Anyone see Grand Designs last night? We’ve written about Earthships – homes made from tyres filled with rammed earth – several times in the past so it was interesting to see the process in action.

The couple involved said they wouldn’t get planning permission for this in Britain, but there is a development of Earthships planned in Brighton. Has it been scrapped, we wonder?

The Daddy of all Earthship developments is in Taos, New Mexico where Mike Reynolds, the wild eyed, long haired visionary who invented the off-grid tyre house, still lives.

British director Oliver Hodge recently made a brilliant documentary - Garbage Warrior - about Reynolds, an intense and driven character who rages apocalyptically in the desert like some denim-clad refugee from Woodstock.

Reynolds fought an epic battle with the local planners to build his eco-outpost, had his architecture licence taken away, and finally gained acceptance when he built homes for tsunami victims on the Andaman Islands.

He’s a contradictory, inspiring, and at times heroic figure, but he’s definitely not given to eco orthodoxies:

“If humanity takes the planet down the tubes … I’m dead! I’m just trying to save my own ass. And that’s a powerful force!”

Not quite on message with Friends of the Earth there, Mike …

Tearing down the highway on his motorbike, raging against government interference, building with old car parts  … this is an eco warrior you can actually imagine Jeremy Clarkson getting along with – and there aren’t too many of those in the world!

We’re all abuzz here at FindaProperty.com thanks to the launch of our new FindaProperty.com: Rental Index.

It’s the first comprehensive measure of rental asking prices available and has been prepared using a methodology devised by top housing market statisticians Calnea Analytics - they produce the official Land Registry index, so this, we’re happy to say, is a report you can really trust.

The graph powerfully demonstrates the relationship between supply and rents – as the first rises and rises, the second heads south.

Over the past six months the number of rental properties advertised on FindaProperty.com has almost doubled (up 43% between September 2008 and February 2009). Over the past month stock levels have risen by 8%. Rents, as a consequence, have fallen.

Check out the full FindaProperty.com: Rental Index in all its technicolour glory.

What’s happening to rents in your area? We’d love to hear from you.

Via our FindaProperty Twitter page I heard about an interesting url: http://www.kirstieslostring.co.uk/

Our resident SEO guru assumed it was a link to a dodgy porn site. He would.

Us naïve, simple, enlightened individuals know better. It’s a link through to a page broadcasting the fact that Kirstie Allsop has lost her engagement ring somewhere in Hackney.

The chances of finding it are probably as slim as Cheryl Cole, but we do like Kirstie here at Winging It. She’s like the posh older sister we never had, so we’re happy to help the search.

Once again, the url: http://www.kirstieslostring.co.uk/ - there’s even a reward!

We’ve been happily Twittering of late so it’s good to see us listed in The Times’ Top 20 British property profiles on Twitter.

Twitter ye not?  Well you really should check it out – it’s surprisingly addictive. We’re here - get in touch!

FindaProperty Twitter

At last, our reluctant moving saga is almost at an end, and I’m happy to report that great progress has been made in the past week, despite a bit of a false start.

Last weekend, we decided to postpone Valentine’s Day even though it was our first one as a married couple. (Should I be concerned…??!)

Instead, we’d invited some friends round ‘for a final Saturday night chez nous’ but with the ulterior motive of presenting them with a great big wad of newspapers and a pile of kitchenware to wrap up.

In retrospect, we should have started off the production line before we brought out the booze; in the end, not a jot of work was done but at least a jolly good time was had by all.

Somewhat inevitably, the ensuing hangover also rendered any packing activity on Sunday utterly impossible.

But panic, it seems, is a wonderful motivator, and we have been nothing short of magnificent in our efforts over the past few evenings.

True, we’d left ourselves with zero choice but to spend hours every night engaged in frenzied bouts of boxing-up – but adopting such a last minute approach has kept my emotions at bay which, believe me, is absolutely miraculous.

We’re also leaving our actual farewells until the very final moment: although we’re moving in to the new place tonight, we don’t have to hand in our old keys till tomorrow, so we’re going back then for a last – nooo, I can’t bear it!! - wander around.

Which means – for one night and one night only – we can claim to be part of the two-homes clique.  Just a pity we don’t own either of them…

This week’s linear action comes from our in-house statisticians who tell us that FindaProperty.com’s traffic has increased by 63.9 per cent since December 08 and currently stands at a whopping 2.8 million unique visitors.

Sales channel traffic is close to 2 million unique visitors and rental channel traffic stands at over 1.1 million unique visitors (some people visit both).

However, this monthly stat needs to be kept in context - scrupulous chaps that they are, our boffins point out that it’s partly due to December being a typically quiet month and January being a typically busy month.

That said, year-on-year visitor numbers are up by 11.9 per cent, which given current market conditions ain’t half bad.

We’ve been asking our users what makes a home … which made me think of this: Crosby Stills & Nash’s blissed out hymn to home life with the one you lurv.

Apparently Graham Nash wrote it while living with Joni Mitchell in Laurel Canyon way back in 1970 …  and you don’t get any more loved up and laid back than that.

Very sweet it is too, with a simple catchy chorus that, if this clip is anything to go by, seems to inspire collective crooning … so altogether now - sing along with the happy flower children!  …

“Our house, is a very, very, very fine house, with two cats in the yard…”

Send us your top home-related song suggestions/Youtube videos and we’ll post them here.

We’d love to know what home means to you, so please visit the main site’s What makes a home? page and post your views.

And soooo, the end is near, it’s time to faaaace, the final cuuurtain.

Oh god, that reminds me, I need to wash the curtains. Yet another thing to add to the ever-increasing list of Stuff To Be Done before we move out of our house in a week’s time.

Number one, of course, should really be packing.  But, CDs aside, we haven’t even begun to bung things into boxes.

This is not like me.  Normally by now, I’d be halfway through the process, tedious though it always is.

My aforementioned list would be shrinking not growing, covered in smug ticks of achievement.

And I’d probably have some colour co-ordinated labelling system in place to make the whole thing slightly less painful at the other end.

Alas, not this time. So I’m presuming that my utter lack of motivation is down to still being in denial over the impending move.

Sadly though, the reality is that time’s running out fast, especially as we have three storeys’ worth of possessions to pack up.

Plus the carpets need to be cleaned. The fridge defrosted. The oven scrubbed. And those goddamned curtains have to be washed.

Aaaaagh!  Does anyone know the ins and outs of Squatters’ Rights??

The guys from the Beeb came down last weekend and filmed me doing some embarrassing strolling along the beach, followed by some embarrassing staring out to sea (which I do before every viewing!).

But they were very lovely so I was happy to help out, smile while freezing, and enjoy my five minutes of fame!

Hopefully FindaProperty.com will get a decent mention.

After the “here’s Jane wandering in the Laines trying to look natural” bit the cameras tagged along for a spot of “here’s Jane viewing a lower ground floor flat” bit. Oh the glamour!

LGFs:  I’m not really a fan, which I confirmed this weekend, so that is something I now absolutely know and will keep in mind when short-listing properties to view in future.

The second flat we viewed is in a great location and is on at a great price but it had a very strange open-plan lounge/kitchen, so no second viewings for either of them.

That was that - though the producers foolishly left me with a camera to record random house-hunting thoughts… must resist temptation to press record if red wine has been consumed…

Since then I’ve seen something quite interesting. It’s been online for months and I haven’t really taken much notice of it as it’s under offer, but agent advises me that there’s still time to put in an offer before contracts are exchanged (bet the buyer will love to hear that!)

I rushed out in my lunch hour to see a 2-bed with a small open-plan kitchen/lounge which is nicely done out. Brilliant location too. But it is on the ‘compact’ side - ie:  v. v. small indeed.

I really want a place to fall in love with and somewhere I can enjoy (and swing a cat!) So while this place looks like a complete bargain and a really good investment it’s probably best to leave it to the cash buyers and start being ruled by my heart again, not my head.

I do have to live there after all.

Have got another flat to see which is top of my price range … and then some! I’ve only seen it on the site, but it’s ticking a lot of boxes so must do some big sums before I fall for it…

Oh, and must not feel pressurised into buying just to make good telly … unless, of course, the Beeb wants to make a mega donation to my deposit. Not likely!

Excluding us, obviously, and the blogs produced by our sister company Primelocation.com…

Here, in no particular order, are the ones I have hard-wired into my Google Reader.

1. Royals of Rent: Clever, engaging, and visually pleasing blog about renting in London.

2. Agent’s Diary: Wonderfully morose musings from 40-something London agent facing the downturn surrounded by “cretinous idiots”.

3. Theratandmouse: Short, sharp and witty: micro-blogging long before Twitter from the UK’s most successful property blogger.

4.  RenterGirl: Sparky, award-winning reflections on life as a renter in Manchester (now writing for The Guardian as well – respect!)

5.  Realestalker: Listen up children as Yo Mama delivers barbed kitchen-sink homilies about sleb props on the market.

6.  Letting Focus: Sensible, knowledgeable and opinionated posts from David Lawrenson, author of the UK’s best-selling buy-to-let book.

7.  Landlord Law: As the name suggests: Tessa Shepperson’s site and blog has a wealth of useful legal info for investors. Also very useful for tenants.

8.  House 2.0: Seriously brainy stuff from Mark Brinkely, author of Housebuilder’s Bible. Not too technical? His Eco Bollocks Awards should keep you amused.

9.  4Homes Blog: Multi-authored blog on various aspects of the housing market from the people who bring you Phil & Kirstie, Kevin McCloud, etc.

10: Brickonomics: Well informed, no nonsense blogging from Brian Green about trends in construction, property and housing.

Have we missed any? If so, send us your recommendations.