KEN and Deirdre’s Welsh caravanning holiday is my new highlight of 2014. First Deirdre had a staring competition with a sheep and lost, then Ken and Deirdre went for a walk and were chased by a bull, except they didn’t get chased and it was actually a cow.

Then, and by now I’m falling off the sofa, Ken and Deirdre play snap in their caravan but you can hardly hear the dialogue because of the sound of sheep raucously bleating in the background.

It sounded like the sheep tent at the Wensleydale Show, which incidentally takes place next weekend, just on the outskirts of Leyburn. Fun for all the family or your money back.* I am only sorry that Ken did not stand in some cow muck and a shotgun waving farmer did not shout “Get offa my land” at them, meaning all countryside cliché bingo boxes would have been ticked.

The producers did get one thing right though. Deirdre resorted to a well-tried coping mechanism for country living by necking the best part of a bottle of wine before Ken agreed to take them home to civilisation.

Back in the Dales, whether it’s the summer or the Tour or people just sick of living in the area, there seems to have been an explosion of houses being put up for sale.

We counted seven on the market in tiny Healaugh at the weekend. I tried to find out what percentage that was of the total Healaugh housing stock, but the most recent figures available were from the 1870 census.

Back then there were 61 houses in the village. I tried counting chimneys on Google Earth and there looks to be around the same or perhaps even fewer homes in the village 144 years later.

All this means that around ten per cent of houses in the village are currently on the market, which seems a lot for a pretty village which, according to reports, has an excellent internet service.

* Not actually true. Although admission is reasonably priced, it will probably not be refunded if you fail to enjoy yourself.

Feel free, however, to write to your equally reasonably-priced weekly newspaper and tell us about your experiences. Please note that it is now customary to start all letters with “I agree with Joe Willis”.