Landlines

by Raynor Winn

it was” and trying to sell their houses for the same price they paid for them before they ruined the place.’ She stops and takes a deep breath, but as she gets up to leave my thoughts are drawn back to Cornwall and how dark the villages are in the winter, how few houses have their lights on. We walk away up a stony track and I’m beginning to realize that there are villages like Garrigill all over Britain, where second-home ownership has pushed house prices out of the reach of locals, turning thriving local economies into little more than unsustainable leisure facilities. By the time we put the tent up I’m beginning to think we could possibly go a long way towards solving the housing crisis in this country if we first resolve what has evidently become a second-home crisis.

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