The place to be
Living in Hertfordshire, particularly St Albans and Harpenden, is perfect for commuters, says Southman Property
FAmilies are often drawn to St Albans and Harpenden due to the ease of the commute and the fact that, at home, they are never far from rolling fields and outdoor pursuits. Thameslink runs services directly into london and the City, with fast trains from St Albans to St Pancras taking only 18 minutes.
St Albans has a large offering of restaurants, with newcomer The ivy due to open in spring 2018. There are excellent private and state schools in and around both towns and Beaumont secondary school in St Albans recently received a mention in the Tatler guide to the country’s best state schools. The highest recorded price for property sold in St Albans proper in 2017 was £7.1 million —for a five-bedroom house in three acres of secluded grounds, set back from the highly soughtafter Marshal’s Drive.
The next stop north from St Albans on the Thameslink network, Harpenden has a country-town feel, complete with cricket green and expansive parks. The West Common area is on the periphery of the town to the south-west and is home to a number of substantial detached properties.
‘You’re never far from rolling fields’
TRAINS from Manchester’s various stations stretch out to Sheffield in the east, Morley in the north and Nantwich in the south, which means, once again, that working in the city doesn’t mean city living.
Edale, in the middle of the pretty Hope Valley in the Peak District, is a gem. Just 45 minutes from Manchester Piccadilly, the village is a hit with walkers, who come to climb Mam Tor and Winnats Pass and visit the Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity. Chatsworth is 20 miles up the road, and the nearby remains of Peveril Castle offer more local weekend exploring. Peak District property is naturally sought after, but the town of Buxton, 58 minutes into the centre of Manchester, offers more countryside living. East of Edale, the mill village of Bamford, the highest in the Derwent Valley, is another option. Then there’s Hope, five miles from Edale and with its own train (Manchester Piccadilly in 55 minutes), where Eadon Lockwood & Riddle are currently marketing a three-bedroom property for £725,000 (01433 520049). To the north of Manchester, Blackburn is within easy reach (an hour or so on the train to Manchester Victoria), as is Preston (57 minutes)—not far from Pendle Hill (below), famous haunt of the Lancashire witches of old and walkers of today. Halifax, too, is further east, where a medieval Grade I-listed hall is currently being marketed for £995,000 by Ryburne & Co (01422 842926) three miles from Halifax railway station. Twenty minutes in the car from Blackburn is the village of Whalley, famous for its elegant viaduct and ruined abbey, and around which Fine & Country are selling a smattering of country houses in West Bradford, Mitton, and Dinckley (01254 828922). There’s plenty to do, too— visit Astley Hall, near Chorley, with its Jacobean plasterwork ceilings, Browsholme Hall in Forest of Bowland and Lancaster’s Ashton Memorial (left). Plus, Liverpool and its environs make a convenient Manchester commuter spot and it’s a fine hometown, with its cathedral, liver birds, historic docks and Beatlemania. The historic market town of Frodsham (50 minutes from Manchester Piccadilly), on the Mersey, is easily commutable.
‘Edale, in the middle of the pretty Hope Valley in the Peak District, is a gem’
GIVEN that Birmingham is pretty much right in the middle of the country, you can commute to it within an hour from almost anywhere. Consider Warwick, 31 minutes from Moor Street station. This quiet, elegant and almost impossibly well-connected city has its own castle (below) and public school. And it’s pretty, too. Local developer Ash Mill has recently redeveloped Northgate Street, turning it into the most desirable street in all Warwickshire (probably).
Leamington Spa, too, offers a serious supply of desirable streets. Fine & Country are currently marketing an eight-bedroom Regency townhouse for £1.75m (01926 455950), a hop and a skip to the train station, from where you can catch a train to Moor Street in under half an hour. Warwickshire is also renowned for hunting—there’s the Warwickshire, plus the Croome and West Warwickshire, founded by Lord Coventry. The schools, too, are excellent: Rugby is 20 miles from Warwick town, there’s Warwick School itself and Bilton Grange, also in Rugby.
To the east is the popular village of Long Buckby, one of Northamptonshire’s most sought-after spots and only 55 minutes from New Street station. Strutt & Parker have a six-bedroom house with three rental apartments and 25 acres for £2.25m.
On the other side of the city, look to Malvern, just 56 minutes from Malvern Link to New Street station. Nearby, in the hills, is Eastnor Castle, where the Hervey-bathursts live, plus the rarely open, but no less charming, Madresfield Court, for keen Evelyn Waugh fans. Plus, you can hunt with the Ledbury. Knight Frank are marketing a seven-bedroom manor house a mile from Malvern Link station for £795,000, within easy reach of excellent schools: Malvern College, Hereford Cathedral School and King’s Worcester.
‘Given that Birmingham is pretty much in the middle of the country, you can commute to it from almost anywhere
THE beating heart of the South-west, Bristol is surrounded on every side by the most charming spots, not to mention the Kennet & Avon canal (right), which stretches east all the way to Reading. Bradford-on-avon is one such location, an elegant town with Roman origins nestled between the Mendip Hills, Salisbury Plain and the Cotswold Hills and built of Bath stone. Three miles away down the road in Holt, close to Trowbridge (where trains to Bristol run within 32 minutes), Holt Manor is on the market with Strutt & Parker for £5.95m (020–7318 5190).
The idyllic villages of Box and Avoncliff are also well situated for the Bristol commute, looking over Bath itself, the jewel of the West Country. Just 14 miles from Bristol, the city is, at most, two minutes on the train from Temple Meads.
Further south, the Taunton-bristol train takes just 34 minutes. The town, surrounded as it is by the Quantock Hills and Blackdown Hills AONBS, is awash with country greenery. Crowcombe village in the Quantocks is home to Crowcombe Court, the 300-yearold seat of the Carew family until the 1960s. Schooling ticks the box, too, with King’s College Taunton and Wellington School in close proximity, plus Millfield is 30 miles up the road in Street.
Other towns, such as Cheltenham, 45 minutes from Temple Meads, hardly need an introduction. House prices rose here more rapidly than anywhere else in the UK last year, so look to the angelic Bourtonon-the-water, Shipton Oliffe and Winchcombe—home to Sudeley Castle—all within half an hour of Cheltenham, for housing stock outside the centre. And south of Cheltenham, wind your way to Miserden, two miles from the A419, for a model Cotswolds village.
Alternatively, cross the Severn Bridge to Chepstow, home of the races and the oldest surviving stone castle in Britain, and find yourself a home in Wales, just an hour from Temple Meads station (or a 30minute drive). The property stock is varied, but whitewashed Georgian townhouses are a winner. Bristol is also just 40 minutes from the dramatically beautiful Brecon Beacons—the train from Abergavenny to Temple Meads is a little over an hour, but if you’re willing to drive, it’s a 50-mile journey that comes in just under the onehour limit.