House moves don’t get much more lifestyle-changing than swapping London, one of the world’s great capitals, for a quaint country village where the air is fresh and the locals are friendly, but you can forget about the diversity and culture you find in the city.
Moving to a village will mean many changes. Goodbye Notting Hill Carnival, hello village fete. Your Uber and Deliveroo apps will be surplus to requirements and you’ll have to replace them with Memory-Map — for planning your next long country walk — and The Forager’s Apprentice eBook, so that you don’t accidentally eat a poisonous mushroom.
Hybrid working and high-speed broadband have made village life a realistic option for those with London jobs in recent years and there are plenty of areas within an hour or so of a Zone 1 station to pick from.
Many of the entrants in this year’s Evening Standard New Homes Awards are village-based, reflecting just how popular this choice has become with Londoners. And these five options demonstrate exactly how varied village life can be.
Best for beach life: St Osyth, Essex
If you want to spend your downtime messing about at the seaside then this little-known treasure is a peaceful, quaint village within four miles of the Essex coast.
The village itself has a useful high street with a bistro, a chemist, a general store and a couple of pubs.
The village primary school is rated good by Ofsted and there is a choice of senior schools in either Clacton-on-Sea or Colchester. Trains from Clacton to Liverpool Street station take a respectable hour and a half.
Where St Osyth really comes into its own is its access to fresh sea air.
Colne Point Nature Reserve, which is secluded and slightly windswept, is a wonderful place for a walk to admire the local birdlife, in summer or winter.
Up the road is St Osyth Naturist Beach if you don’t do tan lines, and beyond that are the sandy expanses of Jaywick Beach, which tends to escape the attentions of the tourist hordes who converge on Clacton for summer day trips.
However, if you do fancy a bit of retro seaside fun then Clacton’s pier and pavilion have plenty of charm, and the resolutely ungentrified town also has two theatres, a cinema and a full complement of shops, cafés and pubs.
Slightly further away is Frinton-on-Sea, where you can admire some of the best-preserved art deco seaside houses in the country and enjoy the far more genteel vibe.
St Osyth Priory is a local landmark on the fringes of the village. It’s one of the largest collections of ecclesiastical buildings in England, set within Grade II-listed parkland.
Developer City & Country is building a collection of 73 new homes in this evocative location. The site will feature a private residents’ walk through the estate with views of the sea.
Prices start at £435,000 for a three-bedroom house, and £625,000 for a four-bedroom property (cityandcountry.co.uk).
Best for convenience: West Byfleet, Surrey
If you want to dip your toe in the waters of village life without compromising on day-to-day conveniences, then this could be the place for you.
This handy commuter village is only just beyond the M25 and 23 miles south-west of central London. Trains from its station take half an hour or so to reach Waterloo. The centre of the village also has plenty of shops, restaurants, cafés and a Waitrose.
There is also a golf club, as well as a recreation ground and some lovely walks along the Basingstoke Canal. The Royal Horticultural Society’s Wisley gardens are up the road, too.
For families, there are four primary schools, all rated good by Ofsted.
The slight compromise here is that West Byfleet isn’t your textbook traditional village — its vibe is more suburban than sylvan. But if you don’t want to drive five miles for a pint of milk or a frothy coffee, it’s a great option.
The Woodlands Collection is a boutique development of four upscale, detached houses in the heart of the village — think traditional design, hand-painted bespoke kitchens and plenty of square footage.
Prices start at £3.25m (hawksmoorhomes.co.uk).
Best for familIes: Matfield, Kent
Its setting within the High Weald means that Matfield is surrounded by nature in all its glory, with endless opportunities for hiking, biking and exploring woodlands and nature reserves.
The historic village has chocolate-box looks, a village green with a duck pond, and essentials including a very good butcher, pubs and a restaurant. The village hall hosts an art group, dance classes, badminton and yoga sessions.
The nearest station is at Paddock Wood, with services to Charing Cross taking just under an hour.
But for everything else there is Tunbridge Wells, some six miles to the west, which is full of independent and kid-friendly cafés and restaurants, parks with everything from adventure playgrounds to boating lakes, and shops.
Matfield also scores highly on the education front. The local primary school is rated good by Ofsted and the choice for seniors includes several top-performing grammar schools.
Rosewood Place is a beautifully landscaped development of new homes a short walk from the centre of Matfield.
Prices start at £689,500 for a four-bedroom detached house (fernham-homes.co.uk).
Best for frequent travellers: Slinfold, West Sussex
Voted one of the most attractive villages in England, Slinfold is far more than just a pretty face.
What is so great about Slinfold is how properly countryfied it feels, even though it is less than four miles from the centre of Horsham, with its shops, restaurants and access to the countryside of the High Weald.
From there you can be at Victoria Station or Brighton in less than an hour. Gatwick Airport is 18 miles in one direction and Heathrow is 40 miles in the other, making holidays and work trips a breeze.
There is a village shop and a pub, although the fact that the local primary school “requires improvement”, according to Ofsted, will be a red flag for parents with younger children.
For a home in the heart of the village, The Acres is a new development of rustic-style houses. It is conveniently close to the village hall, which hosts cinema events and coffee mornings.
Prices start at £652,500 for a three-bedroom house, and £975,000 for a four-bedroom property (antlerhomes.co.uk).
Best for choice: Ickford, Buckinghamshire
With Oxford on one side and the Chiltern Hills on the other, Ickford is the place to go if you value a great mix of city and country life. And if you want to spend time somewhere in the middle then the market town of Thame is four miles away.
Ickford itself has a pub, a post office, tennis courts at the village hall and a primary school rated “good” by Ofsted. Every summer the village comes together for a traditional tug of war against Tiddington.
Though this is the countryside, transport links are good — bus services run to Thame and Oxford. The nearest train station is Haddenham & Thame Parkway, with services to Marylebone taking from around 40 minutes.
Deanfield Park is a collection of 66 new homes in the village which have just been completed.
Prices start at £525,000 for a three-bedroom house, and £535,000 for a four-bedroom house (deanfieldhomes.co.uk).
Best of both worlds: Rural idyll with city links
Laura Upton opted to buy a home at Rosewood Place in Matfield, Kent, because she yearned for a more rural way of life after the pandemic. Upton, 35, who works in human resources, moved from a two-bedroom property in nearby Tunbridge Wells to a three-bedroom detached house at the development in May. “Its location ticks all the boxes for me as I benefit from living in a quaint, rural area without sacrificing on quick transport links into the city,” Upton said.
“I now love spending more time outdoors, especially on the green, which is so picturesque it feels like the set of Pride and Prejudice.”
