Time was when everything worth having was proudly stamped ‘Made In the United Kingdom’. These days, everyone seeks out stuff from Germany, Japan, Italy … anywhere, it seems, apart from here.

Well I like to think the Pound shrinking down like a sweater accidentally put in the hot wash to the new mini-Pound (a rare bit of good news for our hard working exporters, incidentally, and for our tourist industry) will also make people think more seriously as they did years ago about regarding for the Made In The UK mark as a good thing.

I happen to know we still make some fantastic stuff here. Which is why I’m now putting a lot of energy behind Lower Mill Estate’s newest venture … the unique BBC – British Built Cottage.

A short while ago, I commissioned Richard Reid to design ten houses using only UK-sourced materials and labour, from the windows, doors, rendering and light fittings right down to the smallest hinge in the kitchens.

There are the best part of 30,000 ‘parts’ in a house, and my mission and Richard’s was to get all bar the odd screw or electrical widget in the new cottages to come from these islands.

There are going to be ten of them, known as Orchid Village and we’ve already begun work on Richard’s designs.

They’re going to sell for £295,000, and will be completed by Spring of next year.

Even today, that’s a fairly amazing price, I’d say, and it’s possible largely because sticking with British materials and labour saves us something like a third on costs.

It’s been a while since it’s been possible to say that. I’m especially proud of our British cottages and I hope it gets other businesses thinking about similar kinds of initiative.