Who is going to see them in your neck of the woods, the sheep?

Ah, you've forgotten about a) radiators, and b) the war on pee-smelling damp clothes.

I'm genuinely puzzled by all of this. In the course of my life I've lived in large and small houses and apartments. I have never had any difficulty getting clothes dry either in the house on airers or outside on the line, and never had a problem with condensation or smells.

I've owned driers and never used them, and wouldn't bother to buy one again, not least because they are environmentally unfriendly and expensive to run.

In Britain you can dry clothing outside on a washing line on most days of the year. If it rains, it doesn't rain all day, and there is usually a breeze that will dry the clothing in an hour or so. There are even fewer days when the temperature is below freezing during daylight hours, meaning the washing will freeze on the line. Even when I worked long hours and had to do all of my washing on Saturdays, I never had a problem.

Depends where you live in Britain. My last house there clothes could sit on the line all week in the winter and would stay damp, or even partially frozen.

Problem solved!

http://www.theguardian.com/commentis...nen-bed-sheets

Yes I have to agree, we have no problem getting cloths dry either inside or out. Dont forget though that it rains every day in the UK

My German visitors insist that we have at least 40 different types of rain on our remote Scottish island !

Stick them on or near the radiators. Never had any problems with mould or damp.

That's not practical in the summer though.

I lived in a home where there were airers that hung down from the ceiling on pulleys - they were the best ever. Out of sight, and the rising heat dried the clothes - usually overnight. Remember those - the type of apparatus your Grandmother used? Well they still exist in parts of Britain and they are very sensible.

Yes I remember them, my....er, Gran had one!
I think they were great, and they can still be had!, they were showing on one of the links put up earlier.

Well in the summer it's warmer. I just don't get what the problem is, most manage without tumble dryers I did for 50 years, and if you want one they aren't expensive. You can even shove them in a garden shed if you don't have space.

My 90+ year old mother still uses one. It hangs above her Aga stove. It's been there as long as I can remember. She still, to this day, hauls it up and down.

Here in the Glasgow area, there are long periods in the spring/summer/autumn when it's not cold enough to turn the radiators on, but it rains a lot. That is when it can take a few days for stuff to dry indoors on a drying rack and gets a bit musty. For those of us who work, the weekend is the only opportunity to be in long enough to keep an eye on washing on the line, but it can rain several weekends in a row.

Some of my neighbours seem to just leave it out for days, rain and shine, until it eventually dries, but I think it must smell pretty bad after being rained on.

The only problem I found with air drying in the summer, was the clothes would be all hard especially towels! Thats the only reason I had a tumble dryer. I do like my soft towels