Recovery hopes - The Guardian, Martin Wainwright 12/02/09

The housing market is torpid but South Shields has stirred a bit of activity by marketing a new line of "upside-down houses" in Amytis Gardens, an impressively eruditely-named street. Amytis was a fifth century BC Persian princess described by ancient Greek historians as the most beautiful and licentious woman in Asia, although they are silent on whether she visited South Shields.

If she had done, she would have made for the ground floor in Amytis Gardens, because that's where this new style of terrace house has the bedrooms. The rest of life goes on upstairs, with big windows, lots of light and nice views. The Shields gazette reports that the Gardens' actual gardens are laid out on top of the houses' garages, so everything is topsy-turvy.

The first show houses had 250 visitors over the weekend and the scheme's sales manager Sarah Jobling says that they were "thrilled". Moving up the hype gears, she added: "A lot of South Shields people have said it is exactly what South Shields has been waiting for." But she might have misheard them talking wistfully about the chances of Amytis calling by.