Man and Van in Littlebourne

Plenty of homes here sit at the end of an unmade track through the fruit. Those surfaces are fine for a car and unreliable for three and a half tonnes with a full load on it, particularly after rain, and a van bogged down in an orchard is a long and expensive afternoon for everybody.

We look at the track before committing to it and, where it will not take the weight, run a shuttle with something smaller or plan a carry from the firm ground at the end. Neither costs much when it is planned. Both cost a great deal when they are improvised.

This is working country, and through late summer and autumn the lanes carry trailers, pickers and machinery that will not reverse for anyone. Meeting a loaded trailer on a single track with a Luton behind you is a slow business, and around harvest it is a likely one.

We build that into the timing rather than pretending it will not happen. If your date falls in the busy weeks we will usually suggest an earlier start, which is worth more than any amount of hurrying later in the day.

Around the green the housing is older, with the narrow doorways and turning staircases that go with it. It is comfortable work as long as the larger pieces are expected to come apart, and awkward if everyone assumed a sofa would simply go through.

We will tell you at the quote which items we think will need dismantling. Knowing that a week ahead is far more useful than discovering it in a doorway with the van blocking the lane outside.