Most recent is Staines in Surrey, home town (most famously) to comedy character Ali G and which added ‘on-Thames’ top its name last month. And in a few weeks’ time the Oxfordshire town of Abingdon is following suit when it asks permission from its district council to adopt ‘on-Thames’ too.

Let's reflect on the river: Abingdon in Oxfordshire is trying to change its name

Others are further behind. Conservative MP Dan Byles, who represents North Warwickshire, is waging a largely failed campaign to have his constituency’s name altered to include ‘and Bedworth’ to reflect geographic (rather than political) reality.

And residents of a south Wales village, Sully in the Vale of Glamorgan, want to alter the recently created alternative Welsh version of their locale – Sili – because it sounds “silly”, a spokesman said.

Changing moniker is not a new trend, of course. A quick look at the names of Britain’s 44 cities, 928 towns and 4,520 villages reveals how often they have changed theirs over the decades, centuries and even millennia.

Many alter ‘organically’ as the English language develops (Swindon was once SwineDun meaning Pig Hill) but in more recent times places have changed their name more abruptly for a variety of reasons.

The London borough of Greenwich, which is now very Royal.

The most common is when monarchy comes knocking. Last month the London borough of Greenwich gained ‘Royal’ status, the first local authority to win the Queen’s approval in more than 85 years. And in October last year the Wiltshire town of Wootton Bassett, famed for its silent tributes to soldiers killed in war as they pass through its high street, was also renamed ‘Royal’.

Name changes can be controversial, too. A councillor in the village of Kenardington, Kent, got into trouble in 2009 when she asked for a thoroughfare to be changed from Church Road to ‘Lane’ to prevent confusion with an identically named road in a nearby (and similarly named) village. Locals, however, thought her proposal largely an attempt to make Kenardington sound (and look) more ‘middle class’ and to ‘boost property prices’.

And then there’s the ‘simples’ PR opportunity. Insurance website comparethemarket.com recently claimed to have persuaded Market Harborough in Leicestershire to change its name following a Facebook campaign. The town was known Meerkat Harborough for a day.

And a route that more importantly will run just 500 yards from the Amersham’s ancient central streets and her former home. Gillan has said the sale of the terraced property (pictured, below with the agent board outside) was driven by the property’s steep and narrow stairs, which both Cheryl and her 84-year-old husband were increasingly unable to negotiate.

Photo credit: Rex Features/Ben Cawthra

But some constituents in the town have taken a different view and posters put up locally have been unforgiving in their cricism – as has media commentary.

Land Registry records show Gillan sold the property for £320,000 although originally she was asking around £380,000 when it was put on the market back in July 2010, which is still after it was know that HS2 would be screaming past the town – as highlighted by 2009 Department of Transport maps.

Photo credit: Rex Features

At the time (she been the area’s MP since 1992) Gillan was vocal in her opposition to HS2, at one point threatening to resign her cabinet position if it went ahead.

Her campaign work may have failed to halt the project but there has been some success. The planned route has shifted, moving nearer to her home (by skirting south rather than north around the town) and will also now go under Amersham via a tunnel rather than being above ground within a cutting, as had originally been proposed.

So why did it take Gillan 18 months to sell her home? A mixture of the property being over-priced; the effect of the HS2 route and (more likely) its tiny proportions all conspired – No.41 Whielden Street is a two-up, two-down cottage with a very small courtyard garden and double yellows outside the front door.

Two people who think the property has potential though are the 50-somethings who bought it off Gillan, most likely as an investment. They are currently offering it to rent at £1,350, a rental return of 5.06% before costs, putting it on a par with London (5.25%) and better than many UK cities including Brighton (4.8%), Manchester (4.384%) and Newcastle (3.58%), PrimeLocation.com but-to-let figures show.

The mistake had been to claim that Margaret Thatcher (pictured above, before she became Prime Minister) and her 1979 Conservative government had sparked the home ownership revolution that rumbles on today.

Mira, shaking her head vigorously from across the studio, pointed out that it was an earlier Tory administration, not Thatcher’s. Instead, in 1957  Harold Macmillan abolished rent controls and it was this, after rents subsequently soared, that persuaded millions of us to embrace ownership.

Even though Mira was right to assert this, for many people Margaret Thatcher’s ‘right to buy’ council homes scheme (brought in soon after her 1979 victory) was a seminal moment in Britain’s property market, enabling some two million or more people to buy their local authority homes, often at a very substantial discount.

But as many of us queue to see the film Iron Lady starring Meryl Street (pictured above), how has the property market changed since her triumphant, ‘the lady’s not for turning’ speech?

Like today, the economy was in difficulties and Thatcher had to bring in harsh policies to correct the downturn. Nevertheless, in those days first time buyers required just £25,000 to get on the property ladder (compared to £155,000 or so today); a million pounds bought a huge 2,000 acre country estate; and mortgage rates were running at 17%, something we haven’t had to endure this time round.

According to agent Jackson-Stops & Staff, wealthy commuters could buy a good six bedroom family home in the stockbroker belt of Surrey with an acre of garden for £250,000 – today it would cost over £2 million.

And Dawn Carritt, who heads up JSS’s country house department, also remembers how “loans would not be considered for anything more than two and a half times a person’s salary” and mainly came from building societies and that only a few years before women would have needed to get their father’s or husband’s consent to get a mortgage in their own name.

Tax was also in its own bracket in the 1970s, as many rock stars famously grumbled about at the time – including Mick Jagger. Inheritance Tax (then known as Capital Transfer Tax) was 75% and income tax for high earners 83 per cent, though it was reduced by Thatcher in 1979 to 60 per cent. Basic rate tax was 33 per cent but fell to 30 per cent in the first Thatcher budget.

But the series was also beloved by millions for its setting – the prettier vistas, streets and roads of swinging 1960s London. And if you should wish to relive many scenes from The Avengers, and its later incarnation The New Avengers then pop down to Ennismore Garden Mews in Knightsbridge, London and have a look at No.21 – a two bedroom mews property for sale used on multiple occasions as a location for the series.

Another mews house, No.3 Stable Mews (around the corner) was also used for filming, mainly as the home of John Steed. Also, many other roads around Ennismore Garden Mews, including Rutland Mews South and East and Cleveland Mews, made an appearance in the film.

And The Avengers wasn’t alone in using Ennismore Garden Mews – it also featured in several episodes of The Professionals and HJ Wells The Invisible Man.

Today No.21 is owned by entrepreneur, business advisor and Veuve Clicquot Businesswoman of the Year finalist Christianne Wuillamie who is asking £2.75m for the house – which comes with planning permission to be extended with a conservatory at the back within its courtyard garden.

Winterbourne Country House in Bonchurch, an upmarket suburb of the island’s major seaside resort, Ventnor, is currently on the market for £1.495 million and was rented by Dickens during the summer of 1849 and treasured by him for its views over the English Channel.

It is while staying here that he wrote six chapters of David Copperfield, although his stay was social as well as to write; he invited many of his literary friends over to stay including William Thackeray (author of Vanity Fair), satirist Thomas Carlyle, poet Alfred Tennyson and Mark Lemon, then editor of Punch magazine.

While staying at Winterbourne Dickens wrote to his wife Catherine – who was in London – to say: “I think it is the prettiest place I ever saw in my life, at home or abroad”. And in recent times many people have been able to enjoy its pleasures too – the property has been run as a guest house in recent years and holds five-star ratings from both Visit Briain and the AA.

The property is being sold as two lots, the first being the main house with seven bedrooms, large gardens and swimming pool (for £1.495m). A second lot, which is a four bedroom property called Hadfield Cottage, is for sale separately at £325,000. Agent Christopher Scott says this could either be let out or bought as guest or staff accommodation for the main house.

But Winterbourne has also been a TV star on several occasions including, recently, an appearance on Channel 4’s Three In A Bed show, during which it competed with two other Isle of Wight B&Bs.

Let’s Blog Design, written by interiors writer, business owner and blogger Ana Aguilar-Corney (pictured below) won with 224 votes, beating The House Historian, who received 185 votes. To see all the votes cast, see below.

But’s that not all. Next week we will also reveal the other winners and runners up for the categories of Best Blog, Best Newcomer, Best Blog Post, Best Garden Blog, Best DIY Blog, Best Eco Home Blog, Best Estate Agent Blog and Best Interiors Blog which are now being picked by a panel judges. Runners up for each category will be awarded.

Here is the shortlist of the blogs (with the largest number of nominations) that were voted on for the Users’ Favourite Blog gong – based on one vote per IP address. The nominated blogs were PippaJamesInteriors, Home Truths, Henry Pryor, The House Historian, Planet Property, The Buying Agent, Karen Haller, Dreamwall Style, Property Newshound, HMO Landlady.

These architectural clichés are hard coded into our national psyche and by comparison Americans are mostly bereft of anything old, Australians have to do with identical modern neighbours and the French hate their drafty old chateaux and prefer new build bungalows.

But is that true – what homes do we British really have the property hots for? After trawling through the million or so properties listed on our site for sale and rent and looking at search patterns among our two and a half million users, all can be revealed.

A majority of us, our research shows, seek a detached property with a large garden in the heart of walking country and overlooking beautiful countryside. As Kirstie and Phil would say, such a tick list is not easy to fill.

Properties like the one pictured below are not even one to the dozen. So it’s no surprise that they are hugely in demand and are twice the national average house price (or £523,866 to be exact).

Britain's most desired home? This 18th/19th century stone farmhouse outside Avonbridge in Falkirk has outstanding views over the local countryside and comes with part ownership of a local nature reserve.

But the main truth our research has revealed is just how much we are nation of urban and suburban dwellers which pines for the countryside. It’s why programmes such as Kirstie Allsopp’s Homemade Home, which sells the satin-quilted bucolic dream, or Escape to the Country, are so popular.

Some 90% of us live in cities and more than half (57%) surveyed in the PrimeLocation.com Desirability Index said their dream house would be detached, in the countryside (33%), have good views (64%) and be near nice places to walk (44%).

Ever strolled down a street and wished you could live there? PrimeLocation.com’s new iPhone app can help make this dream a reality.

The new app, which was featured in The Guardian’s Apps Rush this week, brings PrimeLocation.com’s luxury feel to your iPhone with it’s premium augmented reality tool. This tool uses your iPhone’s camera and GPS to show you a view of your surroundings, but overlays this with all the nearby homes for sale or rent.

You can also view property images in landscape carousel mode, which makes it easy to see what each property has to offer. When you see something you like, the iPhone app allows you to save searches, ‘favourite’ properties and share your discoveries via Twitter, Facebook and email.

Download the app now.

According to renovations and building project marketplace MyBuilder.com its site has seen a 253% rise in chimney, stove and fireplace installations or renovations in recent months.

The site’s spokesperson Courtney Gibbs says this trend is being created by two things: Victorian and Georgian chimneys coming to the end of their lives and the rise of the log fire.

This is creating a lively market for fireplace manufacturers and chimney renovation experts despite the ongoing recession and many are claiming the highest number of sales for over 20 years and an increase in demand of 100%.

Another expert, David Knapp of Victorianfireplaces.com says that while there has been a fall in the number of large household items such as sofas and white goods being bought, his business has continued to grow year on year.

While budget stoves start at £300 they rapidly increase in price as the quality and size rises to £2,500 or more, and are popular as a cheap way to heat a room as gas and electricity prices continue to waft ever higher. But it’s more than just cost. Psychologist Alex Drummond says that ‘being close to an open fire warms the soul, radiators just warm the room’. Quote of the year, we think.

Beckside House in Wycoller near Colne is on the market for £560,000 and was built by Penelope Keith, star of two famous 1970s TV comedy series, The Good Life and To The Manor Born, the last episode of which was viewed by 24 million people.

These two programmes dominated the ratings during the 1970s and helped to make a star of Keith, who for over thirty years has lived outside Guildford in Surrey.

But in the mid-1980s she, along with her Lancashire-born husband Rodney, bought a plot of land on a 99 year lease within Wycoller Country Park and built this cottage as a second home.

The area has other famous connections, too. Wycoller Country Park contains landmarks referred to in books written by the Brontë sisters, both of whom used to visit Wycoller regularly and in particular the ruins of Wycoller Hall, which is said to be the model for Ferndean Manor in Charlotte Bronte’s book Jane Eyre.

But Penelope Keith’s association with the area is slightly less happy. Wycoller Country Park is controlled by a very tight set of conservation by-laws and the only cars allowed in are those belonging to residents. And planning is tightly controlled too – as Keith found out.

She and Rodney applied to build a six-bedroom guest house in the village but were thwarted by planners during several attempts. And despite saying they wanted to retire to Lancashire, the couple sold up in 2001 for £235,000.

Instead they now have a property on the Black Isle peninsula in the Scottish Highlands but recently tangled with planners there too when they proposed to build a two-storey cafe overlooking the harbour in one of the area’s towns, Avoch.

Happily , the outcome was more successful this time and in February this year planning permission was granted.

Beckside House is on the market with agent Fine and Country.