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Protect your garden as well as your home this summer....
With the clocks now officially on British Summer Time and the first sign of some positive changes in the weather; it won’t be long before we're firing up the barbecue for lazy evenings and weekends al fresco.
In addition with the 2009 Chelsea Flower Show coming up, some of us will begin to focus our attention on our own outdoor areas, getting them ready in time for the summer, which will result in many brits spending £100’s if not £1,000’s of pounds on garden improvements this summer.
We all take great care in making sure our homes are secure and should the worst happen well insured, however the same cannot always be said for gardens. For example, the cost of a patio set, barbecue and garden heater can easily run into several hundred pounds, and that’s before counting the cost of any expensive shrubs, landscaping work or garden ornaments.
It’s strongly advised to take as much time and care thinking about the value of your garden as you would for the contents inside your home when searching for home insurance. Most policies will offer some garden cover as part of their standard offering however this can vary from a maximum limit of £500 to £1,000 although, many insurers will offer the opportunity to add on extra cover for an additional premium; for example; Barclay’s standard limit is £500, although for an additional fee of typically 15%-20% of the premium you can increase this cover to £1,500 and an extra £2,500 of cover for re-landscaping should plants be stolen or vandalised.
Although we have insurance to protect us from the unforeseen and unfortunate, we do have a responsibility to minimize a claim and as such when anything portable such as barbecues or heaters aren’t in use, lock them away securely in a shed or a garage. Likewise for more widespread protection consider installing security lights which act as a deterrent for any would be vandals or thieves.
The below table shows the most popular insurers and what they offer as standard for garden cover.
| Insurer | Garden Cover max limit |
| Halifax | £500 |
| Esure | £2,000 |
| Barclays | £500 |
| Tesco | £1,000 |
| Direct Line | £1,000 |
Click here to compare home insurance
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2009-04-16 16:57:16 © Moneyextra.com
| Issuer | Card Benefits | Typical APR | Next Steps |
|---|---|---|---|
 Barclaycard Platinum Credit Card with Balance Transfer |
0% for 15 months 2.9% Balance Transfer Fee |
15.9% APR |
|
 NatWest Platinum Card Current Account holder MasterCard |
0% for 15 months 2.9% Balance Transfer Fee |
16.9% APR |
|
| This offer is only available to existing NatWest current account customers | |||
 Royal Bank of Scotland RBS Platinum Card Current Account holder MasterCard |
0% for 15 months 2.9% Balance Transfer Fee |
16.9% APR |
|
| This offer is only available to existing RBS current account customers | |||
 Barclaycard Gold Visa 12 months BT |
0% for 13 months 2.5% Balance Transfer Fee |
19.9% APR |
|
 Nationwide Building Society Gold Visa |
0% for 13 months 3% Balance Transfer Fee |
16.9% APR |
|
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