There is a housing crisis in rural Britain that is threatening the future prospects for the ‘living, working countryside’ ostensibly championed by governments across Britain in the early 21st century. Unlike a century ago when it was housing quality that was seen as the main problem, the key issues today revolve around availability and cost and focus especially on the affordability of housing for those who work in the countryside and their families. Even so, this is not something that has taken us entirely by surprise, far from it. Thirty years ago Mark Shucksmith (1981: 11) already felt able to point out ‘the essence of the housing problem in rural areas’ as now being ‘that those who work there tend to receive low incomes, and are thus unable to compete with more affluent “adventitious” purchasers from elsewhere in a market where supply is restricted’. Despite this recognition, the problem has not gone away and indeed would now seem to be significantly worse. Indeed, things in England have now reached such a pass that the Taylor Review (2008: 3) felt able to claim that ‘The countryside is at a crossroads’, echoing statements being made in the Celtic nations.

In this context, a new book that aims to get at the heart of the ‘rural housing question’ is extremely welcome and very timely. It documents the various facets of the challenge facing those who wish to live in the British countryside and how these have been changing. As well as detailing the problems facing traditional rural workers in accessing affordable housing nearby, the book covers the new pressures posed by international migrant labour after the expansion of the European Union in 2004. There are also chapters on the other three principal sectors of rural housing demand, namely, commuters with urban-based jobs, retirement migrants and second home buyers. These chapters are also valuable in revealing how the relative importance of these sectors varies geographically and thus how much diversity exists across rural Britain in the dynamics of its housing markets. The book also deals systematically with each component of the supply side, covering house-building for sale, the private and social renting sectors, the planning frameworks within which these have to operate, and the types of policy intervention that have been devised to address unmet needs.