I am refurbishing a property near Cambridge and to strengthen my hand with an unenthusiastic banking system I asked some estate agents to come in and value the place in its present half-finished state and once it is finished.  It is quite a project – grade 2 listed, conservation area, part Georgian, part older, huge walled garden and a stable block dating back to goodness knows when. Two years ago it seemed like the sort of project people would have given their eyeteeth for; I was only able to buy it because members of my family have owned it since the 1930s.

I opened the conversation by saying that, of course, I knew the market was terrible. It turns out that for this part of the world at least that gloomy assessment is well wide of the mark. It would be an exaggeration to say that the property market in Cambridge and its immediate environs is on fire but it is far healthier than would be expected from reading the national press.

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