Earlier this year we told you about how villagers in the remote community in Alston, Cumbria, were embarking on a community fibre optic broadband scheme to deliver lightning fast connections. The scheme is the extension of an earlier project that used cheap as chips, lo-fi tech to get a 0.2 broadband connection.

Six months or so down the line from starting work on the next-gen stage of the scheme, progress is continuing apace. Trenches are dug and the once-sleepy hamlet’s residents are poised and ready to fast forward into the future.

Natch, here at Top10 we applaud their can-do spirit and staggering will to overcome any obstacles in their way. But what’s even more amazing to us is the effect that the broadband access has had on house prices.

In an interview with the Times, Jeremy Higgs of local estate agent Pennine Ways reckons that selling prices for properties in Alston are up by 20 to 25 per cent. Of course, it's unlikely that the upgrade will have the same seismic effect. But at the very least, it'll ensure that Alston denizens won't go short of entertainment on those long, long evenings up on the moors.