Monthly Archives: September 2011

Shana Tova

Wishing You A                                                                                             Happy & Prosperous New Year

 

Flowers supplied by Love & Gratitude

Call Alison on 020 8209 3003                                      http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Hausman-Holmes-Limited/176355375711072

 

Ever been to Crounch End???

The cast of new BBC drama The HourHornsey Town Hall in Crouch End may not be a Madison Avenue skyscraper but this distinctively-shaped and mildly brutalist 1930s building is set to become almost as famous when the BBC’s answer to Mad Men screens next week.

The site is about to undergo an £18 million makeover, which will include the full restoration of its main areas as well as a new art house cinema, exhibition space, bar and cafe. But the facelift will also include, subject to planning, the creation of some 120 Crouch End homes on land that surrounds the site – the sale of which is said to be paying for £10 million of the renovation costs.

The new drama, called The Hour, follows the British TV industry in the 1950s and while Mad Hornsey Town HallMen’s actors could luxuriate on set in huge trailers, residents of Crouch End were disturbed by nothing more than a grubby BBC wardrobe trailer outside their local hall, according to the local paper.

Stars of The Hour  include actors Dominic West fromThe Wire, Romola Garai, Ben Withshaw and Green Wing comedian Julian Rhind-Tutt who are pictured above inside Hornsey Town Hall.

It’s not the first time the building has been in the limelight. TV buffs will notice its striking shapes in shows including political farce The Loop, comedy series Peep Show and the spy drama Spooks.

In The Hour, Hornsey Town Hall takes the role of the BBC’s Lime Grove studios in Shepherd’s Bush, which was demolished in 1993. The Hornsey version is a local gem, listed in 1960. It hasn’t changed a bit since then and inside lies a time capsule complete with wood panelled walls, art deco styling and period lighting – perfect for the detail obsessed producers of The Hour.

Close to the original BBC studios at Alexandra Palace – the BBC relocated to Shepherd’s Bush in 1956 - the area of Crouch End has long been a haven for media and arty types. In the Crouch Endintervening years, it’s been largely left alone making it perfect for a small screen period drama.

Central Hornsey lacks a tube or railway station but does make up for it with a community feel – it’s got two butchers, a baker and a greengrocer. Thespian residents David Tennant and James McAvoy must like it for its bygone vibe although a Waitrose recently moved into the vacant Woolworths.

And while Crouch End is no Sunset Strip it does have a number of star-studded myths. This includes one about Bob Dylan. On his way to visit the home of The Eurythmics’ Dave Stewart, Dylan knocked on a local front door whose resident said ‘Dave’ would be back home soon and for Dylan to wait. ‘Dave’, a local plumber, had just finished a job and on returning home was overjoyed to find the music legend sipping tea in his front room.

NOISY Neighbours???

  Which do you hate most: noisy neighbours or rising energy bills? A three-bedroom property that has just come on to the market through Carter Jonas could save you the stress of having to decide. Being sold for £495,000, Cosh House is as remote as it is self-sufficient.

 

In fact the house is probably the remotest of any on the market at the moment. It lies in the middle of the Yorkshire Dales national park -25 minutes’ drive from the nearestvillage of Grassington and 20 miles north of Skipton – and is only accessible by 4×4 (ditches and deep puddles caused by the ford found on the land are the reason why a typical car just isn’t going to cut it). The closest neighbours are a mile-and-a-half away on one side and 10 miles away on the other.

“We have an acre of land, but there’s easily 10,000 acres surrounding my house,” says builder Edward Pickard, 29, who owns Cosh House with his wife, Amy, also 29, who works for an interior designer.

 

Cosh House is surrounded by countrysideThen there is the fact that there are no utility bills – this thanks to the £30,000 wind turbine that Pickard installed in the garden when he bought the property in 2003. It provides the couple and their two children – Heidi Rose, who is two, and 10 week-old Isabelle – with 90 per cent of the energy they need. This energy keeps the house toasty by heating the hot-water radiators and provides electricity for lighting. The other 10 per cent is provided by a back-up diesel generator, mostly used in the winter when there isn’t any wind. The diesel costs around £100 a year, and apart from that, the only other charge is council tax.

 

Cosh House kitchenThe Pickards bought the property for £100,000 when it was basically a shell: there was no electricity (the previous owners would use candles at night) and it was in a very dilapidated state. It took the couple two-and-a-half years to get planning permission and renovate the property. Not married at that point, the Pickards lived at their parents’ while the work took place. Getting the goods up the driveway was no mean feat.

 

The plan is to buy some land and build an ever bigger home, with another turbine, somewhere equally beautiful and eventful come winter-time. This year, in January, the Pickards were snowed in for two weeks straight, surviving on the surplus food they keep stocked for such occasions. Amy called her manager and said: “I’m sorry, but I don’t think I’ll be in work for a week or two.”

Future buyers beware:you’ll need a very understanding boss.