The Registry site also provides useful pointers for buyers and sellers with its own

The Registry site also provides useful pointers for buyers and sellers with its own FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) section.And if you’re a bit of a history buff, it includes a concise summary of the Land Registry’s role since it started in 1862. The Land Registry are currently getting more than 1,000 paid inquiries a day, many of them from this site. Though the website’s a pilot at the moment, we plan to show details of the land attached to individual properties on it early next year.”Anyone – whether buyer, seller or interested party – has been able to get title details of UK properties since 1990 – although those key price-tags were only added three years ago. The LR site will also be a boon if you are renting or leasing a house or flat and need to contact your landlord.Cherry Hunkin, who manages the site, says: “It’s been a great success – people are always asking about it. This is because that, apart from the aforementioned basics, it’ll tell you about any restricted covenants or second charges on the property – facts that could prove invaluable if you make a offer. So we could be forgiven for a little harmless eavesdropping of our own in our quest for designer chic.Next time you fancy a bit of snooping, though, you won’t have to travel further than your back bedroom or study, because a website run by the Land Registry will do much of the work for you. Simply log on to registeronline.gov.uk and for a £2 fee you can find out the owner, lender (if any), price (if registered since 1 April, 2000) and rights of way of almost any property in Britain.The site really comes into its own if you need the lowdown on a house you may have had your eye on for a while.

Does your curiosity sometimes get the better of you? Do you often get an irresistible urge to peer over the six-foot high hedge that suddenly appears in a neighbour’s garden one day or to find out who owns the turreted mansion that gazes imperiously over the local park?
As a nation of home-lovers, we’re always being goaded and encouraged by TV pundits and property gurus to turn our houses and flats into personal show-homes. OK, own up. “I have never been there and more than anywhere else it encapsulates the feeling of exploration.”The Mill is for sale at a guide price of £550,000 through Jackson-Stops & Staff (01872 261160). And what will be the chief compensation for abandoning their Cornish property for life on board? The South Pacific, says Dave. As the October launch date approaches, the first leg of their journey from France, where it is being built, along the Atlantic coasts of Spain and Portugal to Casablanca has already been planned. Whatever regrets the Hopkins may have about giving it up is more than outweighed by the prospect of taking ownership of their catamaran.

Many of them tend to be more modern and if they are on a holiday route they can be noisy. Cottages, on the other hand, are generally in good supply.At the end of its half-mile driveway, the Mill is a peaceful spot, further enhanced by two acres of land, with garden and paddock. Truro, a cathedral city with smart shops and good educational facilities, is a particular magnet.At present The Mill is the only house of its size – four bedrooms and three bathrooms – on her books. Cornwall, unlike Devon, does not have an abundance of family houses. Vicki Harvey of Jackson-Stops & Staff is seeing a growing number of families moving into the area, attracted by the coast and schools.

“The tourist period has stretched noticeably since it opened.”Once regarded as suitable only for the retired and holidaymakers, Cornwall is now benefiting from hugely improved transport links and flexible working patterns. “The most noticeable change has been brought about by the popularity of the Eden Project,” says Dave. The sailing bug had bitten long before Dave and Angela Hopkins first bought a flat in Falmouth in the Eighties, but what they came to appreciate was the slower pace of life in Cornwall and its friendly communities. The three-storey house faces west/south-west and there are glimpses of the sea at Mawgan Porth.The north coast, with its popular surfing beaches, is a little more than two miles away while the pretty south coast, a haven for yachts, is a 30-minute drive. It is one of four buildings restored and turned into homes in a setting that is private, yet not isolated. We never saw the wheel but we have extended the house over the area where it turned by glazing it over and making a cellar to the depth it went down,” explains Dave.The Mill, built of natural stone, is thought to have been designed by the architect William White.