Best Places to Live 2022 Southeast
on issues such as dropped
kerbs, flooding and food
larders, plus details of clubs,
from Lego to senior citizens.
The Rugby Club May Ball is
back next month, as is BOFF,
the Big Olney Food Festival, a
two-day street party in
September centred on
Market Place, with an all-day
bar and bands in the evening.
A giant sack of plastic ducks
will be launched into the
Great Ouse on July 3 during
the slightly wacky Riverfest.
But the event Olney is most
famous for is the women-only
Shrove Tuesday Pancake
Race, which has been run
since 1445 with a few lapses.
What’s given Olney its modern
winning edge is the success of
The Cherry Tree selling
wood-fired pizzas, brunch and
Sunday lunches, with the
Hipwell Bar for drinks. The
high street may be buzzy, but
parking is still free.
Best place to live if... You
crave character, clubs and a
spirit of curiousity.
Best address The High Street
or in one of outlying villages:
try Lavendon, Newton
Blossomville, Clifton Reynes
or Weston Underwood.
£442,000
READING, BERKSHIRE G
Don’t be shocked. The
behemoth of Berkshire is here
on merit. Reading used to be
known for the 3Bs — beer,
bulbs and biscuits — which
underpinned its industry in its
19th-century heyday. Today
the Double-Barrelled Brewery
usually has more than a dozen
craft ales available; the Biscuit
Factory is a brilliant new
cinema that hosts everything
from life-drawing to wine
tasting; while the third B is
now business parks: the
commercial megalopolis that
is Thames Valley Park, Green
Park, and building has just
started on the huge Shinfield
Studios, the UK’s biggest film
and television studios.
It is the availability of jobs,
relatively affordable house
prices, and a fantastically
accessible location with trains
that will take you to the centre
of London faster than most
Londoners can get there, that
make Reading a right-on
millennial favourite. There are
two schools in Parent Power’s
top 20, a retail and restaurant
offering from Primark to
L’Ortolan, and still more to
come with the redevelopment
of Station Hill.
GORDON BELL;MATT CROSSICK/EMPICS; DYLAN GARCIA; ROGER GARFIELD/ALAMY; NEON JELLYFISH/GETTY IMAGESOn the up...
With all but the most
distant corners of the
Southeast already well
explored and well
established, the coast offers
the greatest opportunities
to bag what passes for a
bargain within London’s
all-encompassing orbit.
Most of the hotspots on
the Kent coast have boiled
over by now, but canny
househunters prepared to
look beyond Whitstable,
Margate and Deal can still
take advantage of the sea air
and short journey time to the
capital if they look farther
along the coast to Westgate-
on-Sea, which hasn’t had
the full Hackney hipster
makeover, but does have
the cutest cinema and a
new branch of the bakery
Staple Stores.
Folkestone’s efforts to
shake off a depressing recent
history — reinventing itself as
a funky foodie destination —
are bearing fruit and trains
that take less than an hour to
London are a big bonus
(though most take longer).
If want sunshine with your
seaside rather than a quick
getaway by train, the Sussex
coast is for you. Eastbourne
and Worthing are in the
UK’s top ten sunniest places,
and already benefiting
from an influx of young folk
and families looking for
houses somewhere cheaper
than Brighton.
Another resort that is
having a revival is Milford-
on-Sea, in Hampshire, next
to the yachtie berth of
Lymington. As well as sea
views and easy access to
the New Forest National
Park, it has a butcher, baker,
fishmonger and some great
places to eat.
Depressingly, most
planned infrastructure
improvements in this
commuter-heavy region
will benefit motorists
rather than rail users or
cyclists, so anyone looking
for somewhere well
connected but affordable will
be forced to make the trade
off between cachet and size
of mortgage: Slough, the
Medway towns, Luton and
Milton Keynes may not be
fashionable, but have good
train links and house prices
well below the home
counties norm.10 April 10, 2022