Fabulous TV finale

Featured in our last show:
Presenter Alistair Appleton says that now is a terrific time to rent, especially if you are a single metropolitan type. Central Bloomsbury is a fantastic choice. Once dowdy and full of tired Georgian houses used as offices, the whole area has been undergoing a spectacular revamp.

The renovated Brunswick Centre is London’s answer to Paris’s stylish Beaubourg, with shops, a great piazza and a rapidly growing café culture. The British Museum is on your doorstep and Bloomsbury sits inside the congestion zone, too, so you can walk anywhere — and rents are about 40 per cent lower than in Soho.

Alistair also looks at the growing New York trend for lateral conversions sweeping the capital, making stylish one-floor apartments ideal for open-plan living. He meets Gerda, whose top-end pad features backlit onyx walls, suede and a fairy-tale bedroom starring a white leather four-poster bed.

Undaunted by the cost of such luxury, our bargain crusader Alison Cork goes in search of feature items for a lot less cash, finding backlit panels that can be made to look like onyx for £450 a square metre instead of £1,200, a white leather bed and a black-glass chandelier for only £395, by going direct to a trade outlet.

Finally, gardener Andy Sturgeon shares his tips for working with nature and making the best of your garden, turning adversity into opportunity. For shade, his favourite plant is pretty, small, blue-flowered liriope muscari, and instead of using Leylandii as a screen, eucalyptus or bamboo are much more attractive.

What have you enjoyed most in this series? Let us know by emailing homesandproperty@standard.co.uk, putting H&P TV in the subject line.

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Presenters

Alistair Appleton has a wealth of property knowledge from his established television career. He will be showing us the best locations to live in the capital and opening the doors to some of London’s most inspirational homes.

Alison Cork: following the success of Alison’s weekly ‘Really useful ideas & bargains’ column in the Evening Standard, Alison teaches us how we can all get homeware for less.

Andy Sturgeon is a Chelsea RHS Gold medal winner and gardening writer for the Guardian newspaper. He is the author of two best-selling books and lectures internationally on garden design.

Jo Eccles is the founder and director of leading property search company, Sourcing Property. She is seen as an area property expert and is frequently asked to comment on all aspects of property from interior design trends to market behaviour and prices.

Cathy Strongman is a freelance architectural journalist and author, contributing to various publications, including Homes & Property, the Architects' Journal, Grand Designs Magazine and House & Garden. Her latest book, The Sustainable Home, was recently published by Merrell.