Having had a battery 'die' following a period of inactivity for my Coupe, what am I best doing when car is layed up for any period of time?

Either fully charged, or fully discharged - never anywhere in-between.

Depends if it is near a power socket.

If it is then a one of these http://www.accumate.co.uk/

If not then http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=217850&C=Froogle&U=217850&T=Module just don't get the "trickle" charge one, this is 12W

Battery conditioners are far better than trickle chargers.

I did a tool test on them for the magazine which should be out around the 15th, however, at the moment Busters have these on offer at a stupidly low price. I have 2 on my bike batteries.

http://www.busters-accessories.co.uk/cl ... h-7/Tech-7

Don't leave it discharged. It will sulphate very quickly and may become unusable.