I already had a Land Rover Series III back then.
Wish I had it now!

I'm still frankly amamzed at the number of customers I visit that have a "spare" 4x4 parked on the drive. Husband & wife use standard cars for the standard commute, then as soon as the white stuff comes down, the Audis and Mercs are on the drive and the Landy, Range or Cayenne are missing

Well, I had the SIII and then a Disco (for a while I had both, the SIII was like a member of the family).
But even the Disco guzzled too much to use for driving to projects .... and the SIII, well, you didn't want to drive long distances in that without ear protection and a mortgage for the fuel (despite the freewheeling front hubs and the Fairey overdrive).
Now I just drive what's basically a comfy sofa ... which is, as sofas are, lousy in snow.

So it's cheap because of the lack of amenities?

I was starting to think it was either full of rough criminal types or i've lived down south too long and lost touch with reality.

That ... and the cost of getting to anywhere with those amenities ... that's about all I can think of because some of the villages are bloody gorgeous.


That is always a possibility of course.


It certainly was with us when we returned, we couldn't believe the prices ... we could (effectively) swap a one-bedroom flat in the East End for a large house oop North.
So we did.

And ... AND ... it meant getting to see more rugby that didn't involve the Broncos.