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Now to London, where home prices continue to soar. Some Londoners are now choosing to live on boats on the city's waterways.
But it's not an easy lifestyle. There are major issues regarding moorings and sanitation.
Lifestyles has more.
PKG
The Environment Committee estimates that about 10,000 people live on London's 100 miles of canals and 42 miles of rivers. The number has increased by around 50% since 2011.
According to Halifax Bank, the average home in the UK was now valued at nearly 175-thousand pounds. By contrast, the average price of a house boat is only 20-thousand pounds.
That's why the Environment Committee says more people are choosing to live on the water.
But it's also the pleasant environment and fresh air by the canals that attract elderly people to live there.
Little Venice, in northwest London, is a picturesque pool of water where the Grand Union and Regent's Canals meet. It's also home to a number of waterside cafes, pubs and restaurants.
One man living on the water, Harry Samuel, told CNC why he prefers living on a boat to on land.
SOUNDBITES(ENGLISH): HARRY SAMUEL, Resident on Boat
"I've lived in a rented accommodation before and it just feels like you're throwing money away, and it's not going to anything other than the immediate effect of a roof over your head. Whereas with a house boat, it's affordable and it's cheap, and it means you can spend more time outsides in a natural community of people."
But it is not an easy living on a boat. Boaters have to regularly berth their boats to replenish their water, gas, coal and so on.
Due to the limited number of moorings, visitor moorings are designated sites with specific time limits and other restrictions; the remainder of the towpath is generally available for casual mooring for up to 14 days at a time in one place.
SOUNDBITES(ENGLISH): HARRY SAMUEL, Resident on Boat
"If there were more moorings than that would be something that can be solved I would imagine. For me the main thing that would be great is more facilities, more toilets, more water taps, more places where you can pump out your own toilet off the boat."
Jenny Jones AM, who led the work on behalf of the Committee, said the lack of moorings also caused overcrowding, which creates issues among boaters and for communities living nearby.
Jones said the committee also set out a number of recommendations, including a call for additional moorings, so it can improve relations between the different people who use the waterways.
SOUNDBITES(ENGLISH): MURAD QURESHI, Chair of the Environment Committee
"Our Canal and River Trust need to provide some basic services to the house boat owners, like sanitation and water, and I think that it will make it more livable and enjoyable for both house boaters as well as local residents and other groups like cyclists who use the towpaths as a quicker way in and out of London."
