Admire orchids
This is the golden age for potted orchids such as the Paphiopedilum. We all used to think of these as hothouse prizes, but one of the benefits of central heating is that they can quite easily be grown on a north-facing kitchen windowsill. Pour rainwater weekly through the open compost, and stand the pot on a bed of grit kept moist, although never wet. The flowers command attention, emanating an alluring, foreign beauty, and occur about now, for a fortnight or more, making an unbeatable centrepiece for the breakfast table.
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Tim Burton is selling the house he shared with Helena Bonham-Carter, a sublime home on the Thames that comes with three private islandsMill House in Sutton Courtenay, Oxfordshire, might just be the perfect English country home.
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Puffins and shearwaters, skuas and terns, gannets and gulls and guillemots and wings, these are a few of our favourite things (seabirds)From a heroic long-distance swimmer to a producer of spectacularly eerie sound effects, the seabirds seen swooping and diving over British waters have all manner of singular skills.
