We’re easing gently into a new working week with a look at some of our favourite property blogs.

New to our roll of honour is Brickwork who, in their own words “exist to provide an insight into the world of prime and A-Z celebrity London bricks and mortar” – everything we love all rolled into one. Recent celebs under the spotlight include Frank Lampard (and his not-so-modest extension), Sienna Miller and Dawn French. They’re also highlighting some pedigree properties on the market, including 6 Victoria Square, the London house used in Howard’s End.

6 Victoria Square, for sale with Sotheby’s International Realty

Old favourites The Rat and Mouse have gone all celeb on us too this week, with the news that Elle ‘The Body’ MacPherson has finally sold her Notting Hill home, and that James May’s lego house met its match with a bulldozer.

Rich at 4Homes is also talking about James May’s lego house, along with advice on how to find a builder.

Over at Winging It, Mike’s graph of the week is based on the latest Hometrack survey, which looks at the house price recovery in recent months. Mike’s also exploring the kitchen of the future.

The Royals of Rent ladies are taking a look at the Knight Frank London Residential Review for Autumn 2009.

A Slice of the Property Cake’s Mr Jackson has found a former lighthouse keeper’s cottage for sale in Aberdeen. And he’s been rooting around on eBay again – this week he’s come across street signs being auctioned off by Westminster Council. The original Abbey Road or Covent Garden signs, anyone?

This chic three bedroom property in London, owned by the socialite Jade Jagger, has been on the market for about a year now. Has the reason it’s not selling got anything to do with the gold stripper pole that’s slap bang in the middle of the bathroom…?

The £1.5 million property is located on Keslake Road, Queen’s Park, where neighbours are reported to include the actor Daniel Craig and pop singer Lilly Allen – surely that’s a good enough reason to move in?

In this guest post, Liam Bailey, head of residential research for Knight Frank, shares his views on the Liberal Democrats’ proposed ‘mansion tax’.

The announcement by the Liberal Democrats that the party would impose a new tax on the owners of homes worth over £1 million offers an interesting solution to the perceived inequality in the UK’s taxation system, but raises a number of issues that many would claim are equally unfair.

Because average housing prices vary so much across the UK it would, in effect, be a tax on where you decide to live with a heavy bias against those residing in London and south-east England. Many London properties worth over £1 million are a far cry from what most people would consider a mansion. In some areas they might only be a modest terraced family house or even a flat.

In addition, a significant number of those owning such houses have been living in them for many years and have not financially benefitted from any increase in value. Indeed, for some older residents the tax could be a real extra financial burden.

There are also serious issues about how houses would be valued for the purposes of the tax. As the credit crunch has clearly shown, house prices are extremely volatile. A property worth £1 million last year may be worth significantly less today. The cost of both initial valuations and the resulting appeals would be welcomed by the property industry as a new source of income – but would make serious inroads to the actual tax-take.

The Lib Dems might also find the definition of a ‘house’ less than clear-cut. A house with 20 acres of land bought for £1.1 million could easily be seen as two parcels of property – the house valued at under £1 million and the balance attributed to the land.

Although it is easy to brush aside the proposal because it is unlikely to ever be implemented, it will only add to the growing perception held by those living abroad that the UK is becoming a high-tax environment for the successful.

Coming on the back of the bungled non-dom levy and the new 50 per cent income tax rate, the sign would be very clear – that the UK is not a location for highly paid or highly motivated people to come to.

Stamp duty and HIPS already discourage free movement of capital within the housing market and the mobility of the UK’s workforce. The spectre of another property tax is not what an extremely unsettled market needs.

Another week, another blog round-up. Here’s what’s been happening on some of our favourite property blogs.

The Real Estalker is continuing its relentless assault on the world of celebrity homes. This week Mad Men’s Betty Draper (January Jones) is under scrutiny, with her recent purchase of a sunny 1920s villa in LA.

There’s no recession at London’s Clifton Hill, says the Rat and Mouse. They’re referring to a story in the Independent on Sunday about 100 Clifton Hill, which has been restyled by interiors guru Kelly Hoppen and put on the market by Regal Homes for £12.5 million.

Over at A Slice of the Property Cake, Mr Jackson has been busy bargain-hunting on eBay. He found a lock-up shop in Blairgowrie for sale on there. Meanwhile he’s also been blogging about bad tenant number one (who likes his music very loud) and bad tenant number two (the 95-year-old who has become one of the oldest people in Britain to be evicted from her home after being branded “the neighbour from hell”).

Winging It’s graph of the week comes from their brand new House Prices and Affordability Index. It shows divergence in the marketplace: house prices rising at the upper end and falling at first-time buyer level.

The Royals of Rent ladies have come across a flat in the very heart of Soho that has just come on to the rental market.

And the resident historian at Chesterton Humberts has been delving into the past of Paramour Grange in Kent. The house has a Tudor-painted room dating back to 1603, which is believed to be linked with the accession to the throne of James I.

Happy reading!

The infamous Heather Mills, a certain Beatle member’s ex, has put her swanky London apartment on the billionaire’s row, The Bishops Avenue, up for sale.

Reported to have spent up £15 million on properties, holidays and staff wages, could this be a sign of Heather being affected by the recession?

Mills snapped up the three bedroom home for around £2.35 million at the end of last year and now it’s on the market for £3.75 million. Complete with indoor pool and gym, it would certainly be a great place to unwind after a hard day’s night.

Mills still has a home in Sussex and apartments in New York and Paris, so she’s not short of other places to stay.

If you fancy spending the weekend marvelling at some amazing feats of architecture, then we’ve got just the event for you. Open House is throwing open the doors of hundreds of London buildings on Saturday and Sunday, in the capital’s biggest architecture festival.

It’s a chance to get direct access to see some of the city’s best buildings – from eco homes and a Hindu temple to architects’ studios and a yacht club.

There are also  talks, tours, visits, debates and the opportunity to meet some of the people who design, construct and regenerate London. And the good news is all events are free.

Full details can be found here, but in the meantime, here’s our pick of buildings to visit.

Queen’s House
For history-lovers, this one is hard to beat. It was the first purely classical Renaissance building in Britain, reflecting a turning point in English architecture. It was built as the opulent summer villa of Charles I’s queen, Henrietta Maria. Much of the house’s original splendour remains – including the painted ceiling of the queen’s bedchamber and the Tulip Stairs.

The LuxPod
How’s this for ingenious use of space? The LuxPod, described as “a luxury room on the rocket hotel to Mars”, is a fully functional new-build studio flat measuring just nine square metres. Possibly the tiniest living space ever included in an Open House event, the LuxPod is “urban living of the future, perched atop a 19^th century building”. The owners have crammed it full of space saving items to maximise every single millimeter available.

15 and a half Consort Road
Fans of Grand Designs will recognise this one. Not only was it on the show, it was one of six voted as the nation’s favourite Grand Designs’ houses. And that’s not its only accolade – it was also shortlisted for the RIBA (that’s the Royal Institute of British Architects to you and me) Awards in 2006. Unique or unusual features, such as the opening roof (which you can just about see in the picture) and sliding bath, illustrate how constraints were overcome, despite a tight budget and an “unusable” brownfield site.

The Yellow Building
If you fancy a snoop around a commercial building, we’d suggest the Yellow Building – the 15,000 square metre landmark headquarters of fashion company Monsoon Accessorize. It’s a RIBA Award for Architecture winner for 2009, and is simply remarkable to look at. It has a striking top-lit atrium and a dramatic staircase running from top to bottom.

If there’s one thing Britain has an abundance of, it’s great views. From rolling hills to rugged coastline, we’re spoilt for choice when it comes to lush, green landscapes and beautiful countryside (well, at least our rainy climate is good for something).

We decided to celebrate Britain’s glorious countryside with our pick of the properties boasting beautiful views. We were hard pushed to narrow it down to just five, but we think you’ll agree the ones that made the cut are definitely worth shouting about.

5. Approximately 600 feet above sea level, this Grade II listed farmstead offers far-reaching views across the Chiltern Hills.

4. Our pick of the south west enjoys magnificent panoramic views over the Dart Valley to rolling Devon countryside and Dartmoor beyond.

3. Architect-designed with views in mind, this rather unique-looking cliff-top property offers views of the sea or the gardens from almost every room.

2. This chocolate box thatched cottage sits amongst open farmland. It has a newly built garden room, with near-panoramic views across some of the best of Hampshire’s countryside.

1. Our winner – the “royal box of golf” – sits within feet of the 18^th green of St Andrews Old Course golf club. Its balcony gives a grandstand view of the course, the first tee, the starter’s box and the clubhouse, framed by the West Sands beach (which you might recognise from the opening sequence of the Oscar-winning film Chariots of Fire). What more could you ask for?

Monday is here again, and with it comes our weekly blog round-up. Here’s what’s been happening on some of our favourite property blogs.

There’s an eclectic mix of musings over on the Rat and Mouse right now. Our favourites include the effects of the recession on the UK’s dog population, and how Jennifer Aniston thinks buying a house is like falling in love. As Jen has a reputation for being unlucky in love, we’re not sure what that says about her property portfolio.

Checking out the Real Estalker to see how the other half live is a favourite pastime of ours. This week, they’re snooping around the very modest (by celeb standards) New Jersey home of tennis ace Kim Clijsters and lamenting the woes of Nicholas Cage, whose Bel Air mansion has been sitting on the market gathering dust and price reductions for so long, the Oscar-winner has been forced to put it up for auction.

A Slice of the Property Cake’s Mr Jackson is advising how to sell your house in a buyers’ market. Perhaps Mr Cage should get in touch for a few tips.

Over on Winging It, Mike’s graph of the week looks at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors’ latest lettings market survey. Meanwhile Joss shares her pick of the farms currently on the market in this week’s five to view.

And Chesterton Humberts’ House Historian has been delving into the past of an unassuming terraced house in Chelsea, which was the former home of playwright Douglas Jerrold and artist Mary Moser.

Enjoy!

Ever fancied living like the Swiss Family Robinson in your very own tree house? I, for one, am a very big fan of tree houses – be it the one in Regent’s Park, the tree house hotel in Sussex or even the tree house bar that popped up in east London this week.

I got to thinking that I would rather like a property with a tree house in the garden. Here are some of my particular favourites…

Surrey – £2,695,000
This property doesn’t just come with a tree house in the grounds – there’s an all-weather tennis court as well. Add in the games room, and that’s all the entertainment you’ll ever need.  And the rest of the seven-bedroom four-bathroom house doesn’t disappoint either.

Devon- £2,000,000
This property was designed by architect William Hatchard-Smith for an American millionaire in 1929, but Hatchard-Smith liked it so much he later lived in it himself. The house might be beautiful, but the garden deserves a special mention – there’s a dedicated children’s entertainment area accompanying the tree house.

Wiltshire – £795,000
If jaw-dropping views are your thing, then take a look at this four-bedroom home overlooking Limpley Stoke Valley. There are direct trains to London Paddington so you’re not too far from the city, and you get a summer house as well as a tree house. Because sometimes having just one or the other simply isn’t enough.

It’s Monday morning, which means it’s time once again for our weekly blog round-up. Here’s what’s been happening on our favourite property blogs.

The Money Blog are talking about the suggestion from Foxtons founder Jon Hunt that the time to buy a home is when people stop discussing house prices. We’re wondering if that is ever likely to happen.

This week on A Slice of the Property Cake, Mr Jackson has been taking time out from coping with the torrential downpours that have been sweeping the north of Scotland to marvel at one estate agent’s plan to stockpile traditional lightbulbs in readiness for the ban. Entrepreneurship or plain madness – the jury is out.

The Royals of Rent ladies are eyeing up a new development opposite Jamie Oliver’s restaurant Fifteen in Hoxton, London. You can search for available apartments on Primelocation.com.

Rich at 4Homes has a tempting offer for anyone who fancies giving their home an overhaul. He’s calling for applicants for series two of Kirstie’s Homemade Home. Get in there quick!

And there’s more about Kirstie over at the Rat and Mouse. Apparently the usually unflappable Ms Allsopp threw a bit of a wobbly while on the London Eye recently, and was caught in the act by a couple of quick-thinking passers by on their mobiles. Rat and Mouse are desperate to see the footage.

Anyone up for a renovation challenge? Over at Winging It, Mike’s found a fantastic wreck of the week just begging to be converted – a grade II listed oast.

And finally, Chesterton Humberts’ clever house historian has been digging up the history on a Marylebone building with a World War II spying connection.

Enjoy!