In footsteps of Mr Fox
ITS woodlands inspired the story of Fantastic Mr Fox and its pretty villages permeate many of Roald Dahl’s novels, so as we celebrate the official Roald Dahl Day today it’s no wonder many who yearn for peace and quiet see leafy Buckinghamshire as a perfect place to live. Roald Dahl would have been 102 this year and famously said he would hate to live in a town or city. Known for his grumpy outbursts he might also be scathing of commuters but that’s another irresistible plus about living in Buckinghamshire.
The county is about 50 miles north west of central London, between Bedfordshire and Oxfordshire to the east and west, and is home to some of England’s loveliest towns and villages.
There’s Marlow where Jerome K Jerome’s Three Men In A Boat passed through rowing down the River Thames, and Princes Risborough, a market town set at the foot of the Chiltern Hills, and Cookham, also on the Thames, where artist Stanley Spencer was born. His extraordinary gallery is open daily between March and November.
The National Trust owns Cookham Common and Buckinghamshire properties such as magnificent Hughenden Manor, where prime minister Benjamin Disraeli once lived, and not for nothing was the county a regular location for filming Midsomer Murders and theVicar Of Dibley.
But as well as offering a welcome escape for families and downsizers alike, it takes around 30 minutes to get from one of its liveliest towns, High Wycombe, to London Marylebone by train.
Even Dahl’s beloved village of Great
Missenden is within easy reach of the rail service, which also goes to Birmingham and Oxford.
So it’s no wonder that Berkeley Homes, a company with a well-deserved reputation for creating communities, has a new development in High Wycombe, about seven miles from Great Missenden.
ABBEY Barn Park is a collection of two, three, four and five-bedroom homes next to woodland and a country park that is being landscaped by Berkeley. It’s a special place, according to sales and marketing director Benjamin Ivey.
“Where else can you find a family home that’s surrounded by parkland and play areas, walking trails and wildlife, and yet is so easily accessible to London by train in half an hour?” he says.
“Abbey Barn Park has been designed with nature in mind; a nurturing environment with community at its core. As well as 550 new homes, there will be a 34-acre park, allotments and a community orchard.The country park, otherwise
known as The Ride, will be open to the public. It’s a historical landscape feature of a wide, tree-lined, avenue of meadow that once led to Daws Hill House, a listed farmhouse.”
HighWycombe itself is a hive of activity. The market town is one of the region’s best shopping destinations and has plenty of restaurants, bars and cafes plus a 12-screen cinema, bowling alley and Wycombe Swan Theatre as well as a certain historic charm.
Homes at Abbey Barn Park start from £385,000 (01494 854068; berkeleygroup.co.uk) with the first release of 129 homes available to reserve soon and the first completions expected early next year.
But if you don’t want a new-build home there are some splendid period houses for sale in the area, for instance 17th century Wistaria Cottage, in Cookham.
The red-brick cottage has four bedrooms, two bathrooms, a walled garden, wine cellar and conservatory. It’s for sale at £925,000 (01753 481781; struttandparker.com).
It is said to have been built to a design by Sir Christopher Wren, and is one of the oldest houses in Cookham and located only two miles from the Chiltern Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.