Egham

EGHAM Although Egham technically is a small town it retains an unhurried atmosphere from its village past. The presence of Royal Holloway (London University’s out-of-city campus college) means there are well-patronised bars, bistros and pubs, and a hungry market for student accommodation. Parents buy-to-let to students here. Among the new estates, first-time buyers can buy one-bedroom flats from £170,000. Two-bedroom Victorian semis in the town centre start at £240,000. The town has a good mix of local shopping, including a butcher and a baker whose families have been serving the community for more than 100 years. There are plenty of sports and social clubs, and an active historical society.

To the west, Englefield Green is a prestigious address thought by some as rather twee. It comes with a green, traditional pubs and a little high street of shops including a baker. A two-bedroom terraced cottage will cost £250,000. To the south is Thorpe, a village bisected by the M25. Despite this apparent handicap, houses here are 15 per cent or so more expensive than their equivalents in Egham. The smallest two-bedroom Victorian semi will cost around £295,000, and there is a preponderance of large houses in spacious plots. A four-bedroom detached house built in the Sixties or Seventies will fetch up to £500,000. There is a theme park just outside the village, but the traffic to it does not pass through the village itself.