Man and Van in Harbledown

A slope takes the trolleys out of the job. On the level a heavy chest of drawers is a one-person push; up a Harbledown lane it is a two-person carry with a rest in it, and a sack barrow is more hazard than help going down. So the same house here needs more hands than it would on a flat street.

We would rather send the extra person than have two people take twice as long and finish tired. It reads as a slightly higher quote and it is usually the cheaper way round, because the hours are what the day actually costs.

A good number of properties here sit well back from the lane behind hedges, trees and a length of drive that a long vehicle cannot always use. The distance from the tailgate to your front door is the number that matters, and it is not something we can guess from a postcode.

Tell us roughly how far back you are and whether the drive takes a van, and we will size the job properly. Where the drive will not take one, we plan the carry from the nearest safe point on the lane instead of finding out with a full load.

Harbledown is really two settlements that met. The older part around the church is cottages and lanes; the edge running towards Rough Common and St Dunstan's is later housing with more room and better parking, and it moves much more like a city suburb.

Both are straightforward once the access is understood. It is only the assumption that a village address means an easy one, or that a suburban address means a tight one, that causes trouble, so we ask rather than assume.