Where is Britain's most modern post office
Where is the most modern post office in Britain? I was surprised to discover it on an isolated stretch of canal in rural Shropshire. Canal Central opened barely three months ago. 
Owners Iain Campbell and partner Fiona MacDonald (pictured) invited me to enjoy a night in this eco-friendly post office's 'ramblers' pod' and share their vision of the future. So seven hours of tortuous train journey later - much of which stuck in the dark somewhere between Peterborough and Leicester - I am standing in Shrewsbury with photographer George Jaworskyj.
We jump in a cab and head off to Maesbury Marsh, home to the branch. The taxi driver doubts the existence of this tiny hamlet but eventually, around midnight, we arrive at a huge wooden Swedish-style chalet in the middle of nowhere.
The taxi driver's tone turns serious: 'Are you swingers?' My response is equally bizarre: 'No, we are looking for a post office.' Next morning we awake in our pod - it turns out to be a swanky word for B&B - to realise just how unlike a post office this, er, post office really is - and strictly above board without even a sauna.
Enjoying a fabulous organic fry-up in the branch's minimalist internet cafe I look out through huge Scandinavian windows onto the picturesque Montgomery Canal. Where are the piles of post office clutter, grumbling queues and that run-down feel of a traditional old branch? This feels positively bright and breezy. Obviously the Post Office hasn't helped to foot the £240,000 building bill. 
Iain was driven crazy by its red tape when he wanted to use his own initiative. Instead, having picked an idyllic spot in need of community and tourism support, he received half the funding for a sandal-wearing branch from the Rural Enterprise Scheme - a European Union-backed idea aimed at breathing eco-life into struggling communities through the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
Other rural branches take note. But I was still not convinced it could work. Where was he going to find customers in this isolated retreat? Iain took me for a play on their barge 'Lapwing' moored outside to reveal the great possibilities. Half his trade comes from passing boats and ramblers and in the summer numbers may soar. So are post offices closing because of a lack of customers? Nonsense. Canal Central exposes this great lie.
Investment and innovation is what our network needs - with support not hindrance from the meddling Government and Post Office stuffed shirts.
Finally, a huge thanks to all who have posted comments or responded in other ways to this regular blog. Hopefully, I will get out to visit many more of you soon. Please keep them rolling in to keep alive our vital fight for post offices.
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