The BT Openreach guys managed to work out that the fault had been up the telegraph pole all along, in the junction box joining the line that came over the fields to our underground line.
Whilst they were doing the repair, the four/way traffic lights up at the junction by the Chinese Restaurant were holding everyone up - and of course were never needed in the first place Grrr !

Thank goodness we managed to get the job done - after almost three months of no proper phone or broadband and nothing at all for the last two weeks. 
Sadly the broadband speed is only what it was before - not the speedy fibre optic it should be - so I'll be back on the phone to India tomorrow !