Are you bored of the Cotswolds clamour? Do you find talk of the Chipping Norton set tedious and despair at property price hikes across Gloucestershire’s pretty but off-radar villages? The Cotswolds have reigned supreme this year, with barely a month passing without news of a new private member’s club opening or another celebrity moving in. The good news is that other glorious UK locations are available, providing welcoming country living and plentiful rural charm, often at a price point that compares extremely favourably with those prime Cotswolds postcodes.
Here are six locations to consider, all of them most definitely Not the Cotswolds.
Chichester, West Sussex
Average property price: £420,450
For waterfront living with the South Downs on the doorstep, head to West Sussex where the sheltered harbour in the cathedral city of Chichester shares the Cotswolds designation as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Alongside the handsome harbour with its mass of moored yachts, Chichester’s appeal includes Roman ruins, Georgian townhouses and the nearby highly prized villages of West Wittering, Bosham and Funtington.
“Chichester is popular with many of my clients looking to downsize from larger country houses into a town – which Chichester feels like,” says Russell Grieve, head of Knight Frank’s Chichester office. “The proximity of London and the excellent schools means a younger crowd are coming and several hedge funds have moved down for the quality of life for their teams. The sporting life is excellent with Goodwood and Fontwell Park racecourses nearby as well as The Goodwood Estate itself, and of course sailing.”
Sherborne, Dorset
Average property price: £334,173
Handsome, historic and with a winning community spirit, the market town of Sherborne pairs a compact centre with easy access to the scenic countryside of Blackmore Vale. The collection of heritage buildings and independent shops and cafes in and around the thriving high street, Cheap Street, can certainly give the Cotswolds’ hotspots a run for their money, and the education options are equally impressive.
From the Saxon Cathedral to the lovely period hamstone buildings, the architecture adds enormous character, but it is the lifestyle that shines through above all else. With clubs from arts to sports via music festivals and antique shops, Sherborne is a delight, a warm and welcoming town with an increasingly young, family-focused style. And anyone pining for the Cotswolds club scene will revel in The Newt, an acclaimed country house and hotel 25 minutes away by car.
“The price range for a three-bedroom house in Sherborne is around £650,000 and top locations are Newland or The Avenue in Sherborne itself and the surrounding villages such as Corton Denham, Poyntington and Nether Compton,” says Ashley Rawlings from Savills Wimborne. “The reasons why the town is so popular include the mainline station with direct routes to London Waterloo, the great variety of independent shops and many good quality restaurants and pubs.”
St Mawes, Cornwall
Average property price: £1,165,500
With some of the highest property prices in Cornwall, St Mawes might seem an outlier in this list but its plus points are overwhelmingly positive, the chief reason for those steep prices. “St Mawes is a quintessential fishing village that has gone from strength to strength in recent years,” says Alex Taylor from Strutt & Parker Cornwall. “Surrounded by water and rolling hills and with its position in the gulf stream creating a warm microclimate, the village is one of Cornwall’s most exclusive postcodes for both permanent residents and second homeowners.”
The exceptionally fine sailing waters, the walking trails of the Roseland Peninsula and the elegance of local life – Olga Polizzi’s Hotel Tresanton and on the waterfront Idle Rocks, a Relais & Châteaux hotel – provide a sophisticated lifestyle.
“The good range of housing stock includes rows of pastel terraces cottage along the waterfront on Lower Castle Road, while further up the road towards St Mawes Castle you find large period homes with panoramic views out to sea,” says Mr Taylor. “A three-bedroom apartment or house with unobstructed sea views will be £1 million plus while the equivalent property with partial sea views might be closer to £700,000.”
Buxton, Derbyshire
Average property price: £264,437
Walkers in search of serious hills to scale might dismiss the lowly gradient of the Cotswolds, so look instead to the Peak District National Park, where the highest point, Kinder Scout, is 636 metres. The thermal spa town of Buxton, the source of Buxton Water, is England’s highest market town and surrounded on three sides by the National Park, just the place to enjoy a ringside view of beautiful nature capped by a culturally vibrant programme of annual festivals and events.
The architecture gives great visual splendour – Buxton is known as Bath of the north thanks to its gorgeous Georgian heritage – but there are handsome Victorian and Edwardian villas in Burlington Road and Arts & Crafts family homes in Pavilion Gardens.
“Buxton has a little bit of everything, that’s why people like living here,” says Abby Calladine from Wright Marshall estate agency. “It’s very artsy, with great performances at the Opera House, and there’s plenty going on, yet within five minutes you have amazing countryside. And while it is rural, you never feel cut off with good connections including a direct train link to Manchester.”
Expect to pay between £200,000 and £375,000 for a three-bedroom property says Abby. “The townhouses around the Broad Walk are highly prized, some converted into high end apartments and some still entire family homes,” she says.
Stamford, Lincolnshire
Average property price: £393,562
Is Stamford the UK’s prettiest town? It’s certainly top-drawer for beauty and with its good connections and country lifestyle it’s easy to see why the town is pulling in new buyers. They come from London and country-wide, looking for rural living without the high profile name tag says Ed Brassey from Strutt & Parker’s Stamford Office.
“While Stamford is 100 miles away from the likes of Burford or Stow-on-the-Wold, it looks as though it could be just down the road from those classic Cotswolds hotspots,” he says. The limestone architecture, much of which is Georgian, is breathtaking. The high street is lined with independent shops, restaurants and cafes – Fika is a popular brunch spot – and there is great schooling, state and private, and good rail and road connections to London and the rest of the Midlands.
A three-bedroom home in Stamford would typically range in price from £350,000 to £800,000 says Mr Brassey, depending on location, size and architectural style. Just 15 minutes-drive away, across the border in Rutland, England’s smallest county, three-bedroom properties close to Rutland Water’s peninsula carry a marked premium, starting at £600,000
Chilham, Kent
Average property price: £393,750
The historic village of Chilham is perfectly placed to savour another Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the Kent Downs, with the village on the hiking trails of both the North Downs Way and Pilgrim’s Way. What compact Chilham lacks in size, it more than makes up for in amenities says Edward Church, Strutt & Parker’s Canterbury office head, a major part of its appeal. “There are two pubs, cafes and tea rooms, a tennis club and a very good farm shop,” he says. “Crucially, there’s also a train station with connections to Ashford in 13 minutes and Canterbury in 10. The medieval square forms the heart of the village and there are lots of narrow lanes leading off it, with timber-framed Tudor and Jacobean cottages that create a magical feel. With the Jacobean castle as its backdrop, it really is one of the prettiest villages in Kent.”
Expect to pay between £450,000 to £650,000 for a three-bedroom house says Mr Church, a price that for a comparable home in the Cotswolds village of Burford would be closer to £700,000 to £1 million.
