In the midst of the whole MPs’ expenses row it seems two particular cases have caught the public imagination (and fired their ire).

First it was the fantastically ‘up-yours-plebs’ moat cleaning claimed by Douglas Hogg and more recently it’s been the Duck Island purchased by Sir Peter Viggers.

The Twittersphere was all over it. First, @CountryLifeProp tweeted one of their archived articles on duck islands:

How to create a duck island a la Sir Peter Viggers post from our archive http://ow.ly/89RI

And then the @guardianeco posted a very cheeky:

Must-have duck houses for every budget http://tinyurl.com/qrzsmv

Well we couldn’t very well just stand by and watch, could we, what with our airborne canards logo and all? So we’ve donned our waders, pulled out the pondweed and proudly present:

5 Houses with Duck Ponds

5 bedroom house for sale: Rural Smarden, Kent

3 bedroom detached house to let: The Stables Tillycorthie Udny, Ellon, Aberdeenshire

4 bedroom house for sale: Killin, Stirling

Country House for sale: Montreuil Sur Mer, Pas-De-Calais, Nord Pas de Calais, France

2 bedroom flat for sale: Byron Close, Leicester, Fleckney, Leicestershire

After my slightly negative post last time around I have more positive news - the vendor has sorted the lease! Hurrah!

The agent just called and said that the lease has now all been agreed, probably another week of paperwork though, but he thinks that early next week he should have a better idea of the progress. (I took that to mean an exchange date, should really have asked that).

A really good friend of mine has whizzed through the process (we had offers accepted around the same time) and has exchanged already so I was getting a little jealous/worried.

Got in the other night and there was a wad of paperwork on my door mat from my solicitor.

I had been for a few wines and tried to work my way through it but probably need to revisit it as can’t remember a thing and probably need to do something. It looked like a draft contract - very exciting.

Not very good with lots of paperwork, get very impatient (and bored) but need to sit down and have a proper read.

This is important and serious stuff and I don’t want to be caught out with anything. But its not as exciting as thinking about kitchens and this really amazing wallpaper I have found!

My solicitor has been great (touch wood). The agent was unimpressed that I was using an online conveyancing service based in South Wales but they have been really efficient and they have an online system where I can log in and keep up to date with things.

Much better than making lots of phone calls. Just a lucky choice I guess, and hopefully cheaper.

Anyway, it is still happening and I am feeling really excited now.

I went to see the flat last week with the BBC cameras. The vendor had completely cleared the place and it was so nice to be able to see it again and have a good amount of time in there planning what to do with the space.

It was nice to still like it too! Every time I go back I get nervous that I am going to have changed my mind but I hadn’t. Just can’t wait to get in there.

I suppose you do notice more each time and I probably saw more work that needs doing this time round. It is only cosmetic though so not a major problem.

Just think I will take a week off work and try out my non-existent wallpaper stripping/painting skills. Should be interesting ….

Next thing on the list is critical illness cover. It is quite a chunk of money each month and I am not planning on becoming critically ill but it seems the sensible thing to do. Or is there loss of earnings cover? Would that be better?

Probably as expensive.

Think I need to research and shop around. Every penny is going to count.

Here’s a little something that’s bound to upset the folks over at housepricecrash.co.uk.

It’s from the last Land Registry report (actual sold property prices for March) and it may well be a very early sign that the housing market has hit the bottom and is starting to turn upwards.

Although house prices in England and Wales have fallen by 16.2 per cent year-on-year, the downward spiral seems to have halted, and (cover your ears house price crashers), in March prices actually rose in four regions.

London, interestingly, recorded the smallest monthly rise (0.6 per cent, the first such increase since March 2008) with the North East (1.8 per cent), the South West (1.1 per cent), and Wales (1.0 per cent) doing better.

Now it’s too early to say that this is the start of a property market revival … but would you bet against house prices being higher this time next year than they are now?

Here at Winging It we like to know what’s going on in the housing market, so our feathery ears pricked up (no idea if this is ornithologically accurate…) when we heard of an interesting new trend: the rise of the ’secret seller’.

Stacks Property Search tell us that a lot of estate agents are being approached by vendors and told ‘please sell my house, but don’t tell anyone it’s for sale.’

Their explanation for this phenomenon is plausible: good old fashioned social embarrassment.

It seems people don’t want to be seen failing to sell; and neither do they want the neighbours pointing at them on the street and laughing because they know what price they’re selling for, especially if they’re taking a knock on the price they bought at.

There are other reasons too, of course: exclusivity, cost cutting, the avoidance of time-wasters, and testing the price before they go openly onto the market at a reduced price.

That’s the theory, anyway, but I have to admit, this is the first I’ve heard of it. I’d be interested to hear from estate agents on the subject – is it really the case?

And what of vendors? If you’re a secret seller let us know why you’re doing it; and, more to the point, tell us how you’re getting on with the whole selling bit if no-one knows that your property is available.

Charles Taylor Wines – the leading supplier of fine Burgundy wines to the UK – are moving out of the London property they’ve had for the last eleven years.

That means their headquarters – a stunning five-storey, centrally located Georgian house – is on the market.

What with its 3,000-plus square footage, plentiful period features, sundrenched walled garden and private roof terrace, we don’t see them having too many problems selling, even in today’s slightly sober property market.

But as an added incentive, the company is offering £10,000 worth of fine wines to both the introducer and the eventual buyer, as well as an expert cellar consultation for the latter.

Click pic for full details

Personally, I know nothing about fine wines being perfectly content with a Sainsbury’s own-label Chardonnay myself.  And, sadly, I’m not in the market for a £1.4 million property even if it is freehold and in SE1.

But that doesn’t stop me from recognising that this is a jolly good offer indeed, and it takes care of supplies for the house-warming soiree, too.

Further details for purveyors of both fine wines and fine homes are available from the agent, Tim Rogers at Frank Harris & Co.

Browsing through property listings a few weeks ago I came across a picture of a house with a herd (if that’s the correct collective noun) of alpacas in the garden.

Apparently it’s quite the thing for the country set to have a few of these woolly blighters wandering round the paddock.

But the wheels of fashion – and social one-upmanship – are ever turning. Alpacas, it seems, are now oh so last season, and this year people with acres of lawn to keep trim are turning to wallabies as an alternative.

Yes, you read that right: wallabies – the hoppy little marsupials from Down Under.

According to The Times, suppliers are reporting a surge in demand (please note that I resisted the temptation to say jump) from homeowners keen to keep the grass in check.

Back in the day, this was done by a team of gardeners, or a flock of sheep, but in these credit-crunched times gardeners are expensive, and sheep, well, let’s face it, they’re just a little bit common (and dumb with it).

Wallabies, on the other hand, are cheap, amusing and, apparently, very good with children.

They have the added advantage of making you look like a genuine English eccentric - “Old Binky … capital fellow, but absolutely bonkers. Pair of wallabies in his grounds, you know.”

Mind you, if you want to really make a statement, take inspiration from Dante Gabriel Rossetti who back in the day kept quite a menagerie in his garden: monkeys, armadillos, gazelles, peacocks, a kangaroo, a wombat, and a large black bull.

Apparently he yearned for an African elephant to complete the picture. Rossetti, incidentally, lived at Cheyne Walk, London SW3.

Now that wallabies are de rigeur, I’m sure Kensington  & Chelsea council would look sympathetically on a recreation of that particular project.

Today’s report from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors shows a rise in buyer enquiries, a rise in sales agreed, more optimism among surveyors about house prices, and a fall in stock levels.

I had a chat with our statisticians this morning, and our own numbers echo this:

•    In April, enquiries to estate agents were up 6.4 per cent over the month

•    In May, the number of properties for sale listed on FindaProperty.com fell by five per cent. Stock levels have been falling since February and are down 13 per cent since then.

•    Asking sales prices are up one per cent month-on-month.  This is the largest monthly percentage increase seen since before Jan-08.  May is the second successive month that we have recorded a rise in asking prices.

I’d hesitate to call this an out and out  recovery, but the lines on the graphs are definitely beginning to move in the right direction.

If you’re a buyer sitting on the sidelines take note: the window of opportunity is beginning to close.

Congratulations to Emma Rushin, winner of the Walkers Crisps “Do Us A Flavour” competition to come up with a brand new flavour for the nation’s favourite potato snack. 

Emma’s winning creation is called Builders Breakfast which she describes as a “mouth-watering combination” of bacon, buttered toast, eggs and tomato sauce. 

(In a crisp??? Hmmm.  I’ll think I’ll have to take her word for it…)

But it seems that our Emma’s had a secret ingredient in helping her concoction become the new crisps on the block: she’s had the hefty backing of none other than the Federation of Master Builders (FMB). 

That’s around 12,000 builders who have been behind (ahem) the flavour from the start and have been voting in their droves for Emma to win.

Meanwhile the FMB itself has shown support by featuring branded packets of Builders Breakfast at various exhibitions such as the National Homebuilding & Renovating Show.

So it was happy endings all round when Builders Breakfast was proclaimed the competition winner.

The builders now have a handy portable version of their favourite brekkie and Emma will receive a share of the profits from sales of her crisps – which she hopes to put towards purchasing her first home.

I’m thinking a new-build property is the only real choice here…

Interesting interview with Robin Bew of the Economist Intelligence Unit on cantosTV.

Bew sees some signs of improvement and reckons we may be close to the bottom, a sentiment that echoes a lot of the recent commentary on the housing market.

Oh, but hang on (cough) - I’m feeling a little feverish. Could that be swine flu? And if so, will it return us all to the Middle Ages? Click play to find out …

Here’s a top offer from a top hotel group.

Principal Hayley Hotels have launched an “Open to Offers” competition where the (very, VERY) lucky winner will have their mortgage or rent paid for a year.

Even better, entering is a breeze - all you have to do is fill in your name, email address and postcode on the “Open to Offers” page on their website.

They’ve said there’s no catch.  I’ve looked at the T&Cs and I can’t find a catch.  I don’t think there is a catch.  So go, sign up now, and good luck to one and all.

(Thanks to Anna at Halpern Cowan for letting us know about this competition.)