Hi johnnykerry,
Yes, it's a rural area. My original post regarding negative equity was just a thought I had and was interested to see what others thought.
I suppose we're going off topic a bit but maybe the moderators will permit me to answer you. I'd hoped to build as discreet a house as possible on this rural site. Ideally I'd leave as much of the existing features, e.g. trees, hedgerows, etc, as they are. I like the thought of having the entrance (which is currently a gateway into a pasture field) flanked by the existing rural hedgerows, which have been there for generations. Instead I'm being permitted one of these, then on the other side a new construct of some sort. I'm not sure if this is to be a ranch style fence, a wall, whatever. Either way, to have an established hedgerow on one side and some modern replacement on the other, is not what I envisaged. It would look ridiculous and out of place.
So yes, I am now treading carefully. There are numerous advantages of a rural self-build and some disadvantages. But there are now a number of new disadvantages cropping up. It's a trade off, and things are starting to swing against the self-build option.