Moving homes

An English man's unusual home in the East Midlands

The saying is "An Englishman's home is his castle".

And we seem to have reached the stage where many of us are shelling out enough money to have paid for a castle a few years ago.

But there is a way to get off the property ladder.

You can get rid of the mortgage and cut the running costs.

More and more people in the East Midlands are cashing in and opting for alternatives homes.

A quarter of a million people in the UK have sold their conventional property and bought a pre-fab house.

Park homes - an alternative to the traditional housing estate

Kath and Martin Redshaw decided to sell their three bed semi near Derby and opt for a Park Home.

Another option is life on the East Midlands canals. Narrow boats have become a top selling alternative home.

Buyers can sail-a-way their new boat from around £50,000, making them an affordable option for first time buyers.

Many alternative homes are ones people have built themselves.

Jerry Harrell had to sell his families conventional house and live in a caravan for three years while building an environmentally friendly home.

It's energy efficient and saving him a small fortune. But owning a house which is different could be a gamble… not everyone wants to live the unconventional.

Links relating to this story:

• Self-build ABC
• Floating Homes Boats
  
• Building for Life

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Transport cafes

The final fry up? Is time up on the transport cafe

The great British Transport Caff we affectionately call "the greasy spoon" is in decline.

They're being knocked down or bought up by big business.

Rowland Rivron set out on the open road to meet the owners who may be about to serve their final fry up.

Links relating to this story:

• Transport Cafe
  Classic Cafes
  

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Pagans

Ancient tradition in modern England

One of the fastest growing religions is also one of the oldest.

Paganism is often viewed with suspicion, distrust and even fear.

Yet there are now a million people worldwide who follow it.

Perhaps that doesn't compare with two billion Christians or 1.3 billion followers of Islam, but that's more than Rastafarianism or Scientology.

So we asked one believer from the Midlands to explain his beliefs and tell us why finding the perfect pagan priestess is so important.

Links relating to this story:

• bbc.co.uk/insideout
  
• bbc.co.uk/religion
• Glastonbury Order of Druids
  The Druid Grove

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external websites