In a good example of life imitating soap opera its owner turns out to be

In a good example of life imitating soap opera, its owner turns out to be the actress who plays Caroline in the Radio 4 saga. It is not exactly an irresistible offer for most British buyers, but for investors who can afford it, now is a good time to buy.Anyone tuning in for The Archers tomorrow morning probably has an image of how Ambridge looks – pretty cottages and farms set in the rolling browns and greens of the Warwickshire countryside. Knight Frank & Rutley estimates that a two-bedroom flat in one of the smartest neighbourhoods would cost around £300,000. With Eurostar offering a three-hour service from London, should Paris be a hunting ground for British buyers?Only if they are very wealthy, would seem to be the answer. Even with the latest price falls, Paris is still more expensive than central London. While the London market began to emerge from the depression in late 1992, the Paris market has stayed depressed.A table published this month in Le Figaro shows prices per square metre in the Boulevard Saint Germain falling from a peak of Fr35,000 to Fr24,000.

It all sounds familiar, until you realise these gloomy comments apply to property in France, rather than Britain.The bubble burst in 1990, most spectacularly in Paris, where prices have fallen by up to 40 per cent over the past five years. The Alliance and Leicester hopes to break these down into more specific regions if the idea proves successful.This is the latest in a wave of innovations in the estate agency market. Its success will depend on the quality of the videos and how far they manage to capture the atmosphere of a property.House prices are low, mortgages are too expensive and there has been no improvement in the market over the past 12 months. The video is being sponsored by the Alliance and Leicester building society, which has 73 estate agency offices.

But the properties featured can come from any estate agent or from private sellers, who are charged £99 plus VAT to advertise on it.
Videos are organised on a regional basis: the North, South, East, West and Scotland. If you go out to Asda today, you could pick up a £2.99 video featuring details and pictures of up to 100 houses for sale. Customers view them at home and call a free number for more details. Mrs Bonny, a 41-year-old widow with two teenage children and a demanding job, simply did not have the time to do up a new house. “The place had been decorated and furnished so wonderfully, I knew straight away that it was where I wanted to be,” she said.Rectory Designs 0594 529766; Simmons Design 081-974 5974; Crosby Homes (Midlands) 0926 491111; Barratt Southern Counties 0483 505533; Try Homes’ apartments sold through Savills: sales office 071-585 0041.. To us now, it’s just a drag.”Christine Bonny in Weybridge felt similarly. Both women found houses which were furnished in a style they would have chosen themselves.

“Everything from our old house is too big to fit in here, so we had to start again. Doing up a house is fun once or twice, but we spent 10 years getting our last house right. But isn’t buying-in all your furnishings going a bit far, a bit like asking caterers to do your dinner party? Don’t the buyers themselves feel that it is rather impersonal?Vera Moreton is very pragmatic about it. “With both of us working, we just haven’t got the time to go looking for fabrics and furniture,” she said. Being good at interior design became a social requisite, like being a fancy cook or a wine buff. The offer led to five sales and a number of commissions for Simmons Design.Interest in interior design soared in the Eighties when everyone tried to make their tiny city terraces look like grand country homes.