Yeah, I saw a nice Norman in a shop over here a few months back - £180 and the best deal in the shop. Same time as a lovely 12-string which I really wish now that I'd bought, but I couldn't afford it at the time.

Jonm, have a look at second-hand Lowdens if you can find them (rosewood sides/back sounds best to most players I know, although the cedar/spruce top question is personal taste). You might be lucky enough to pick up one second-hand at about that mark, although the lefties will of course be rarer and more expensive than the "regular" variety. Just as playable as a Taylor, but much more depth of sound to them - basically they're about the ideal fingerstyle guitar. New Lowdens unfortunately are expensive.

Avalons are very similar to Lowdens and cheaper, so a solution might be to look at the better Avalons. I've played a few, and they're lovely guitars. (Note that there's a complicated bit of legal stuff involved between George Lowden who used to work for the company now called Avalon, and Avalon who used to be called "Lowden Guitars" until GL left - very bitter infighting, but lovely guitars!) Not at all impressed by Martins for fingerstyle though - you can do much better than that.

Two good places to look - Coda Music in Stevenage and Luton, and The Guitar Centre in London. Both have good ranges of mid-high end guitars.

Graham.

PS. Disclaimer - I'm a Lowden owner who's sorted GAS by having a 6-string so lovely that I can't imagine buying another. :-) Won't stop me getting a 12-string/bass/mandola, but no more 6-strings... Incidentally, bought out of overtime bonus money too.