From the Front Line

It was nice to see so many self-builders and renovators braving the tropical weather at last weekend's Sandown Park Homebuilding & Renovating Show. It was the H&R travelling roadshow's first visit to Sandown Park in, I think, 7 years, and a real success. Stationed on the Ask the Experts stand during the weekend it was, as usual, interesting to hear your questions.

One of the hidden mechanics of the show is hearing all of the experts' various hotel details. This year I was booked into a very nice hotel in nearby Weybridge which, according to a signed photo in their reception area, had been used by the Lazio football team in 2000, when they were managed by a certain Sven Goran Erikkson. When I realised that my bed could have previously been used by Sven himself I couldn't help but imagine what kind of workout ot had been subject to and struggled to sleep. It could have been worse. David Snell and Sally Tagg, the magazine experts, were booked into a Premier Inn that had been taken over for the weekend by a Hell's Angels convention. David assures me they are very nice people.

 Watching the Glastonbury highlights reminded me of an interesting recent self-build news item. It turns out that the festival organiser, Michael Eavis, is a pretty accomplished self-builder. He won top prize in his local council's Built In Quality Awards service for his recently completed new home. I bet Bruce Springsteen was impressed.