Dave I kinda agree that living on a boat can be fun and it was a unique development.. think people are more frustrated about a few developments showing a lack of environmental sensitivity in recent years in a very busy place.
Would you be able to elaborate on the 'cottages which appeal to us'? What is it about the current accomodation options which doesn't suit.
Hi FMOP (if I may call you that
). I can, but it's a long story. Actually, I posted a collage of cottages we used in 2019 in Reply#78 above which includes our favourite type - the grass-roofed 'hobbit house' - although castles are great too!
I mentioned earlier that we've done a lot of cruises. Our first was a short cruise in 2004 which we did because I emigrated to Australia by ship as a child and I wanted to relive the experience. We loved cruising, but after years of camping holidays it seemed very expensive so at first we booked the cheapest inside cabins. As time went by, we went for ever better cabins until we were spending a great deal on our two-week summer cruises. Eventually, we tired of cruising and because we'd started to walk for pleasure we discovered that we could get absolutely fantastic cottages in Scotland for a lot less than we'd been paying for cruises. Although I'm retired, my wife still works full-time and our summer holiday has to be special - the cottage we choose isn't just a base from which to walk, but it's a summer holiday that we look forward to all year. And I'm afraid that's why any old cottage in the Lake District (of which there are many!) isn't what we're looking for.
By the way, I totally understand how people feel when new developments spoil a previously lovely, unspoilt area. About half-a-mile from where I live, diggers are moving in to start work on a huge housing development on a place called Duncan Down - a meadow on a hillside with amazing views to the sea and Whitstable. Until recently I walked across the meadow regularly, but it's now fenced off. About four miles away, local people are fighting to save a wonderfully atmospheric stretch of marshland ,which is home to vast numbers of migrating birds and other wildlife, from becoming the UK's largest solar farm. Now, I mention these examples because I walk in these areas a lot and the changes will have a huge impact on the local environment and local people. But... I don't for one minute expect people who live hundreds of miles away to care about what's happening on the North Kent coast as much as I do...