Holiday cottage news and editorial

New chapter at Agatha's house

Agatha Christie’s holiday home in Devon is to get a £2.2 million renovation, says the National Trust.

Greenway House, near Brixham, was given to the trust in 2000 by the crime writer’s daughter, Rosalind, but until now only its 30-acre garden and 278-acre estate have been open to the public.

When the renovation scheme has been finished, a part of the house’s ground floor will be open to visitors, and sections of the top two storeys will be available as self-catering holiday accommodation.

The work will take at least three years, but tours for visitors are planned during this period, and the gardens will remain open.

“It is important that visitors to Greenway understand its history and the many characters who lived and enjoyed this magical part of the Dart Estuary,” says Robyn Brown, Greenway’s property manager.

Tel 01392 881691
www.nationaltrust.org.uk

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Eden is the people’s choice

The Eden Project in Cornwall is Britain’s best modern building, according to a YouGov poll. Built in a former clay pit, it was the clear winner with 21 per cent of the 2,039 votes cast.

Isabel Allen, editor of The Architects' Journal, said the Eden Project was radical and unusual, but also organic.

"It really locked into the spirit of the time," she said. "The project's ecological agenda, space-age appearance and beautiful countryside setting really appeal to a very broad audience."

The 10 top moderns

1. Eden Project, Cornwall
   
2. 30 St Mary Axe (the ‘Gherkin’), London
3. McLaren Technology Centre, Woking, Surrey
4. Great Court, British Museum, London
5. Gateshead Millennium Bridge
6. Cardiff Millennium Stadium
7. Millennium Bridge, London
8. Scottish Parliament, Edinburgh
9. Selfridges, Birmingham
10. Tate Modern, London

Rural Retreats – one of Britain’s leading specialist cottage and country house holiday letting agencies – has a new chief executive. He is Alex Holmes, who has extensive experience of both the private and public sectors of the tourism industry. He has worked for Thomas Cook Holidays as European Product Manager and has held senior tourism posts with Leicestershire and Cheshire County Councils.

Alex joins Rural Retreats from South Warwickshire Tourism Ltd, which he established with local councils and private companies to promote Shakespeare Country.

He succeeds Nick House, who was the agency’s chief executive for 13 years and who has set up his own holiday homes consultancy.

Apple orchards forever

The sight of apple and pear orchards billowing with blossom – a quintessential part of the rural landscape in counties like Somerset and Herefordshire – will be with us for the foreseeable future say fruit growers.

There were fears that orchards would be lost when they were not included in the new single farm payment scheme. But, after a vigorous campaign, growers now receive the payment – or at least those whose orchards comply with conditions.

The EU had left it up to individual countries to decide who qualified for the payments – which replace earlier Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) schemes. There was outrage when the UK government left out orchards. Many predicted growers would ‘grub out' trees, replacing them with crops eligible for a grant.

"The result would have made our fruit growing counties look like all the rest," says Somerset cider and cider brandy maker Julian Temperley, whose local parish council campaigned alongside English Nature and Friends of the Earth.

"A traditional orchard is like a cathedral. They are ancient places full of rare and ancient fruits. If we lose our orchards we lose a huge part of what we need. What we were faced with was not a farming problem but an environmental problem, a wildlife problem, a gene bank problem, and a landscape problem."

The government's change of heart was also welcomed by holiday cottage owners and renters, particularly in the main fruit-growing counties of Kent, Herefordshire and Somerset.

"Apple orchards blossoming in the spring are a special part of our landscape," said Somerset cottage owner Val Johnson. "It would have been a tragedy if these orchards had been lost.

Herefordshire grower Tom Oliver said: "It's not only good news for our landscape but for the environment."

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The multi-million make-over

A £44.5 million redevelopment project for Edinburgh’s Royal Museum (pictured) will see 16 new galleries built between 2007 and 2011. They will house exhibitions showcasing world cultures, a gallery for international touring exhibitions and a learning centre.

“The major development project will re-invent the Royal Museum for the 21st century,” said a spokesman. “Currently, valuable exhibition space is given over to storerooms and few people see more than a fraction of the collections.”

More than 70,000 sq ft of additional exhibition space will be created, doubling the number of objects on display. The Heritage Lottery Fund is to contribute £16.8 million towards the cost. www.nms.ac.uk

• Going to a gallery is the perfect antidote to stress, according to research done at the University of Westminster in London. A group of 28 business high-flyers were sent to the Guildhall art gallery in their lunch break, when their stress levels – measured by the concentration of the cortisol hormone in their saliva – fell by 45 per cent in 40 minutes.

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