[RobRusbridge]

For the Down South venue I was casting the net quite wide. The key is to go where the customers are. So the South West and Bristol are out. Not enough people. Same with Salisbury Plain and the Wide Open Spaces of Wiltshire. Also keen to avoid places which are too closely embroiled with the M25 car park. Other than that, looking seriously at any reasonably-sized reasonably-priced hall with a good car park which is simple to find from a motorway junction.

Of course, if anyone would like a weekend-away trip to a Cornwall auction in September or October 2019 I do know of a nice big (cheap) hall very close to Bodmin, where the A30 from Exeter meets the A38 from Plymouth. Hotels not exactly plentiful in the exact location but plenty of places to stay reasonably near in Cornwall in the autumn (before half term when it all shuts down until Easter). You could always drop the family at the Eden Project for a day while you're buying...