ENGLISH COTTAGES WANTED

Not everyone suffers in an economic slump. Britain's recession winners include pizza takeaways, supermarkets, wood stove makers, cobblers, makers of sweets and …...wait for it.....holiday cottage rentals. Property finder, The County Homesearch Company, says rental bookings for holiday cottages have leapt 30 per cent from early 2008 to early 2009, because cash-strapped Britons have opted for a holiday on home shores this summer. The collapse of Sterling has made overseas holidays too expensive. What's more, more people want to buy a cottage says the company.

With prices for cottages 15 per cent down and mortgage rates falling, these properties are potentially lucrative for investors it says. Traditional “chocolate box” cottages in the Cotswolds, New Forest, South Cornwall and Pembrokeshire are most in demand from holiday renters. Some pundits warn prices for cottages will continue to fall for the remainder of 2009, because too few bankers and stockbrokers are looking for places in the country - their bonuses have been cut, because of the credit crunch.