The number of second homes in the UK is expected to increase to more than 250,000 this year as the fashion for taking holidays in the UK grows, believes Knight Frank.
According to figures from the agency's research department, the number of second homes rose by 2.6 per cent in 2009, following a slight decline of 0.4 per cent in 2008. They estimate a further 2 per cent rise this year, taking the total number of UK second homes above a quarter of a million.
Head of research Liam Bailey says increased demand for self-catering accommodation throughout the year has enabled buyers to look on a second home as an investment rather than a luxury.
-
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.
-
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.
