Tired of the thought of another weekend tripping around a faceless pop festival, last week I decided to swap hedonism for country pursuits, and went to an agricultural show in Gloucestershire for some really alternative entertainment. And behind the static engines, hereford cattle and jacob sheep, I saw the man of my dreams. Clutching a hammer, silhouetted by the roaring furnace behind him, he was beating out a chain of white-hot metal links on an anvil. As I watched the blacksmith at his trade, I realised that he was salvation, the man of the future, the newest star of the pre-apocalyptic, recession-riddled 21st century.

Not so long ago, it seemed we might have at least 100 years before we even had to start considering the idea that our fuels might run out, that our seas might rise or that our gift for technological innovation was finite. But now, as the environmental judgment day draws closer, we’re all waking up to the fact that our futures will be increasingly defined by practical skills. And this means that the attractiveness of those plying skilled manual trades — the blacksmiths, carpenters, bricklayers, scaffolders — is rising faster than the bubbling seas. As bankers carry cardboard boxes from collapsed offices, suddenly it’s so much more alluring if a man can build a house, forge metal or work wood rather than trade stocks and shares.

Jennifer Aniston consoled herself after her split from Vince Vaughn with the hunky builder turned model Paul Sculfor, who then went on to date Cameron Diaz. Sandra Bullock has eschewed a whole generation of overmanicured Hollywood hotties and fallen into the arms of a biker, Jesse James, who must be pretty handy with a blowtorch and a monkey wrench.

Online dating sites are reporting an upsurge of interest in tradesmen, and whereas bankers used to boast about their job, now they are actually taking their title off their online profile. Sarah Beeny, the Property Ladder presenter and a co-founder of mysinglefriend.com. says: “Since the recession started, we’ve seen a real change in what women are looking for on our site. Gone are the City boys, and in their place is a culturally rounded, sensitive and humble man. Forget bankers and financiers — electricians, plumbers and even carpenters are the hot careers. This year, our No 1 clicked-on man was a plumber.”

I like to think of myself as a fully emancipated, practical woman, but something inside me comes undone when a man with a tool belt appears on my horizon. Metrosexuals might be nice to discuss face cream with, but what use will they be when we are fighting over the last remaining pots of Crème de la Mer while the axle on the wind turbine needs greasing? There is also something deeply sexy about a man who really, really knows how to use his hands. He appeals to some instinctive and atavistic desire for a time when men were men and women were grateful.

And in the storms of the current financial climate, there is security in these boys, too. The recent past has proved that our future is always uncertain. Physical men remind us of the security of home and hearth, something that they just might be much better equipped to provide in the long term than the boys in pin-striped suits.

‘I MARRIED A CARPENTER’

Claire Ryder, 35, is an advertising consultant. She met Johnny, a carpenter from Shropshire, three years ago. They got married in December 2007 and have a nine-month-old daughter, Lola

”Until I met Johnny, I had gone out with a string of men who wouldn’t know how to put up a shelf, let alone build a house. I suppose you would call them metrosexuals: they all did nonphysical, intellectually demanding jobs, but they were, without exception, commitment-phobic. Domestic life wasn’t seen as sexy, and neither was having a wife and baby. In my twenties this was fine, but when I hit my thirties, I realised that I wanted something totally different, and I felt let down by the boys with big salaries and empty promises. I wanted a man who would relish creating a house and home with me. Then I met Johnny.

“I left my job in London when we got married, and moved to Ludlow, where I now have a consultancy business. I think that it was a bit of a shock for my friends, because Johnny hadn’t been to university. After school he travelled a bit, and then settled on carpentry, as he wanted a job where he could earn money quickly, and which he found physically satisfying. He can do restoration work, but he also builds houses. I absolutely love the feeling that he is resourceful and practical. It’s sexy and reassuring, which is a good combination.

“After we had been going out for a bit, he realised that I didn’t have a problem with the idea that he was ‘just’ a carpenter. I think that my friends did, though. When I told them his job, they would say, ‘How useful’, and I found that really patronising. People who don’t do physical work don’t understand that it’s intellectually as well as physically demanding. It’s certainly not just about brute force. But I think that him doing physical stuff also makes him easier to live with, as he doesn’t get emotionally blocked up.

“I think carpenters have a higher status in the current climate, as people start to realise that it’s a good job with a steady wage. It’s also a real bonus that he has a great body, unlike a lot of men in their thirties. Of course I find the physical stuff sexy, and it’s true that he does really know how to use his hands. But he also knows how to create a home, and at this stage of my life, that’s just as important as what happens in the bedroom.”

JOBS FOR THE BOYS

The Blacksmith Most at home working beside a furnace that burns at 1,000C with a heavy hammer in his hand, the blacksmith embodies the perfect, muscular fusion of function and creativity, and is just as good at making fundamental structures as he is at crafting delicate works of metal art. There is a certain rock’n’roll swagger to the blacksmith: he’s never shy at stripping down to a tiny, tight vest, and his association with iron-age man gives him gravitas.

The Scaffolder Swinging around like a pack of muscular monkeys at the top of a large building, scaffolders are the boys who really like a bit of danger. Used to wielding galvanised-steel poles at great heights, the scaffolder is extremely strong and has a fantastic body to match, which he doesn’t mind showing off. Skilled at climbing large buildings at speed, he is agile, and would think nothing of scooping a girl up into his arms. Think of him as a bit like a latter-day window cleaner, but with a lot more Mad Max muscle.

The Carpenter The carpenter is the most solitary and introspective of the brave new men, used to hours alone as he hammers away at roofs and rafters. He is good with his hands, but there is also something almost spiritual about him, perhaps because he works with wood, perhaps because he comes from a long, biblical heritage. Or maybe it’s simply that a bulging leather tool belt, with hammer and chisel, is enough to make any hot-blooded girl go weak at the knees.

The Landscape Gardener Good at getting his hands dirty, the gardener fulfils all our fantasies about lying on our back in the dappled sunlight with a rugged man of the soil. Maybe we read the forbidden sections of Lady Chatterley’s Lover too often as teenagers, but there’s something wholesome about a man who understands the significance of the sap rising. Handy, too, that he would know how to grow all the organic vegetables we would need to keep the home fires burning, whatever happens in the outside world.

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