I'm similar, Paul. I didn't really find what I was sort of looking for until about 1987 when I started trying to play the tenor banjo and going to Irish sessions. I'd done some Morris dancing stuff and trying to play the melodeon before that... Why? really because I found the Irish stuff I was hearing more exciting, interesting and challenging than the English stuff I knew at that time.

As for Eric saying "English, to me it's the best folk music in the world", I don't believe (at least these days) one country's folk music is better than another's by nature but there are differences that can lead one to generaly prefering one to another.