A study of 10 years worth of data from Aviva, the UK’s largest insurer, reveals the most common British house name is the very conventional “The Cottage” and it is occupied by the “Smiths” who reside in the “High Street.”

There are two cars in the drive, one of which is a Ford Fiesta and the most popular holiday destination is still good old Spain.

But some more modern-day traits are creeping in – while we may no longer be a nation of smokers, most of us don’t exercise and dinners are mainly eaten in front of Eastenders on a 32-inch wide telly.

The Aviva data shows that Mr and Mrs Smith are most likely to live in a three-bedroom detached house, built around the turn of the 20th Century, nestled between their neighbours Mr and Mrs Jones at “Rose Cottage” and Mr and Mrs Williams at “The Bungalow”.

The average homeowner values their prized possessions at £28,000 – including furnishings, clothes and personal belongings. But however prized they are, the average person is still rather clumsy with nearly 50% of contents claims due to accidental damage, costing on average over £350.

The top five items replaced in the home after being stolen, lost or damaged are; 32“ Toshiba television, Samsung Laptop, Sony Playstation 3 Slim 120GB Console, Samsung Tocco Lite mobile, Xbox 360 Elite Console.

Mrs Smith is more likely to make a household claim than Mr Smith, making a claim every 8.5 years compared to just over nine years.

Additional research with 2,000 people across the UK also shines a spotlight on who we’re living next door to and what they’re up to.
Brits are a nation of early risers with 50% of us getting up for work between 6am and 7am and 50% of us commuting by car.

Mr and Mrs Average tend not to go out for air at lunchtime, resulting in 27% heading to the canteen, kitchen or quiet area for a snack and over 20% eating sandwiches at their desk. Over 7% of people don’t stop for lunch at all.

The average person loves spending time at home with over a third of Brits (33%) spending on average over 2,000 hours at home a year, excluding sleep time.
Outside the home one in three Brits sees friends or family once a week and clothes shops and the pub are also visited at least once every seven days.

Exercise though is not part of that routine – 71% of Brits don’t go to the gym, cycle, jog or swim even once a week.

Mr and Mrs Average settle down for the evening with dinner in front of the television (52%), with Eastenders being the most popular (9%) television programme on Brits’ TV screens.

Then it’s lights out, with the average person’s head hitting the pillow at 11pm.

It is easy to forget that we live in such a beautiful part of the UK, with the Lake District attracting some 8.3 million day visitors a year. As a result, many people have purchased and invested in a second home or holiday let property in the Lakes (an estimated 15% of the total dwellings).

Mid-summer would traditionally be considered a prime time of the year to move home. With the recent abolition of Home Information Packs and with mortgage deals available at exceptionally low rates the signs appear promising. However, it remains to be seen how the market performs over the next few months.

The last decade was not particularly kind to first time buyers. Demand and competition for houses in the first half of the decade caused prices to rise at an alarming rate. The ‘credit crunch’ ended the seemingly endless price rises, but also resulted in mortgages becoming much more difficult to obtain as lenders demanded large deposits and adopted much tighter lending criteria.

According to fraud prevention service CIFAS, 27,000 British people fell victim to ID fraud between January and March this year. That’s more than one person every 5 minutes….

You could be considering becoming your own boss for a variety of reasons. It could stem among other things from a change in personal circumstances, a good business idea or a specific business opportunity coming your way. Whatever the reason the prospect can be exciting and supply a new challenge.

If you are a regular visitor to this page, you may have read previous articles on the wonder and potential of the world wide web.

Cumberland Building Society, which was named ‘Large Business of the Year’ at the 2009 CN Group Cumbria Business Awards, has posted another set of strong financial and business results for the year ended 31 March 2010.