Want to read another book by someone from London who buys an old wreck in the Cotswolds and transforms it into their dream home? Perhaps not.

But Derek J Taylor’s A Horse in the Bathroom (Summersdale, £8.99) is made more interesting by an early intervention by his Marxist friend Ralph, who accuses him of having Lark Rise syndrome — a sentimental need to romanticise village life.

The ups and downs of the building work are moderately entertaining, but the real interest lies in his ruminations about how villages can stay alive in the 21st century.

He admires Blockley’s new thriving shop, created by enthusiastic villagers but run by paid staff.

He loves Bledington, but decries Leafield as nothing but a suburb.

Swinbrook has plenty of history, but doesn’t pass the ‘football team’ test. Any truly lively village must have one, he says.

Despite this, he ends up falling in love with Stow-in-the-Wold, which doesn’t play football. In Gloucestershire, rugby counts as a working-class sport, he claims.