After the BSE scandal they are driven by mistrust of government advice and thanks to media reporting fear about the alleged link between autism

After the BSE scandal, they are driven by mistrust of government advice and, thanks to media reporting, fear about the alleged link between autism and inflammatory bowel diseases and MMR.For Sarah Dean, the Eltham clinic’s managing director, the scare has become big business. Her clients, including some parents who travel from Glasgow and Swansea, will spend £105 for the three injections and take a day off work for each injection, which must be taken six weeks apart.The clinic, which handles travel and flu vaccinations, has seen these orders quadruple to 20 a day in the past week. The injections are unlicensed in Britain, but she is now planning mobile clinics in Swansea, Sheffield and Bristol by legally importing doses from other European Union countries.Yesterday, her customers included Liz and Darren Sherborne, who drove 120 miles from Gloucestershire, to get a single measles jab for their 14-month-old son, Benjamin. They had heard that 2,000 people were suing the MMR’s vaccines makers.

“It’s a question of confidence, isn’t it?” said Mr Sherborne.But for many parents the root of this crisis is the failure of the Government and medical profession to explain and defend their insistence on MMR vaccinations. Paul and Debi Kelly, who had driven their twin daughters Amelia and Maddison across London from Barnet, were given no help by their GP “He just said: ‘You will have this done’,” Mr Kelly said. “We just want to hear a decent argument against doubts that have been raised.”. A paradox lies at the heart of the British love affair with all things rural: the choicest cut of country property enjoys quick and easy access to the city. That is where most of us continue to work, and where cinemas, theatres, opera houses, Italian restaurants and other cultural and social amenities are located. A paradox lies at the heart of the British love affair with all things rural: the choicest cut of country property enjoys quick and easy access to the city. That is where most of us continue to work, and where cinemas, theatres, opera houses, Italian restaurants and other cultural and social amenities are located.
Over a 10- to 20-year view, country house values will continue to rise, predicts estate agent Mark Rimell of Strutt & Parker Period properties in particular will retain their value “You can’t build a classic Georgian rectory today.

We have an ever-increasing number of buyers with large amounts of money pursuing a limited number of properties.”According to Mr Rimell, the strongest performers financially will be the Home Counties because of commuting to London, and there will be terrific growth towards Suffolk and Norfolk. A good country location has less to do with the moors than with Moorgate Station.”If you are concerned about capital values, think area, area, area,” advises David Smith, sales and marketing manager for housebuilder Octagon. “Commutability is very important, and I suggest areas like Oxford – which have good housing stock and where trains are getting faster – and Bristol and Bath. Don’t go to the middle of East Sussex, which is actually not very far out but is a remote setting.”It might cost you more, but go for a country house around the big towns.

You might well pay less in other areas but your uplift will also be less.”Train service and flood risk are high on the worry list of housebuyers. Even for commuters who intend to rely on rail, good road links will rise in attractiveness, reflecting the decline, perceived as well as real, of the rail network.A pending economic downturn in America and a general election here are also factors. “Unless we talk ourselves down, I can’t see any reason for economic changes in America having a direct effect on us,” says Paul Atherton in the Tunbridge Wells office of Cluttons.”In December we did as much business as any previous month last year, so the slowdown hadn’t put people off right up to Christmas and we are carrying on in the same way I don’t hear people voicing doubts. The economy doesn’t worry them.”Mr Atherton believes that, as a nation, the British are modernising and less formal, waking up to what makes life easier.

Period houses will always have a loyal following, but more buyers are being converted to the idea of a new house. They are attracted by increasing quality in the build and the larger size.This is the third and final area round-up. Normal hot spot service resumes next week with a look at the housing situation in Richmond, south-west London.The Low-DownAquatic luxuryCornhill Hall is a five-bed 1972 Georgian-style house with heated swimming pool, and a sauna in one of the bathrooms. The property, in Bishops Waltham, Hampshire, includes a separate cottage with planning permission for an extension (John D Wood, 01962 863131).Listed charmThe eight-bed listed Seagate Hall, in Long Sutton, Lincolnshire, has a coachhouse, indoor pool and large garage.