The Commuter Guide - Local information on house prices, property value and commuter access

PLUCKLEY The countryside around Pluckley will be familiar to anyone who remembers the television serialisation of H.E. Bates’s Darling Buds Of May. The influence of the Dering family – previous lords of the manor of Surrenden Dering – is obvious here. Kentish ragstone was used for many of the older houses, most of which have distinctively-arched Dering windows. The village has remained small, with a population of just over 1,000 served by two shops, a hugely admired silversmith, three pubs, one church, and a Church of England primary school. Leisure opportunities include cricket, tennis, and Pluckley Pantomime Unlimited. The smallest two-bedroom semi-detached cottage can fetch £130,000; a four-bedroom detached house, £465,000; a period country house with half an acre and panoramic views, £575,000 or more. Pluckley has the dubious reputation for being the most haunted village in England (Guinness Book of Records 1998).

Bethersden, a couple of miles south of the station, is another pretty conservation village of listed weatherboarded and tile-hung houses. It clusters around a post office and general store, a butcher, a church, two pubs and a primary school. A two-bedroom restored brick cottage will cost about £165,000; a four-bedroom period house, £295,000.