The seaside town of Aldeburgh in Suffolk is so picture perfect that some of its residents admit they will happily live “off-grid” in boats, lorries and motorhomes just to be able to call it home.
The average property price is £606,000, almost double the £332,000 average for the country overall.
And while that means affording a home is out of reach for many it hasn’t stopped some residents finding imaginative ways to live there.
Jonathan Taylor, who moved to Aldeburgh in 2016, explained that rental prices were out of his budget.
“I couldn’t find a flat here for less than £1,200 a month for a one-bedroom [property],” he said.
“I came up here eight years ago – almost exactly. I just got here and thought, ‘this place is wonderful’ and I never left. I had just split up from my wife and went for a drive. [I] came here and never left.”
When Express.co.uk asked Jonathan where he lived if he couldn’t afford to rent a flat, he revealed that he’d found an unusual solution.
“I bought a lorry and converted it into a really nice camper. I’ve got it on a friend’s farm,” he said.
“Yeah, I lived in a caravan over in Leiston for about a year while I was trying to sus something out. Fell into bed with another wife for a few years.”
The gardener added: “But yeah, I’ve been in the lorry for three years. Property prices around here are punitive, you just can’t do it.
“I don’t earn a fortune but I’m £40,000 a year, but that’s not enough to live in Aldeburgh. Not even vaguely [close].”
Asked whether he blamed the thriving tourist industry for the town’s unaffordable house prices, Jonathan conceded he could see the argument from both sides.
He said: “Without the tourism, there wouldn’t be Aldeburgh. But most of the people here work in hospitality and I know pretty much everyone in town here. But none of them live in Aldeburgh. You can’t work in hospitality and live in Aldeburgh.”
Jonathan isn’t the only resident in this beautiful seaside town with an inventive approach to housing.
David Lodge, who used to run Cafe Cairo in trendy Brixton, London, moved into his current accommodation after his mother died.
He told our reporter: “I live on a boat. My mum, she died, and I didn’t want to leave so walked into the boat yard and said, ‘Have you got somewhere to live?’.
“I could feel myself getting poorer and poorer. I’ve got a flat in London, I’m sort of a second home-owner myself, although it doesn’t feel like it. So I couldn’t afford to live in my own flat. I got like penniless, basically. So I came down [to Aldeburgh] and [have] lived in a little boat for 10 years or so.”
Despite the alternative living arrangement, David couldn’t be happier.
“It’s just a fantastic lifestyle. [I have] no bills whatsoever. There’s no way I could afford to live down here,” he beamed.
“I’m off-grid so I’ve got no bills whatsoever. I mean it’s actually a dream situation, and I absolutely love it because it takes all the stress out of life.
“But where I am is pretty much like paradise really.”
However, he warned that when the weather turns, the outlook becomes more difficult. He said: “It’s a lovely day today, but we’re here through winter and all the extremities of that. So it can be pretty grim.”
He also agreed that although the tourist industry drove up property prices, the town wouldn’t be what it is without it.
“These shops in the high street are catering for tourists pretty all year round,” he said.
His friend Nigel Steane, who told us his nickname was Rainbow Clown on account of his colourful hair and beard, also revealed he didn’t live in a traditional property.
He said: “I was working but I lost my job. I got myself free from debt. What was the next thing? I found myself with a motorhome, which I absolutely love.”