Good stuff Chris. Thanks. Well, the estate agent we spoke to was lying through his teeth - which we were pretty certain of at the time anyway, but now - well, he was just an out and out criminal. And ALL the estate agents there have loads of these so called "building plots" on their books.

We hadn't originally planned to build. It seemed a better way of getting something rural, as there doesn't seem to be much about to buy (not what we're looking for anyway). I'm certainly going off the idea now, big time.

Another couple of questions, Chris, if I may. Is this why we see so many farmhouse type properties in the countryside, in ruins? Because you can't get permission to restore them? We have been told that it's not possible to get permission to restore if the property is in less than 10,000 sq m, but we've seen quite a few that seem to be in a bigger plot than that, sometimes not even a major restoration project, and thought there must be a reason why it hadn't been snapped up for restoration.

Finally, we have seen ads for plots with "pre-authorisation". Is this the equivalent of outline planning permission?

Thanks so much. I'm certainly glad I joined this forum, you've all been great.