The cost of keeping warm in an old house
Just over a week ago my wife and I were pacing the bare wooden floor of our sitting room wearing hats and scarves. It was -2C outside and, clearly, not much warmer inside. We had a fire lit and the central heating going full blast, but did it make any difference? No. As we shivered, our thoughts turned to the scene in Withnail and I in which Withnail, overwhelmed by the intense cold of Monty?s farmhouse, remarks that they ?might as well sit round a cigarette?.

Your Space ? Historic homes
From this day forward, the phrase ?museum chic? shall be added to our vocabulary. A group of six historic homes in London have opened their doors to the public and offer a first-hand peek at the best of vintage designs and retro decor ? and all without having to use awful words such as ?vintage? and ?retro?.

Street wise
It?s been a shaky start to the year, says Hometrack, the data company, which reports an increase of 0.3 per cent in prices in February. London continues to surge, with prices up by 0.7 per cent, the biggest monthly increase since themarket height in June 2007. The number of sales agreed has risen on average by just 10 per cent, compared with an average 30 per cent in February in each of the past eight years. Registrations are down (a rise of 8.3 per cent, compared with 14 per cent for the same month over the past eight years). A shortage of supply has pushed prices up but Hometrack warns that as more homes come on the market, they will sell for less than the asking price.

Can retail-led development succeed once prices recover?
The belief, widely touted in the Noughties, that ?retail is therapy? has left hundreds of thousands of people in a morass of debt. But it is now emerging that it was not only individuals who were relying on the reinvigoration that, apparently, only shopping could produce. Town halls also became hooked on the transformative power of stores, viewing retail-led development as the way to regenerate a rundown city centre. There would be homes above the shops, plus libraries and offices that would bring jobs ? happy ever after in a carrier bag.

Brief encounter: Homeowner in the dark over the ?right to light?
Q have received a letter from my neighbours? solicitors saying that permission for one of my windows was granted under a ?licence?, which has expired. My neighbours no longer agree to me having the window or any ?right to light? over their land. I am puzzled by this, as my window is two storeys above my neighbours? house. All I can see through it is their roof. Must I lose my view?

Cool corners: where are the next Carnaby Streets?
What precisely is a vibe and how do you get one? What drives culture? Where does business flourish? Why are some places interesting, others deadly dull? Why did Chelsea move to Hoxton? Why is Cleethorpes not a creative centre to rival Barcelona? Why are computers positively erotic in Palo Alto, but dreary in PC World?

Chatsworth reopens to public with exhibition amid £14m restoration
The man who said the aristocracy was dead stood in the courtyard of Chatsworth House yesterday morning having the sort of conversation every ambitious homeowner has with their builder. ?So, how long will this take?? the 12th Duke of Devonshire inquired, nodding at the restoration work that has turned the stone of the great house from yellow and black to pristine grey.

We?re all in this together
What do you share with your neighbours? A cup of sugar? A dividing wall? Despair over the way that your recycling boxes always seem to be thrown back over the hedge?

Time and Place: Manda Scott
We moved to a new house in Eaglesham when I was 18 months old. At the time, it was wonderful and exciting to live in a brand new building. Ever since then, I?ve always tried to live in the oldest house I can find.

Ask the experts: the solicitor and the tech consultant
The solicitor

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