll of 2,524 households found that 47.2% of those with a cat had at least one person educated to degree level, compared with 38.4% of homes with dogs. It is put down to the fact that those who work longer hours are generally in better qualified jobs but that these people find their lifestyle makes owing a dog impractical so opt for a cat instead.

An Austrian millionaire is giving away his fortune after realising it doesn’t make him happy. Karl Rabeder who is worth around £3 million is gradually disposing of his fortune. He has put his £1.4 million villa up for sale and is also in the process of selling his farmhouse, six gliders and an luxury Audi. The proceeds of the sale will all be going to charities which he has set up in Central and Latin America. Once everything is sold he will move into a small wooden hut in the mountains or a bedsit.