A hand made pipe costs around 600 a set, but the price, and the severe problems posed by trying to find somewhere to practice without upsetting the neighbours, seems to be doing little to deter the onslaught of interest. The pipes are a fairly ubiquitous feature of European and Asian culture and featured in the Bible as well as in the writings of Ancient Greece.

It is thought the Romans the Emperor Nero himself was a keen piper - brought the instrument to the British Isles and it was here that the tradition endured on its Celtic fringes. In Scotland and Northern Ireland each neighbourhood boasts a pipe band still.