Fancy a spacious two-bedroom garden apartment in Mill Hill? Ridgemont, a development by Countryside Properties and Annington Homes, is now offering garden apartments and a pair of these, on the ground floor, has just been released. They are due for occupation in March 2010 and have been brought to the market early, as so many apartments have already been sold at Ridgemont since the start of the year.

Anthony Silver met his future wife, Marianne, in 1981, when they were both working in London. He was director of sales in a trading company and she worked for a multi-national pharmaceutical company. They sold their house in Muswell Hill, north London in 1993, through estate agent Winkworth, to pursue a common dream — of running a gîte business in France.

They chose a house in the Tarn, called le Manoir de la Maysou. They felt that the area offered the perfect blend of warmth, countryside, delicious food produce and a local international airport, Toulouse.

Developer Crest Nicholson has unveiled the final phase of its Kilburn scheme, The Academy, a refurbished Edwardian college with two apartment buildings. In the final phase, the West Wing will offer one- and two-bedroom apartments over five floors. Selected apartments will have access to large terraces with views as far as Queen’s Park.

Worried that property prices may fall still further? Housebuilder Fusion Residential isn’t. Indeed, Fusion is so sure that prices will stay up, it is guaranteeing re-sale prices at Chenies Place, in Arkley, Herts.

Called Cenoption, the deal is based on a “put option”, as in the financial futures market. The concept is provided by finance company Centrila.

Secondary retail properties producing high-income streams sparked competitive bidding at Andrews & Robertson’s residential and commercial property auction, as enthusiastic buyers chased keenly priced stock in London and the South East.

Prices at London’s New Connaught Room sale on June 4 averaged 20 per cent above guides, raising totals of £17 million, as 70 per cent of 107 lots found buyers, against £7 million and 65 per cent in April.

Stanmore agent Anthony Breslauer is looking for a buyer with the “vision and passion” to refurbish a five-bedroom art deco house in Valencia Road, Stanmore, Middx. The property has been in the possession of three generations of the Italian family who bought it in the 1930s. The story begins with Attilio Azzali, who moved to London’s Kings Cross in 1926 to escape a famine in the Apennine region. From small beginnings, Mr Azzali opened the first of his three London restaurants close to Victoria Station in 1929.

The Mansion on Courtenay Avenue is one of the most glamorous newly built properties for sale in London. Priced at almost £30 million, developer Anil Varma of Harrison Varma reports good interest in it from UK including local, Russian and middle eastern buyers, though “none have made offers that are yet acceptable,” he says.