I know 2 or 3 people who have achieved what Jacko has, in the UK, but they all live either in sparsely populated places or they did it with the application of a large amount of £££ 
Grass strips with a house come on the market periodically, for 1M+, but are almost never in a location where one would want to live if one had the 1M+ to spend on a house. There was one near Dunsfold for nearly 2M, a few years ago.
Frankly, IMHO, the best thing is a nice airport (preferably with an ILS and decent opening hours, for those who want to use a plane to travel/business) with a 15 mins’ drive.
Jacko wrote:
Walk from house to shed is about 400 yards, so about 5 mins, which is a nice time to breathe some fresh air and engage brain.
You do live a dream for most of us Jacko 
Beautiful, Canuck
Yes, I like the low power variants, I think they have a great ‘feel’. Although I haven’t flown one of the low power light-weight early cubs yet, I understand they are similar.
I have flown some of the later model cubs with 150-160 hp and always find myself throttling way way back after take off… it just seems unnecessary to rush an airplane that doesn’t really want to be rushed.
Some of my friend recently purchased a mint condition Stinson Station Wagon, I am really keen to give it a go… so many planes, not enough time:-).
Blue skies and tailwinds!
Canuck brilliant, also great photos – the Champ is a lovely aircraft, I don’t know why this design, like its friendly competitor from Lock Haven, is able to generate a constant grin when flying in it.
Nayland has some beautiful examples. There are two Chiefs at Andrewsfield which are still providing good service.
Hahaha. The the champ float plane was a bit like this… drive to the airport, hitch-up the dolly. Tow the aircraft to the fuel pumps (or conversely fill three or four jerry cans). Tow it back to the ramp, preflight it (perhaps even putting in some new self tapping screws which have rattled out of the trim during the last flight), pump out the floats. Put the aircraft in the water and move it to the dock. Pull the car and trailer out, park it. Get in the aircraft and start the engine (occasionally hand propping while standing on the floats!), taxi and depart…
Depending on the day, this could take ages…. not to mention washing it down afterwards if you were in salt water.
Then there was a trip where I was cruising at 60-80 mph in a 45-50mph headwind. If I slowed down (the plane can fly at 40mph), I could have seen the gps pointing in the opposite direction to the compass! I wish I had taken a photo; however, the gps was stolen shortly after that and we never replaced it. The airspace in much of Canada is not so complicated and it was back to the pencil line on the map with quarter and half way hash marks. Just make sure there is more than half a tank of fuel, when you are at the halfway mark.
This type of flying is all about the experience… the time is irrelevant, you are in for the day! I would often toss a sleeping bag in the back… just in case you were in for more than one day!
Just going to make it before dark!
Landed.
No rush.
Not going anywhere soon.
Killing time.
If you have time to spare, travel by air…
The 90 mph Super Cub encourages a slow food approach, and by definition we are talking good VFR. The steel push bike (in England we call bicycles push bikes because when they were invented they were pushed – go figure) takes approximately three hours to carry me from North London to Andrewsfield, including a coffee break at Woodford Bridge. Personal wattage is then consumed by very carefully moving between three or four aircraft out of the hangar ahead of me. Using the aircraft more frequently would shorten this, as it would sit in pole position. I then politely move my hangar neighbours back in the hangar. There is then around an hour of pottering around while I refuel, and do the walk around. The Super Cub lets all its nuts, bolts, cotter pins, hang out like a generous person in the summer of love – so a good pre flight means checking they are all there!
The local engineers look after the 66 year old Continental, and it always starts promptly on the first hand prop after the left mag is placed to hot (priming having been done cold). Taxiing is at a leisurely pace, slightly faster than zimmer frame speed, and some time is gained on the pre take off checks – lets say even if you repeated the flow pattern three times the checks would be completed in a couple of minutes.
Typically it will then head off to either Hampshire or Yorkshire to visit friends – and compared to the steel push bike, 90 mph feels like warp speed.
Returning it is more efficient – it will take up pole position in the hangar, and then its a matter of heading back into London into the prevailing wind, usually adding a good 30-45 minutes to the journey.
Door to door we are talking around twelve hours, with possibly around 250-300 flight miles. Bombing up the M11 in the VW1300 (ie 50 mph) saves around four or five hours.
As a student pilot I’m still somewhat slower more careful with the walkaround and checks. And of course I also depend on the instructor, who is often taking time chatting to basically everyone on the airfield debriefing the previous student before he turns to me. Otherwise I guess I’d take only 10 minutes, as everything is convieniently close at my home base, there are no security measures to speak of (not even a gate with some kind of lock) and refueling can be done straight across the taxiway on the other side of the hangar. All is done on our own and without asking anyone for prior permission, as our club is one of the main users of the field and the FIugleiter are some of the most relaxed persons in this business (and widely credited on eddh.de for their helpfulness)
Although the timing for the pilot can be quite long (though as an owner, I reckon on about 20 mins from arrival to engine start) one big advantage can be for the passengers, who can be briefed to arrive a little later and they can then literally walk from the car to the aircraft in about 3 minutes (5 if they want the toilet) and off we go.
The speed of departure in my case is greatly helped by @achimha, as I have preloaded the route on an SD card, and by SkyDemon, which has everything ready for me.
20 minutes, assuming no hitches, less if fuel is not needed.
I tend to do all the planning before, if it is any distance or something new, so when I arrive it is a matter of a pre-flight, get in, load the FPL, taxi clearance and go.
Obvioulsy with passengers you want it to be an “experience” so slow the whole thing down accordingly.
