Chandler's Ford

CHANDLER’S FORD The stockbroker belt is at Chandler’s Ford, parts of which consider themselves to be more Winchester than Eastleigh. Much of it is modern. The Hiltingbury area, developed in the Sixties, has three-bedroom semis at between £185,000 and £220,000; three-bedroom detached houses at £280,000. The Oakmount area, which followed in the late Sixties and early Seventies, has two-bedroom maisonettes now costing £120,000 to £140,000 and three-bedroom terraces at £160,000. In the Eighties came Valley Park. You can buy a four-bedroom house for £240,000 here, though you might think they were rather tightly packed.

The expensive side of Chandlers Ford is Hocombe, built in the Thirties when little heed was paid to land values. Large four-bedroom houses, with spacious sitting and dining rooms, spread themselves over extensive gardens and change hands at £500,000 to £550,000. This is where the IBM executives from Hursley tend to congregate. Also on the northern side are two good comprehensive schools, Toynbee and Thornden, which take children to GCSE level. Layers of new housing continue to be added, especially now that the M3 slicing past it offers easier access to the rest of the country.