Recommend me a (good!) conveyancing solicitor

Nicholson Morgan in ponteland were excellent

Is this a place you already own? if so, it's not nessesarily a conveyancing solicitor you need, but someone a bit more specialist.

Or is it a potential purchase that you are part way through with?

I’ve been really pleased with Laytons in the past. They took all the heat out of dealing with a seller who was a complete pain to put it politely

https://www.laytons.com/

Thanks for the suggestions so far.
Matty - it's a place we already own. Long story which I should probably have explained, I'll try to keep it brief.
Moved here 3 years ago. 2 acre plot on a few different levels, 3 ways in big enough for a vehicle. The only way in to half of it is blocked by a neighbours van, permanently. We tried talikng to them about it, he just got very angry and shouty and now will not move it . Had had prevmoved it if we asked, but that's obviously a pita when they're on holiday for 2 weeks and the grass needs cutting and they leave the van in the way.
Anyway, we got a solicitor to look at it but they took a year to do very little and in the last 4 or 5 months they basically stopped replying to emails for no apparent reason. But, they had done an extent of highway search which shows the area the van is parked on to be part of the highway. Told the owner this, he maintains that it's his and that they've parked there for 30 years and that he's going to continue to do so. They've now put a sign there declaring it to be private parking.
The van has no tax or mot, police seem uninterested because the vehicle owners just tell them that bit of tarmac is theirs.
I really need this van moved, and to find out if can claim any kind of right of access over it, or anything that can stop them parking there.
For reference, they have over 2 acres of easily accessible, level ground that they could use for parking many scrap vehicles on if they desired rather than plonking it right next to my front gate and across the entrance to my paddock....
So, I'm hoping to find someone that can look into it, and advise if there is any way of gaining right of access or anything yhat can stop them from permanently blocking the way.

Any suggestions welcome, frozen sausages etc etc.....

So its a boundary/right of way dispute really?

I can't really advise, but do you have any deeds/diagrams from when you bought the place? or from the land registry etc? thats the first port of call..

EDIT..it's all public record stuff anyway, so it would be worth getting what you can, from the land registry for both your property and the nehgbouring property for the small fee they charge...

If it comes to the crunch you'll need all that info anyway, so it's easier for you to get it directly rather than paying a solicitor to get this info, in the first instance.

"they had done an extent of highway search which shows the area the van is parked on to be part of the highway. "

That's interesting, did the the solicitor the has gone quiet, supply you with evidence to back that up?

If it is 'part of the highway' that suggests it's basicaly public land so niether party has exclusive rights over it.
It also suggests if the offending van is un-taxed and uninsured, it could technicaly be towed away by the coppers and impounded, if they are intersted, which they don't seem to be.

Yes, we have the maps from the extent of highway search.
It's most definitely a boundary/r.o.w dispute, he maintains that it's his land and not the road. When I showed him the extent of highway map he said 'ahh, yeah, but that map is wrong' and produced a hand drawn map from 1853 and said 'there ya go, that's where the road ends' Bizzare that as a car mechanic he seems oblivious to the fact that the internal combustion engine wasn't even mass produced at this stage.... and our cottage was still 10 years away from being built - both things that could have led to the highway boundary changing....
Initially we just want to besure if the highway boundary, find out where we stand legally, what access rights do we have over this bit of road It may be that there's nothing we can do about it, in which case there's always the frozen sausages option!

We used these when we moved 2 years ago and they were excellent (Elly Tavener is who we dealt with) - the only sensible solicitors in the chain! 🙂

https://www.simpsonjones.com/

Your situation sounds more dispute than conveyancing though. Just download the Land Registry docs to see where the boundaries are (but I presume you have these already).

And how's your sulky-face and how deep are your pockets. It's the sort of thing that could easily put you top of the Daily Mail website and destitute!

The highway situation isn't uncommon though - where I used to live pretty much everyone's drive on one side of the road was on highway, and there'd be nothing to stop anyone parking on them as they'd legally be parked on the road. Or Highways Dpt. could have decided they wanted to widen the road and they'd all be screwed.

We didn't have a drive but the path to our house ran over the 'highway' and we had to sign a form saying we'd used it with no issues and no payment when we sold.

This is one of the drives further up my old road...