Burnham

BURNHAM has quite a few modern shops, but still manages to cling on to some of its 15th- and 16th-century charm. The centre is quaint and busy with a cobbler, two butchers and a baker. A three-bedroom period detached house might cost £430,000. North Burnham is the place to be. It leads to Burnham Beeches with its huge pollarded beeches and winding lanes. Here a house with five bedrooms in an acre of land will cost around £1m. The area attracts successful stockbrokers, bankers and the odd television presenter.

The northern flank offers some classic Buckinghamshire villages. Farnham Royal and Farnham Common are strung between Beaconsfield and Slough. Huge houses set in several acres cost £1.3m to £3m. Horse-riding is the popular pastime for wives left at home while their husbands are in the City. Both these little villages are right on top of Burnham Beeches.

For less expensive housing you have to look at somewhere like Cippenham, where Barratt is building an ever-expanding community of new homes. It has a Asda and other stores and everything from one-bedroom starter homes for £120,000 to three-bedroom detached homes for £270,000 to £320,000.

The station is used by those who work on the Slough Trading Estate, as well as commuters to London. It has only a small car park.