Sue Woodcock lives 1,000ft up on a hillside in the Yorkshire Dales, with views stretching 80 miles on a good day. Her home, Mire House, looks like a typical two-up, two-down sturdy Yorkshire stone farmhouse, with walls 2ft thick and big stone tiles on the roof. Admittedly, it needs complete renovation and modernisation, but it is certainly not falling down. She pays council tax, and Craven district council collects her rubbish.
However, as far as local planners are concerned, Mire House doesn't live up to its name. They call it a sheep shelter, say it has been abandoned for 60 years, and they want her out. Woodcock says it is most definitely a house, she owns it and she is staying. The planning battle that