Search results for...

Title matches

Shenfield

SHENFIELD is a mutated village but nonetheless the greengrocer and butcher know you by name. There are three parts to it: the village itself, with bread-and-butter Victorian and Thirties streets; Hutton Mount, where...read more

County: Essex

Ingatestone

INGATESTONE This is a village with small town pretensions and well over 4,000 inhabitants, many of them East Enders who have moved up and out. Its best features are a collection of 19th-century almshouses and the Hi...read more

County: Essex

Chelmsford

CHELMSFORD has just billowed with new developments. Broomfield and Links Drive are the right side of the railway tracks, Boarded Barns the wrong side. A lot of investment has been made in shopping. There are several...read more

County: Essex

Hatfield Peverel

HATFIELD PEVEREL Commuterland in the lee of the A12. Good-neighbourliness shows itself in the form of Neighbourhood Watch and a wine club set up by bibulous incomers. A cottage on the green in Hatfield Peverel...read more

County: Essex

Witham

WITHAM The smart set don’t live in Witham itself, which has become a town that people go to for shopping or pass through on their way to the station. Dorothy L. Sayers was not so proud, however. She liv...read more

County: Essex

Braintree via White Notley and Cressing

The through train service to Liverpool Street on this line was introduced in 1990 as a result of vigorous lobbying by the Witham and Braintree Rail Users Association. People still take the shuttle into Witham and wait five...read more

County: Essex

Kelvedon

KELVEDON is sought after for its strong village heartbeat. The local church and the Kelvedon Players organise a variety of activities between them, including children’s groups and an annual pantomime. Once peo...read more

County: Essex

Marks Tey

MARKS TEY All the Teys, Marks Tey, Little Tey and Great Tey, are within a 10-minute drive of this or Colchester station. Marks Tey has large Seventies estates where you can buy a three-bedroom s...read more

County: Essex

Sudbury via Chappel and Wakes Colne and Bures

Villagers living along this branch line would be just as likely to drive into Colchester to catch one of the more frequent trains. Chappel and Wakes Colne are two villages sewn together by a vast and spectacu...read more

County: Suffolk

Colchester

COLCHESTER People have time for Colchester, the oldest town in Britain, with a show-stopping Norman castle built on the foundations of a Roman Temple. The medieval alleyways in the old quarter harbour special...read more

County: Essex

Clacton and Walton on the Naze via Wivenhoe

WIVENHOE is a little quayside town that is subject to commuter clotting by those who want to avoid the stressful drive into Colchester (which can take 45 minutes). Parking space is so precious that the public car pa...read more

County: Essex

Manningtree

MANNINGTREE This station is often preferred to Colchester because it is marginally easier to park the car (though nothing is free) and easier to get a seat. Manningtree town itself has a charming frontage on ...read more

County: Essex

Harwich Town via Mistley

While Manningtree benefits from the stops made by fast trains coming through from Harwich and Norwich, the small stops out along the tidal estuary towards Harwich do not. Properties are scattered and isolated along ...read more

County: Essex

Ipswich

IPSWICH is described as a town of convenience – good for shopping. It’s also a centre for entertainment, with cinemas, two venues for stage productions, the Regent Theatre and The New Wolsey Theatre, and The...read more

County: Suffolk

Saxmundham via Woodbridge

Much of this remarkable coast had been off limit for daily commuters because there were so few direct services, but accessibility has improved with the addition of more through trains. Beyond Saxmundham the line continues ...read more

County: Suffolk

Needham Market

NEEDHAM MARKET has plenty of old houses, some with Georgian facades, and a wondrous 15th-century chapel with a double hammerbeam roof that sent Pevsner into orbit. He described it as ‘a whole church with nave,...read more

County: Suffolk

Stowmarket

STOWMARKET has a strategic position just on the lip of the Suffolk prairie. Beyond the A45 all the last dimples in the countryside have been ironed flat, and the trees and hedges unpicked from a landscape that blaze...read more

County: Suffolk

Bury St Edmunds via Elmswell

This area is not nearly as popular with London commuters as that served by the fast electric trains to Diss. Both Elmswell and Thurston have grown hugely in recent years, swallowing new houses like packets of...read more

County: Suffolk

Diss

DISS is extremely popular with commuters because the trains whistle through to London. During the property boom of the late Eighties the town expanded, a few computer companies moved in and prices went up. It curren...read more

County: Norfolk

Norwich

NORWICH This has become popular with a new breed of part-time commuter, for the more frequent service to London makes the journey easier. The attractions of Norwich are strong, especially with the Broads and ...read more

County: Norfolk

Brentwood

BRENTWOOD People are fond of Brentwood because of its traditional high street with independent shops, monthly farmers’ and craft markets and its convenient position. It is on Junction 28 of the M25, yet...read more

County: Essex

Billericay

BILLERICAY is bustling, respectable and genteel. House prices are not as high as at Shenfield, but are similar to those in Brentwood and Chelmsford. The town is close enough to the open countryside to attract a stea...read more

County: Essex

Wickford

WICKFORD People who live in Wickford consider themselves superior to those who live in Basildon, but inferior to those from Rayleigh. Commuters pour in from the Dengie peninsula to catch the fast trains here,...read more

County: Essex

Southminster via Battlesbridge

SOUTH WOODHAM FERRERS is almost other-worldly, epitomising all that the Essex Design Guide had to say about the use of traditional materials and regional styles. Building began in 1976, which makes it one of the mor...read more

County: Essex

Rayleigh

RAYLEIGH mushroomed in the Thirties, and considers itself upmarket of Basildon and Wickford. The large windmill at one end of the High Street adds a gracious note, and since its refurbishment has become a local tour...read more

County: Essex

Hockley

HOCKLEY The Southend area was developed in the 1890s, and the further you come inland from the tip, the more modern it becomes. Hockley and Hawkwell, about six miles inland, have mostly Sixties’ and Sev...read more

County: Essex

Rochford

ROCHFORD is a plain town with a square surrounded by banks and specialist shops, including gift shops, a tea and coffee shop, and a watch repairer. The market is held here every Tuesday. Hall Road is the smart addre...read more

County: Essex

Prittlewell

PRITTLEWELL is a restrained northern suburb of Southend where two- to three-bedroom semis cost around £160,000. People who travel this line have seen the service improve dramatically. ‘I’ll tell yo...read more

County: Essex

Southend Victoria

SOUTHEND VICTORIA See Southend Central on the Fenchurch Street to Shoeburyness line. Most people prefer to use that line because the journey is quicker....read more

County: Essex

West Horndon

WEST HORNDON Classic between-the-wars and post-war suburbia has sprouted at West Horndon because of the sheer convenience of the rail service, though it somehow remains rural and most of the 1930s bungalows have 150...read more

County: Essex

Laindon

LAINDON station has the advantage of an extra platform. A number of services start from here, and its commuters are guaranteed a seat. The less expensive area, known locally as Alcatraz, is subject to urban renewal ...read more

County: Essex

Basildon

BASILDON has virtually swallowed up Laindon and Pitsea. As one of a clutch of new towns planned after World War Two to absorb people and industry from London, it exists as a kind of joke to people who ...read more

County: Essex

Pitsea

PITSEA is rather more friendly than Basildon proper, with a defined centre and an open-air market in the sea of ex-council housing. Estate agents say it is one of the few affordable areas left. A three-bedroom terra...read more

County: Essex

Benfleet

BENFLEET The Southend Rail Travellers Association says this is one of the busiest stations on the entire line, serving a huge catchment area swollen with Sixties’ development. Benfleet itself is little ...read more

County: Essex

Leigh-on-sea

LEIGH-ON-SEA blends a certain eccentricity (of the take-the-tricycle-rather-than-the bus kind) with airs and graces, and is more sought after than its neighbours. The old town in particular is worth going to see, si...read more

County: Essex

Chalkwell

CHALKWELL The Chalkwell Hall estate is extremely popular, being south of the London Road, close to the Fenchurch Street line and the bracing breezes from the sea front. A detached house with three bedrooms and a gar...read more

County: Essex

Westcliff-on-sea

WESTCLIFF-ON-SEA is a dignified old Victorian lady of a town that is failing to fend off the encroaching seaside tat. Sadly, her densely layered streets of 19th-century houses, many of them now converted into flats,...read more

County: Essex

Southend Central

SOUTHEND CENTRAL Southend has spent the last few decades adjusting to the death of the Great British Holiday, while simultaneously adapting itself as a London dormitory. A huge injection of European regeneration mon...read more

County: Essex

Southend East

SOUTHEND EAST This is the area known as Southchurch. A great web of residential streets extends from Southend Central to Thorpe Bay, stitched together by a long main road of shops and offices. A three-bedroom...read more

County: Essex

Thorpe Bay

THORPE BAY is the most expensive part of Southend, and even those who live on the fringe-of-the-fringe say they live there. Detached houses with four to five bedrooms, built early this century, sell for £475,0...read more

County: Essex

Shoeburyness

SHOEBURYNESS With its sprawling council estates and industrial zones, Shoeburyness has little to offer other than cheapness. It has a beach, which is good for windsurfing, sailing and jet skiing. There are a few one...read more

County: Essex

Grays

GRAYS was built in two surges – the first in the late 19th century and the second in the Thirties – and is now one of the busiest commercial centres in this part of Essex. Cheaper homes in the £130,000 ran...read more

County: Essex

Tilbury Town

TILBURY TOWN Tilbury itself bears all the warts and eyesores that the 20th century could have thrown at it. When the ships coming up the Thames got so big that they couldn’t squeeze up to London any more, Tilb...read more

County: Essex

East Tilbury

EAST TILBURY There are strangely rural, long-forgotten pockets in this town. Around quiet corners you come suddenly upon dirt tracks that open up long walks beside the Thames. The Bata shoe company was started here ...read more

County: Essex

Stanford-le-Hope

STANFORD-LE-HOPE There are a few late 19th-century streets near the station but otherwise most of Stanford-Le-Hope is an eruption of low-cost Sixties’ h...read more

County: Essex

Broxbourne

BROXBOURNE The railway came to Broxbourne in 1840. Victorian houses immediately started going up around the station, and it has been commuter country ever since. To the south of it is a soothing pocket of cou...read more

County: Hertfordshire

Rye House

RYE HOUSE sits on the northern edge of Hoddesdon, on the finger of the Lea Valley Regional Park where the remains of the old Rye House gatehouse still stand. There was once a thriving nursery garden industry here. I...read more

County: Hertfordshire

St Margaret's

ST MARGARET’S The village here is Stanstead St Margaret’s, divided from Stanstead Abbots by the River Lea, though sharing a vicar. A bypass has reduced the amount of through-traffic from 19...read more

County: Hertfordshire

Ware

WARE People say that this is where the chimneypots stop and the countryside begins. Ware is a good old market town, which hasn’t been spoilt, and beyond it lies what the estate agents like to call the g...read more

County: Hertfordshire

Hertford

HERTFORD is a surprisingly small, old-fashioned county town, protected by a quilt of greenbelt at the junction of the Rivers Beane, Lea and Mimram. It is possible to take a boat south to the sea from here by negotia...read more

County: Hertfordshire

Roydon

ROYDON is quite a commuter haven, being handsome enough to have a conservation booklet written about it, but not chocolate boxy. Some of the houses are genuinely Georgian; others have false Georgian fronts. The vill...read more

County: Hertfordshire

Harlow Town

HARLOW TOWN It has to be said that many people hate Harlow in spite of its parks and Henry Moore sculptures. The New Town was created in 1947, to the masterplan of Sir Frederick Gibberd, as a series of four l...read more

County: Hertfordshire

Harlow Mill

HARLOW MILL This is the station for some of Harlow’s smarter parts – Mark Hall North, for instance, where a three-bedroom house costs £235,000. Harlow Old Town is very popular because of the old...read more

County: Hertfordshire

Sawbridgeworth

SAWBRIDGEWORTH is a low-rise town set in the fields and woods between Harlow and Bishop’s Stortford, and – though at this point you are in Hertfordshire – this is where you begin to see the distinct local ...read more

County: Hertfordshire

Bishop's Stortford

BISHOP’S STORTFORD is a wealthy little market town surrounded by pretty villages. Aircraft coming in and out of Stansted Airport fly around it to avoid causing any distress to those who live here. It has a goo...read more

County: Hertfordshire

Stansted Mountfitchet

STANSTED MOUNTFITCHET The proposed expansion of Stansted Airport cannot but have a huge effect on the area surrounding it, particularly as long-term plans include the building of a second runway and an increase in p...read more

County: Essex

Stansted Airport

STANSTED AIRPORT As parking is plentiful beside architect Norman Foster’s impressive Stansted Airport terminal, and trains into London are swift, commuters are increasingly tempted to use the station. Both the...read more

County: Essex

Elsenham

ELSENHAM offers a good view of the air traffic in and out of Stansted but is little affected by the noise, although the proposed expansion of the airport could bring new road links within the village boundaries. Its...read more

County: Essex

Newport

NEWPORT has always been more expensive than the neighbouring town of Saffron Walden, to which it long ago lost its market. It has a fine main street of gracious houses, all within easy reach of the station and the M...read more

County: Essex

Audley End

AUDLEY END There is little more at Audley End than the station itself. The town it serves is Saffron Walden. It has a handsome market place with narrow medieval rows running off it, small specialist sh...read more

County: Essex

Whittlesford Parkway

WHITTLESFORD PARKWAY, ideally situated close to Cambridge and the M11, is quite a sizeable village and prices can be higher than neighbouring Duxford. Most people know Duxford for its airfield (well to the we...read more

County: Cambridgeshire

Shelford

SHELFORD Great Shelford and Little Shelford, with Stapleford into which they merge at the base of the Gog Magog Hills, all ooze prosperity. This is where the Cambridge wealthy – businessmen an...read more

County: Cambridgeshire

Cambridge

CAMBRIDGE The line beyond here goes to King’s Lynn. For villages close to stations on the Kings Cross to King’s Lynn line via Cambridge and Ely see the appropriate section. The prop...read more

County: Cambridgeshire

Bury St Edmunds via Dullingham

DULLINGHAM is quite remote and therefore suited to two-car families. It has become very popular because of its proximity to Cambridge and its pretty thatch-and-clunch cottages, old farm and stables and village green...read more

County: Cambridgeshire

Great Chesterford

GREAT CHESTERFORD and Little Chesterford are both extremely prestigious, having a very popular primary school and being close enough to Cambridge to attract people who work there. The River Cam tiptoes throug...read more

County: Essex

Brookmans Park

BROOKMANS PARK This is the world of personalised number plates and golf courses, the playground to Potters Bar. Large expensive houses, some of them sealed behind tall hedges, have been built between lakes an...read more

County: Hertfordshire

Welham Green

WELHAM GREEN is a step down from Brookmans Park but still within the halo cast by the M25 as well as being close to shops and schools of St Albans. The village offers a mix of private developments and council estate...read more

County: Hertfordshire

Hatfield

HATFIELD was built in four stages. There was the Old Town, then the New Town and the arrival of the railway – when it became known as ‘California’ because it was ‘out west and bit rough’. T...read more

County: Hertfordshire

Welwyn Garden City

WELWYN GARDEN CITY Ebenezer Howard, with his chief architect Louis de Soissons, designed Welwyn Garden City as a sustainable town with its own employment zones, but the lure of the commute was not resisted for long....read more

County: Hertfordshire

Welwyn North

WELWYN NORTH The village best served by this station is Digswell, which consists of large detached houses with secluded gardens sewn into the lanes behind high hedges – some of them dominated by the huge vi...read more

County: Hertfordshire

Knebworth

KNEBWORTH As is the case with most towns and villages in this area, there is an old and a new Knebworth. Old Knebworth grew up around the big house and parkland. The newer part was built around the railway st...read more

County: Hertfordshire

Stevenage

STEVENAGE offers something like safety-net housing for people who can’t afford Hertfordshire’s plusher towns and villages. Huge new estates are now zoned west of the A1 and in the north-east of town. It ...read more

County: Hertfordshire

Hitchin

HITCHIN has managed to retain its character better than some of the surrounding towns. Parts of the centre still remain in a medieval time-warp – the Market Place, the lanes leading off it to the cathedral-sized S...read more

County: Hertfordshire

Letchworth

LETCHWORTH You need to make sure your face fits in Letchworth. This was the first garden city, and the dream is still intact, as wholesome as a Hovis advertisement. To those who come from elsewhere to live – and t...read more

County: Hertfordshire

Baldock

BALDOCK is a classic small market town, with pubs from its coaching days and a much admired wide main street. People enjoy living here. After years of wrangling a bypass has been built to...read more

County: Hertfordshire

Ashwell & Morden

ASHWELL & MORDEN The station is too far outside the village to walk, so parking spaces are keenly contested. Waiting to be picked up is no great hardship, though, since there is a country pub right opposite the ...read more

County: Hertfordshire

Royston

ROYSTON sits on the borders of Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire, so residents have the choice of two education systems. It offers cheap housing and convenience. In addition to the railway line it also has easy acces...read more

County: Hertfordshire

Meldreth

MELDRETH This was once serious fruit-growing country, but Meldreth now has only one commercial orchard left with a farm shop attached. It has a recreation ground, and beneath a spreading chestnut tree are the...read more

County: Cambridgeshire

Shepreth

SHEPRETH The feature of Shepreth village centre is a stream with two old mills on its banks. There are some pretty thatched cottages and several modern closes built in the late Sixties and Seventies. The vill...read more

County: Cambridgeshire

Foxton

FOXTON is attractive and quiet, with a pretty, but tiny green and some good timber-frame houses in the long main street. The village has two churches, a shop-cum-post-office, pub, primary school and village hall. Th...read more

County: Cambridgeshire

Waterbeach

WATERBEACH The trains out of Waterbeach in the morning are full of children on their way to school in Cambridge or Ely. The village does have its own primary school, which doubles as a community centre. Here ...read more

County: Cambridgeshire

Ely

ELY had remained aloof, cut off from Cambridge by the Fens for so long that the last property boom arrived as something of a shock. Now, however, it has become an immensely popular alternative to the hothouse of Cam...read more

County: Cambridgeshire

Littleport

LITTLEPORT is a thriving little town on this huge horizontal landscape, with some beautiful old houses as well as plenty of new estates. There are three thatched properties in the town centre (adding a touch of cosi...read more

County: Cambridgeshire

Downham Market

DOWNHAM MARKET is popular with people who are taking early retirement – over 40 per cent of the population is aged over 60 – but families are being courted with hundreds of modern four-bedroom houses, many let t...read more

County: Norfolk

Watlington

WATLINGTON This village has expanded rapidly in recent years with new developments. It has a couple of shops, a primary school, a doctor’s surgery and a village ‘office’ with IT, Internet and photo...read more

County: Norfolk

King's Lynn

KING’S LYNN The old port of King’s Lynn has a definite appeal for birdwatchers, who can be seen in their anoraks and wellington boots scanning the sky with their binoculars. The marshes and mudfla...read more

County: Norfolk

Arlesey

ARLESEY You are on to the Bedfordshire plains here, where the low, sprawling, yellow-brick villages can seem monotonous and unimaginative after the variety of Hertfordshire. Arlesey itself might be short on c...read more

County: Bedfordshire

Biggleswade

BIGGLESWADE is a town of yellow brick houses and market-gardening set on the River Ivel, which was once just navigable from the sea. Greene King had a brewery here, which may explain why there are so many pubs. Ther...read more

County: Bedfordshire

Sandy

SANDY is as plain as can be – an old Bedfordshire village that acquired a station and then sponged up overspilling Londoners into its large council estates and yellow-brick streets. It is perhaps a shade cheaper t...read more

County: Bedfordshire

St Neots

ST NEOTS is prettier than many of the towns in the area and larger, with a population of 30,000 or more. The market square, surrounded by fine Georgian buildings, is alive with gastro-pubs and cafés and al fr...read more

County: Cambridgeshire

Huntingdon

HUNTINGDON Most people will probably prefer the neighbouring villages to Huntingdon itself, though the old county town is not unattractive. Oliver Cromwell lived here, and the old school, which both he and Sa...read more

County: Cambridgeshire

Peterborough

PETERBOROUGH The tower of the Norman cathedral, which contains the tomb of Catherine of Aragon, is just about the only thing of beauty in Peterborough. It is visible from almost anywhere in the city and is il...read more

County: Cambridgeshire

Grantham

GRANTHAM A solid band of commuters have arrived in Grantham on the crest of the various housing booms, as high prices rippled out from London. Today’s residents also include ‘virtual commuters&rsq...read more

County: Lincolnshire

Newark Northgate

NEWARK NORTHGATE A Royalist stronghold in the Civil War, this proud town does its best to ignore the great snake of the River Trent that slithers past, encased inside high banks to prevent it from flooding. The love...read more

County: Nottinghamshire

Cuffley

CUFFLEY is prime commuter country, much of it built in stockbroker Tudor style on what was once a wooded hillside. Though the character of the houses is intensely suburban, the village is still surrounded by proper ...read more

County: Hertfordshire

Bayford

BAYFORD is significantly more rural than Cuffley. It is set quietly in the heart of the Broxbourne woods, which are full of footpaths and bridleways, and is not so overburdened with modern development. The older Geo...read more

County: Hertfordshire

Watton-at-Stone

WATTON-AT-STONE is daubing its pretty face with new development. The main street is where the older properties are – yellow and red brick houses, jettied timber and plaster. But most of the rest of the village is ...read more

County: Hertfordshire

St Albans

ST ALBANS Forget the villages around St Albans. The attractions of the town itself, with its medieval centre focused around the cathedral, are such that it has become one of the smartest places to live north of Lond...read more

County: Hertfordshire

Harpenden

HARPENDEN is, if such a thing is possible, even smarter than St Albans. It has two cricket clubs, a leisure centre and an indoor swimming pool. The local amateur dramatics society and Harpenden Operatic Group regula...read more

County: Hertfordshire

Luton

LUTON spreads its mess of modern housing estates, industrial complexes and shopping streets with little grace. It does still have some industrial pride, however, with major local employers including Whitbread and Lo...read more

County: Bedfordshire

Leagrave

LEAGRAVE is hardly distinct from Luton. It has its own small precinct of shopping streets, but otherwise can be considered part of the town. In the centre of Leagrave, two- and three-bedroom pre-war terraced houses ...read more

County: Bedfordshire

Harlington

HARLINGTON, on the very tip of the Chiltern Hills, has an attractive core of timber-framed houses and thatched cottages grouped around the church. They are in a conservation area, and anything with two bedrooms will...read more

County: Bedfordshire

Flitwick

FLITWICK Little remains of old Flitwick, which was just a cluster of timber-framed houses and brick cottages. New development has entirely changed its character. Much of the new building has been for the bene...read more

County: Bedfordshire

Bedford

BEDFORD Though still a market town, Bedford has to a certain extent allowed its individuality to become submerged by its own commercial success. Modern office blocks have appeared in the historic centre. Mult...read more

County: Bedfordshire

Wellingborough

WELLINGBOROUGH is so plain it defies description yet the improved train service is bringing in new life blood in the form of commuters. It has a good range of major chain stores, several supermarkets including a Sai...read more

County: Northamptonshire

Kettering

KETTERING is a no-nonsense East Midlands market town, well supplied with leisure opportunities and good shopping. All the big-name stores are here, including Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Marks and Spencer, and the m...read more

County: Northamptonshire

Market Harborough

MARKET HARBOROUGH People grow very fond of Market Harborough, home of the first Liberty Bodice, with its distinctive half-timbered Old Grammar School on stilts in the centre, now used for public functions. The popul...read more

County: Leicestershire

Leicester

LEICESTER This gutsy, modern Midlands city is not likely to woo the heart of too many London commuters though it is very conveniently placed close to the M69, the M6 and the M1. Its prosperity was built on hosiery, ...read more

County: Leicestershire

Aspley

APSLEY is well-liked for its sense of identity. It has Victorian two-bedroom terraces at around £230,000 within walking distance of the station and a large waterside development set round a marina on the canal...read more

County: Hertfordshire

Hemel Hempstead

HEMEL HEMPSTEAD may not be to everyone’s taste, just pre-dating Stevenage as a New Town, but it is very conveniently placed. The M1 and M25 both pass very close to it, the train to London takes less than half ...read more

County: Hertfordshire

Berkhampsted

BERKHAMSTED is a prosperous old market town wedged in the valley bottom, with the railway and canal running through some of the best countryside close to London. A general market on Saturdays, a farmers’ marke...read more

County: Hertfordshire

Tring

TRING station is one-and-a-half miles outside the town in a hamlet called simply Tring Station. The Rothschilds lived at Tring Park, and their stamp is everywhere. They gave open spaces, provided cottages, an...read more

County: Hertfordshire

Cheddington

CHEDDINGTON is a quiet little village, best known for the fact that the Great Train Robbery took place at the railway bridge just outside. Prices are similar to Tring’s and slightly higher than Leighton Buzzar...read more

County: Buckinghamshire

Leighton Buzzard

LEIGHTON BUZZARD has swallowed whole the smaller town of Linslade on the west of the River Ouzel, which is where the station is located. It is prime commuterland. Leighton Buzzard proper is an old market town...read more

County: Bedfordshire

Bletchley

BLETCHLEY is the largest of the three towns gobbled up by Milton Keynes and is home to Bletchley Park, the wartime code-breaking centre, which is now open to the public. The town has a good shopping centre and an op...read more

County: Buckinghamshire

Bedford via Fenny Stratford

The Marston Vale line is the only remaining section of the former Oxford to Cambridge line. It is only 16 miles long, but is extremely busy since it serves villages that lack good local bus services and is heavily used by ...read more

County: Buckinghamshire

Milton Keynes Central

MILTON KEYNES CENTRAL The train service to Milton Keynes station is so good that it has a vast catchment area stretching all the way to Daventry (see Daventry). It has some of the newest rolling stock,...read more

County: Buckinghamshire

Wolverton

WOLVERTON Stony Stratford is now part of Milton Keynes, but still retains many original 18th-century buildings and seduces buyers quite shamelessly. As a quaint old market town, with a market square just off the Hig...read more

County: Buckinghamshire

Northampton

NORTHAMPTON It has to be said that Northampton is an unprepossessing town with a rugged commercial and light industrial bustle. Historically its prosperity came from the manufacture of boots and shoes, but in recent...read more

County: Northamptonshire

Long Buckby

LONG BUCKBY Having grown up around the railway, canal and A5, the attraction of Long Buckby is good communications rather than charm. With a strong Victorian core and a plethora of Seventies estates, it stretches fo...read more

County: Northamptonshire

Rugby

RUGBY has never attracted architectural plaudits but it has managed to develop a certain vigour in the last few years and at night it buzzes with restaurants, nightclubs and bars. There is now a farmers’ marke...read more

County: Warwickshire

Chorleywood

CHORLEYWOOD The Victorian development of the railways created Chorleywood by making the lovely Chess Valley accessible from London. The M25 dominates and clogs up with traffic, but a scheme to widen the motorway is ...read more

County: Hertfordshire

Chalfont & Latimer

CHALFONT & LATIMER Little Chalfont is a mini-town with a station, two schools, a post office, strip of shops, four restaurants, library and a number of very expensive houses in large grounds. ‘Too spread o...read more

County: Hertfordshire

Amersham

AMERSHAM The old town of Amersham is anchored by a 17th-century market hall. The High Street, lanes and little courtyards offer a picturesque variety of architectural styles from timber-framed houses to Georg...read more

County: Buckinghamshire

Great Missenden

GREAT MISSENDEN The narrow main street lined with houses and shops from the 15th to 19th centuries gives Great Missenden an intimate air and makes it an attractive small centre within easy reach of central Lo...read more

County: Buckinghamshire

Wendover

WENDOVER The beautiful National Trust countryside of the Chilterns attracts a lot of walkers to Wendover. The tables outside the bistro cafés make a picturesque setting for a refreshment stop. Part of ...read more

County: Buckinghamshire

Stoke Mandeville

STOKE MANDEVILLE is little more than a suburb of Aylesbury. It has a general store, several pubs, a sports club and hotel, and a combined first and middle school, but is largely dominated by the world-famous hospita...read more

County: Buckinghamshire

Aylesbury

AYLESBURY Commercial development has overshadowed a good deal of Aylesbury’s ancient past. Its heart was cut out in the Sixties to make way for office blocks, and large council estates were built on the north ...read more

County: Buckinghamshire

Denham

DENHAM and DENHAM GOLF CLUB If Denham had come straight out of the scenery department of the old Denham studios it couldn’t be more picturesque. Only 18 miles from London, it is a patch of rural peace �...read more

County: Buckinghamshire

Gerrards Cross

GERRARDS CROSS Easy access to London by rail and road – M40, M25 and M4 all within spitting distance – has given the area around Gerrards Cross a reputation for being one of the most expensive in the coun...read more

County: Buckinghamshire

Seer Green & Jordans

SEER GREEN & JORDANS Seer Green’s old rural character has been changed by the Sixties’ Manor Farm Estate estate where three- and four-bedroom semi-detached and detached houses sell for £275,000...read more

County: Buckinghamshire

Beaconsfield

BEACONSFIELD has a dual personality and a dual population. The old town grew at the crossroads of the coaching routes to Windsor and Oxford and is centred on a broad square and a pleasant green. Local people house-h...read more

County: Buckinghamshire

High Wycombe

HIGH WYCOMBE has left behind the wool and furniture industries upon which it was founded in order to embrace modern industries. The result is a myriad of housing from large Victorian piles to Thirties’ semis a...read more

County: Buckinghamshire

Saunderton

SAUNDERTON Though Saunderton itself is not much more than a station surrounded by small housing estates, it is the most convenient station for some of the prettiest villages in the region. To the west, in an area of...read more

County: Buckinghamshire

Princes Risborough

PRINCES RISBOROUGH is a pleasant market town with the relaxed feel of an overgrown village. The High Street is an attractive place to shop and stroll, but it is abandoned for the city each day by at least half the p...read more

County: Buckinghamshire

Monks Risborough

MONKS RISBOROUGH No longer separated from Princes Risborough but rather a suburb of it, Monks Risborough has a few relics of its medieval past and some pretty cottages, but now consists mainly of Sixties’ and ...read more

County: Buckinghamshire

Little Kimble

LITTLE KIMBLE Many of the villages in this area sprawl rather than huddle, and Little Kimble is typical. Its straggling lanes contain a mix of properties from a few listed 17th- and 18th-century cottages to 1900s an...read more

County: Buckinghamshire

Haddenham & Thame Parkway

HADDENHAM & THAME PARKWAY Whichever way you look at it, Haddenham is a pretty big village or a big pretty village, now split into two, the old and the new. The Sheerstock estate of two-, three-, four- and...read more

County: Buckinghamshire

Bicester North

BICESTER NORTH Bicester has a long history - the Bicester With Whaddon Chase Hunt dates back to the 1700s. Despite having an old market square (or triangle) and some 16th-century gabled houses, it stopped being a pe...read more

County: Oxfordshire

King's Sutton

KING’S SUTTON A few London commuters travel regularly from King’s Sutton. Others prefer to drive to Bicester, which has a more frequent service. The majority of local residents work in Banbury or Oxford....read more

County: Oxfordshire

Banbury

BANBURY has spent a lot of time burying its past in order to make way for a bright new future which is now bursting upon it, complete with a revamped shopping centre, new industries and improved rail links. House pr...read more

County: Oxfordshire

Leamington Spa

LEAMINGTON SPA The journey to Leamington Spa is much quicker than it used to be, making it a viable commuter’s haunt. In the past the people who chose to live in this spacious spa town, with its Georgian and V...read more

County: Warwickshire

Iver

IVER This is a lovely village of 16th- and 17th-century cottages clustered around the church, with tree-covered lanes and Iver Heath nearby. Train frequency has improved, but people often use Slough where there are ...read more

County: Buckinghamshire

Langley

LANGLEY is really an extension of Slough, with lots of new housing developments. At its heart is the very popular 15th-century pub, the Red Lion, a Norman church and a rare 17th-century church library. The 17th-cent...read more

County: Buckinghamshire

Slough

SLOUGH The huge trading estate – supposedly the largest in Europe – is the backbone of Slough, but it doesn’t make it pretty to look at. Efforts have been made to improve the quality of life, and work is b...read more

County: Berkshire

Windsor & Eton Central

County: Berkshire

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 detache...read more

County: Berkshire

Taplow

TAPLOW This is where you start to find wonderful riverside villages with modest-sized yachts moored to the banks and anglers hunched beneath their green umbrellas. Taplow has lots of old cottages and a church built ...read more

County: Buckinghamshire

Maidenhead

MAIDENHEAD is an old Thameside town with an ancient heart, small shops, a pedestrianised High Street and a farmers’ market twice a month. Facilities include a multiplex cinema, health club and restaurants. Jus...read more

County: Berkshire

Marlow via Furze Platt

The service connecting these stations to Maidenhead is nicknamed the Marlow Donkey: it is very short and slow. The line follows the river and lifts its head out of the valleys to give good views. The area is close enough t...read more

County: Berkshire

Twyford

TWYFORD is a typical small town surrounded by countryside. It has all the essential shops and is referred to locally as ‘the village’. There are rows of Victorian terraces close to the station. Two-bedro...read more

County: Berkshire

Henley on Thames via Wargrave

WARGRAVE lies on a charming stretch of the Thames, and its narrow streets, trees and Georgian timber-framed houses on the river make it a rather prestigious place to live, though be aware that flooding can be a prob...read more

County: Berkshire

Reading

READING is a significant shopping and business centre and a university town. It has a farmers’ market twice a month. Its prosperity used to be based on beer (Courage), bulbs (Suttons) and biscuits (Huntley &am...read more

County: Berkshire

Tilehurst

TILEHURST is a western suburb of Reading. A three-bedroom semi costs between £175,000 and £310,000....read more

County: Berkshire

Pangbourne

PANGBOURNE, just five miles off the M4, is a riverside commuter haven where the Thames meets the Pang. This is where Kenneth Grahame, author of Wind In The Willows, lived and where the buffoons in Jerome K. Jerome&r...read more

County: Berkshire

Goring & Streatley

GORING & STREATLEY sandwich the Thames between them. Both are expensive and pretty, with enough shops to make life manageable. A Victorian semi with three bedrooms will cost £350,000 upwards. Streatley doe...read more

County: Oxfordshire

Cholsey

CHOLSEY is sprawly, so the prices here are lower. Its main feature, a pretty village green edged with listed cottages, has to face down the parade of modern shops on the other side. The shops and post office are use...read more

County: Oxfordshire

Didcot Parkway

DIDCOT PARKWAY Didcot itself lacks any romance. It has about 25,000 residents and is soaking up new housing like a sponge with 3,300 homes, as well as schools and sports facilities, due t...read more

County: Oxfordshire

Swindon

SWINDON itself is architecturally brutal though wonderfully convenient for commuting, since the Inter City trains take a last breath here before sprinting on to the West Country. Big businesses such as Motorola, Hon...read more

County: Gloucestershire

Kemble

KEMBLE is a very pretty Cotswold village, often commended in best-kept village competitions in Gloucestershire. Planning controls are tight, so that even the council houses are built in local stone. The village has ...read more

County: Gloucestershire

Bristol Parkway

BRISTOL PARKWAY The villages near here are perfect for commuters because the station is easy to reach and parking is plentiful. It also lies at the centre of a motorway network that can speed you north, south, east ...read more

County: Avon

Chippenham

CHIPPENHAM is a town that has been busy rediscovering its old heritage – paving the old market square with York stone, bringing back market day and introducing a farmers’ market, re-erecting the Butter Cross...read more

County: Wiltshire

Trowbridge via Freshford

FRESHFORD is favoured by retiring Bathonians. It is a strong little community, with its own shop and local railway station. Local trains drop you quickly into Bath, so there is no problem with parking the car and th...read more

County: Wiltshire

Bath Spa

BATH SPA People have been known to move into Bath and out again within a couple of years – not everyone finds it easy to break into the social circles that centre on its elegant 18th-century squares and cre...read more

County: Somerset

Bristol Temple Meads

BRISTOL TEMPLE MEADS Commuting from Bristol is never easy. Parking is difficult, and the station is hard to get at, being surrounded by streets of terraces and subject to major regeneration. There are huge tr...read more

County: Avon

Appleford, Culham and Radley

APPLEFORD, CULHAM and RADLEY Appleford is little more than a halt with a string of bungalows threaded to the railway line beside a good pub. Long Wittenham is a village in two halves, old and ne...read more

County: Oxfordshire

Oxford

OXFORD can seem insufferably cliquey to some, but if you belong in some way to the publishing, university, hospital or industrial scenes then it is not too much of a problem. It is, however, very unfriendly towards ...read more

County: Oxfordshire

Tackley and Heyford

Since Oxford is so strangled by traffic and efforts to drive to the station are likely to be stressful, Tackley and Heyford come into their own with their local trains. Steeple Aston, a grey stone-wall...read more

County: Oxfordshire

Charlbury

CHARLBURY This area is a tapestry of extraordinarily lovely villages. You have to watch for those that are under the Oxford influence and hence more expensive than those further afield. Charlbury is very elegant and...read more

County: Oxfordshire

Kingham

KINGHAM was declared England’s Favourite Village by Country Life magazine in 2007 for its charm, beauty and setting – it is surrounded by the winding lanes, streams and meadows of the Evenlode Valley. It and...read more

County: Oxfordshire

Moreton-in-Marsh

MORETON-IN-MARSH The perfection of towns such as Moreton-in-Marsh and Stow-on-the-Wold has meant torture by tourism. They seethe in summer and subside in winter. ‘The only people who live here are old d...read more

County: Gloucestershire

Evesham

EVESHAM Though not a great many people would choose to commute daily from Evesham, many might consider part-time commuting. Its tree-lined walks, lawns along the Avon and some wonderful old buildings give it obvious...read more

County: Worcestershire

Reading West

READING WEST Reading offers fast trains and lies within striking distance of beautiful countryside. For a full description see Paddington to Reading and Bristol....read more

County: Berkshire

Mortimer

MORTIMER is the smaller and more rural of the two villages and offers a minibus service to the station, which is a boon for commuters. A four-bedroom Victorian family house sells for £500,000 to £675,000...read more

County: Berkshire

Theale

THEALE Since getting into Reading is a nightmare, many people prefer to use Theale station instead. It marks the beginning of the Berkshire farming belt beyond Reading, yet is more accessible and gets ...read more

County: Berkshire

Aldermaston

ALDERMASTON is a very pretty village on the Kennet and Avon Canal, with a main street of red brick and timber houses sandwiched between Elizabethan cottages. To outsiders, however, it is ...read more

County: Berkshire

Midgham

MIDGHAM station is actually in Woolhampton, but was renamed Midgham station in 1873 because of the likelihood of confusion with Wolverhampton. Most people drive to Thatcham, because there is only a handful of parkin...read more

County: Berkshire

Thatcham

THATCHAM The old village of Thatcham, with a green at its centre, has swollen with new developments in the last couple of decades and more is yet to come. It has become a town, good for secondary shopping, but Readi...read more

County: Berkshire

Newbury

NEWBURY is a prosperous former market town with a good train service to London, and attracts commuters like bees to a honeypot. It has a mass of pretty downland villages (Watership Down country) within reach and is ...read more

County: Berkshire

Kintbury

KINTBURY is an unremarkable and yet endearingly compact place, named by one newspaper as one of the top ten most sought-after villages in 2007. It sits on the Kennet and Avon canal deep in agricultural Berkshire, wh...read more

County: Berkshire

Hungerford

HUNGERFORD Being just off the M4, Hungerford is a favourite starting-place for house-hunters in the area. It is on the twee side of pretty, with a pleasant wide High Street stretching down to the Kennet and Avon Can...read more

County: Berkshire

Bedwyn

BEDWYN Above Bedwyn lie the great Saxon defensive ramparts of Chisbury Camp. Down by the Kennet and Avon canal towpath is the 1812 Crofton Pumping Station, which houses the two oldest steam engines in the world that...read more

County: Wiltshire

Pewsey

PEWSEY Daily commuters have risen dramatically in number – at least 100 hop on regularly now. The trains that serve Pewsey are mostly Inter City services from the west. There are special commuter trains each morni...read more

County: Wiltshire

Westbury

WESTBURY was once a charming small town, with Georgian houses grouped around the market place and church, and a wonderful Victorian swimming pool, but it has been swamped by new housing. There are a few shops – a ...read more

County: Wiltshire

Frome

FROME isn’t quite in the best countryside close to Bath, nevertheless it has a distinctive character with lots of stone buildings set on the steep eastern hillsides of the Mendips. The old market place still f...read more

County: Somerset

Castle Cary

CASTLE CARY This is long-haul commuting, but people do it. Parking at the station is easy, and you can pick up the trains pelting back and forth to the Devon seaside. Castle Cary sits on the last few ripples of the ...read more

County: Somerset

Staines

Staines has been an important communications point ever since the Romans established a river crossing here on their route from London to the west. Not all subsequent bridges have lasted so well – three of them had...read more

County: Middlesex

Wraysbury

WRAYSBURY spreads itself rather wantonly and has several distinguishing characteristics, including two stations – Sunnymeads, only a mile away (see below), still counts as Wraysbury – and three miles of water fr...read more

County: Berkshire

Sunnymeads

SUNNYMEADS Wraysbury’s second station is at Sunnymeads, on the boundary between Wraysbury and Horton, which is a rural village with a green, one shop and two pubs, both listed. It has proud historical c...read more

County: Berkshire

Datchet

DATCHET Only a mile from Windsor, Datchet has avoided being overshadowed and retains a village personality. Physically it is compact and shaped like a letter H with two cross-bars. The left of the H is on the...read more

County: Berkshire

Windsor & Eton Riverside

WINDSOR & ETON RIVERSIDE Windsor & Eton Riverside is Windsor’s second station, a slightly slower route to London than the shuttle from Windsor & Eton Central to Slough (which picks up the Inter Cit...read more

County: Berkshire

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...read more

County: Surrey

Virginia Water

VIRGINIA WATER Brushed by the M25, Virginia Water has seen two enormous new developments in recent years: Virginia Park and St Anne’s Park. They are both super-luxurious gated estates, each with a communal poo...read more

County: Surrey

Chertsey

CHERTSEY is reaping the commercial benefit of lying just inside the M25 – an arbitrary boundary chosen by many London companies relocating their head offices. Developments have sprouted in recent years to cope wit...read more

County: Surrey

Sunningdale

SUNNINGDALE The development of the Southern Railway at the turn of the century made Sunningdale accessible to London businessmen who wanted to build country mansions with golf and racing on their doorsteps. S...read more

County: Berkshire

Ascot

ASCOT Strangers expect Ascot to be a glamorous place to live, because of its high racing and fashion profile. They are often surprised by its lack of real character. Its main attraction is the racecourse, whi...read more

County: Berkshire

Bagshot

BAGSHOT Once a wild heathland frequented by highwaymen (it was the perfect distance from London, reached by coach as dusk settled), Bagshot developed in the mid-19th century and is carefully maintaining its V...read more

County: Surrey

Camberley

CAMBERLEY Before the mid-19th century when the Royal Military Academy was established at Sandhurst, Camberley simply did not exist. Large houses with between 6 and 12 bedrooms were built for officers, with more mode...read more

County: Surrey

Frimley

FRIMLEY is too modern to call itself a village. It is a one-high-street sort of a place, with all the basics and is particularly valued for its good schools. Most of the housing is contained on three large estates. ...read more

County: Surrey

Martin's Heron & Bracknell

MARTIN’S HERON and BRACKNELL Nothing in Bracknell today suggests that in the early 19th century it might have been described as ‘a small thoroughfare hamlet adorned with many genteel residences an...read more

County: Berkshire

Wokingham

WOKINGHAM Despite centuries of doffing its cap to nearby royals in Windsor Forest, Wokingham was not granted a coat of arms until Coronation year, 1953. A relic of the royal hunt still survives in Nine Mile Ride, wh...read more

County: Berkshire

Winnersh & Winnersh Triangle

WINNERSH and WINNERSH TRIANGLE Winnersh has been built on old Windsor Great Forest land, starting in the Twenties and gathering pace in the last three decades. There is a supermarket, a large health club and ...read more

County: Berkshire

Earley

EARLEY Despite the name – Earley derives from the Anglo-Saxon words for eagle and wood – there is nothing rural on the horizon here. There are three parts to Earley – Maiden Erlegh, Lower Earley and Earley pro...read more

County: Berkshire

West Byfleet

WEST BYFLEET is a large village that has expanded over the years to become inseparable from Woking. Property prices are high because of its proximity to London. A modern three- to four-bedroom town house will be unl...read more

County: Surrey

Woking

WOKING is a busy commercial town, with a rapidly expanding artistic and cultural life centred on the new museum and gallery, The Lightbox, designed by the creators of the London Eye, which won the Art Fund Prize in ...read more

County: Surrey

Brookwood

BROOKWOOD has the edge on Woking because people prefer the idea of living in a village, no matter how built-up it has become. The strangest fact about the station is that is was built originally to serve the enormou...read more

County: Surrey

Ash Vale

ASH VALE is usually considered a rather unfashionable address, though it has the attraction of affordable prices for first-time buyers. It consists mainly of Victorian terraces arranged in grids around the railway s...read more

County: Surrey

Aldershot

ALDERSHOT is an army town with a pretty rough feel to it at night. There are 10,000 soldiers and their families. The good thing is that it has terrific sports facilities, including games ...read more