I also find it amazing that people insist on making things more difficult than they need to be. The definition of a cross-country flight is perfectly clear and does not include any requirement to land at another airfield, fly for a minimum distance, wear pink underpants, etc.
Clearly, flying in the circuit (no matter how wide) cannot be counted as cross-country but a flight from EGNT to the Tees-side NDB (or anywhere else) and back certainly can, provided that it is pre-planned and flown using standard navigation procedures. Even if you take off from EGNT and track to the TD and back using the ADF you can count it as cross-country as it is flown using a standard navigation procedure (Ex 18c - Radio Navigation).