You're quite right Teribus, I work/worked for all of the big estates in this area, and now they are all hock deep in debt, many with huge outlays on property maintenance, many cannot even get rid of their white elephants as they are tied up in family trusts.
They cannot afford to pay staff on upkeep the properties and are selling off the cottages to pay bank charges.
I was talking to one the other day and he said he envied me my wooden semi and no money worries......a first class bloke, a bit of a celebrity in his day, known one another from childhood.