The army of Londoners who decided they wanted out during the pandemic turned Oxfordshire — and particularly the Cotswolds — into one of Britain’s hottest property hotspots in 2021 and 2022.
Its smart market towns and gorgeous country villages were considered by many the ultimate antidote to life in locked down London, and prices spiralled.
Things have certainly calmed down this year, but prices in the county that gave us Inspector Morse, Soho Farmhouse, the dreaming spires of Oxford, and the retail mecca of Bicester Village are 22 per cent higher now than they were in 2019 according to research by estate agent Hamptons.
If you plan to make 2024 the year you escape to Oxfordshire these are Homes & Property’s picks of the towns, cities, and villages you need to get to know.
Value for money: Wantage
In a county stuffed full of pricey city suburbs and ultra-affluent towns and villages Wantage is a rare find.
This small but well formed market town is set in the Vale of White Horse’s spectacular countryside, and the 17th and 18th-century town centre buildings are set on charming cobbled streets and alleys.
Despite its picture-postcard qualities, the average property price in Wantage stands at £402,000. You could pick up an average house for £442,000 and an average flat costs £208,000.
Prices remain in the black, just, with an average increase of two per cent during the last year. But values are up by 15 per cent since the start of the pandemic and by 45 per cent since 2013.
There is one big compromise about Wantage: its lack of a station.
Commuters need to get to Didcot Parkway, a 20 minute drive away (there is also a bus). From there you can be at Paddington in around 40 minutes.
If this works then Wantage is a great choice for people who want the mod cons of town plus easy access to countryside.
It has a surprisingly active cultural life with a month-long summer festival of music and arts, and a separate literary festival.
A market brings an extra buzz to the town centre twice a week, and all the town’s schools are rated either good or outstanding.
Nightlife basically means the pub, but there are some really good traditional pubs in town (we particularly like the fact that the restaurant at The Shoulder of Mutton is veggie), and more independent cafés than there are chains, which makes a refreshing change.
Most like London: Jericho, Oxford
Wandering through streets lined with pastel painted cottages, admiring canal boats moored on the Oxford Canal, or popping into the Jericho Café for brunch, this suburb less than a mile from the city centre has London village vibes to spare.
Unfortunately, Jericho has more in common with the capital than its artisanal cafes and gastropubs.
Average prices are amongst the highest in the city, and indeed the county.
Despite a difficult year in property, average prices rose 3.5 per cent in the past year, breaching the £1 million mark for the first time. Houses sold for an average of £1.45 million, and flats for £514,000.
One of Jericho’s traditional two-up two-down cottages would set you back around £600,000, and you can expect to pay circa £450,000 for a two bedroom period conversion.
Local residents have included Slumdog Millionaire script writer Simon Beaufoy and author Mark Haddon, of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time fame and — rather like Hampstead decades ago, before it became so expensive only international millionaires could consider moving in — Jericho has a charmingly arty vibe, with an independent cinema, a summertime community festival, and mini weekend festivals hosted regularly by the canal.
For commuters, the station is a 15 minute walk away, and trains to Paddington take from around 50 minutes.
And when you fancy getting back to nature you can ooh and ahh and the horses that graze at Port Meadow or immerse yourself in Wytham Woods.
Least like London: Burford
This medieval town is in many ways the complete antithesis of London: quintessential country from its dreamy Cotswold stone cottages to the stupidly quaint high street running down to the River Windrush, packed with old school tea shops and independent stores selling antiques and homewares.
No wonder that PR guru Matthew Freud chose Burford as the perfect location for his foray into hospitality.
The newly-opened The Bull at Burford, a boutique hotel squarely aimed at soothing the nerves of stressed out Londoners with a dose of country air, which features a 24-hour snack pantry and yoga sessions, and four restaurants.
Parents don’t have to agonise about school places in Burford since there is only one primary school in the town, and one secondary school. Both are rated “good” by Ofsted.
With the Cotswolds on the doorstep, access to open space also isn’t a problem.
And while London has Notting Hill Carnival and New Year’s fireworks, Burford offers and endearingly homespun early summer commemoration of the assassination of a group of anti-Cromwellian soldiers during the English Civil War featuring music, a procession, and speeches.
When your shopping requirements extend beyond teacakes and vintage plates Oxford is 19 miles to the west, and Charlbury Station is seven miles away. Trains to Paddington take around an hour and a quarter.
Burford’s prices jumped sharply during the pandemic as Londoners rushed there to escape lockdown life in the capital. Partly as a result of this, average prices now stand at £856,000, a massive 33 per cent up compared to 2019.
Best connected: Henley-on-Thames
If you are still tied to a daily London commute then travel from Henley to the capital is a breeze by Oxfordshire standards.
Rush hour trains to Paddington take from 43 minutes. You do have to change at Twyford, but from there you could opt to stick to mainline services or pick up Crossrail into central London and beyond.
There are also local bus services to Maidenhead, High Wycombe, Reading, or Wallingford, and the Henley Hopper, which operates mid-week bus services around the town centre.
Henley is famous for its annual royal regatta — and if middle aged men wearing their stripey club blazers isn’t your thing the champagne-fuelled summertime ritual represents a good opportunity to Airbnb your home and get away for a few days.
On a day-to-day basis Henley has a huge among going for it. Its primary schools are all rated good or outstanding by Ofsted, while Gillotts School, its only secondary school, has top marks from the schools’ watchdog.
The Chiltern Hills rise to the north and west of the town for long dog walks in the country. And the nearby village of Hambleden is set on the stretch of the Thames immortalised in Kenneth Grahame’s Wind in the Willows and is great for swimming around Ferry Lane.
The town centre is simply beautiful – only the hardest of hearts could fail to be moved by the sight of its stone bridge spanning the River Thames (you will have to ignore the gridlocked traffic queuing across it) or the incredibly pretty cottages along Friday Street.
Henley is full of picture-perfect pubs like The Bell or, just over the river, The Little Angel , where you can dine on a menu of poshed-up traditional pub grub or pick at a charcuterie board.
And while most of the big coffee chains are represented in the town centre, there are also indies like the Geo-Café.
For something a bit different Kenton Theatre offers a programme spanning ballet to stand-up comedy.
Henley’s combination of commuter friendliness plus lifestyle means it is one of Oxfordshire’s more expensive towns. Average prices start at £866,000, up 5.5 per cent in the past year and 57 per cent over the past decade.
You’ll need to pay up to £5 million for one of the town’s riverside mansions, and well north of £1m for one of its impeccable Georgian townhouses.
But you could opt for a three bedroom terraced house (circa £500,000) instead. There is not a vast choice of flats in Henley, and prices start at around £375,000 for a two bedroom flat, either in a period building or purpose built.
Family friendly: Watlington
Right on the edge of the Chiltern Hills, this compact market town has everything an outdoorsy family could want – bracing walks up the National Trust’s Watlington Hill to survey the gorgeous surrounding countryside, tennis and squash clubs, a skate park and playground, lots of cycle trails, and visits to the (thankfully heated) outdoor pool at nearby Wallingford.
Back in town, Watlington Primary School is rated “outstanding” by Ofsted, and Icknield Community College (seniors) gets a “good” report from the school’s watchdog.
The town centre has plenty of country charm, and there is a surprising amount to do.
There are traditional pubs like the Fat Fox Inn, as well as cafes like the Spire and Spoke — youngsters will love its pizza menu and the teepees in its garden.
There is also an award winning butcher, Calnan Brothers, a bakery, The Orange Bakery, which operates a weekly pop up where you can stock up on sourdough and pastries, although sadly not a candlestick maker.
House buyers also get a reasonable amount of bang for their buck in Watlington.
Average prices have stayed flat over the past few years at an average £527,000, and have increased by a below-inflationary 35 per cent over the past decade.
This slack performance is partly because Watlington lacks a train station.
Commuters need to drive to High Wycombe, 14 miles east, for trains to Marylebone in just under 26 minutes, or jump aboard the Oxford Tube coach from Lewknor, a village three miles away, for an hour-long trip to central London.
