Best Places to Live 2022 Southwest
Best place to live if... You
want to begin a new chapter
by the sea.
Best address Northview Road
for a trophy view, and Swains
Road for family homes.
£445,000
CHARLTON KINGS,
GLOUCESTERSHIRE D
Charlton Kings may sound
more like a cover band or the
name of the darts team, but
don’t let such assumptions
fool you. This is one of the
smartest moves an affluent
and upwardly mobile family
can make. The village is on the
leafy western edge of the
Cotswolds, two miles
southeast of festival-focused
Cheltenham. The poet
laureate Cecil Day-Lewis lived
in Bafford Lane in the 1930s,
and author Lewis Carroll was
a frequent visitor with Alice,
finding inspiration — allegedly
— in a mirror in a house in
Cudnall Street. But there are
two words that sum up the
principal appeal of CK:
Balcarras School.
Even in an area with a
stellar reputation for learning
Balcarras School stands out. It
comes garlanded in top-class
awards — in 2020 it won
Parent Power’s Southwest
state secondary School of the
decade title — and it is, say
local agents, the “biggest
single attraction” in Charlton
Kings. The bad news is that its
catchment area is tight. To be
certain of a place you need to
live within half a mile of the
school gates.
This so-called “Balcarras
factor” explains why the best
properties match those in
prime Cheltenham for price
and why agents recommend
those without children might
consider instead the equally
attractive homes in Pittville or
Leckhampton. Although be
warned: the new High School
Leckhampton, sponsored by
Balcarras School, could cause
the same effect there.
Charlton Kings has retained
its own, more rural identity
with a collection of small
shops mainly around London
Road and Church Street
including a health clinic,
library, hairdresser and
newsagents, plus pubs and
cafés. Within three miles
there’s a choice of Waitrose,
Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Lidl and
M&S. Retail in Cheltenham
has suffered post-Covid, with
many empty shopfronts, but
the monthly The Suffolks
it, we were euphoric. We
came from Cambridge
and found the town to be so
friendly, with a good mixed
community: there are
professionals who work in
Exeter, academics, retirees
and young families — but few
second homeowners.”
There’s a Spar and Co-op,
a health centre and dentists
but no bank branches. There
are few Covid casualties on
the high street, with shops
selling everything from guitar
strings to car tyres and
ironmongery, along with a
butcher, delis, a greengrocer
and an artisan bakery. There
is a primary school, but older
kids travel 35 minutes to
Torquay Boys’ Grammar,
rated good, and Torquay Girls’
Grammar, rated outstanding,
both in the Parent Power
guide’s top ten schools in
the Southwest.
Best place to live if ... If you
think moor-ish is moreish.
Best address East Street in
town, or to get the full blast of
the moors, head to Rew Road.
£403,000SHERBORNE, DORSET F
Sherborne was described by
John Leland — the Tudor
Nikolaus Pevsner or Simon
Jenkins if you will — as “the
best town... in Dorsetshire”,
and we still agree. CenturiesMoor room
From top:
Ashburton, on
Dartmoor;
buskers in
Stroud; Parsons
butcher in
Sherborne;
Wellowstreet market is back, a firm
favourite for arts and crafts
and food. Cheltenham railway
station is on the opposite side
of the town for trains to
London Paddington (2 hours,
5 minutes) but still within 20
minutes by bike from the
centre of Charlton Kings.
Best place to live if... You
want a family-focused home
and friendly community,
culture and countryside.
Best address A three-way tie
between Balcarras Road,
Sandy Lane Road and the
Battledown estate.
£499,000DARTMOOR, DEVON E
Is there a more safe — and
stunning — location than
Dartmoor? Towering tors and
majestic panoramic views,
legends and a lifestyle that
offers the greatest the great
outdoors has to offer.
Residents here own
well-worn walking boots to
make the most of the trails
which wind through valleys
with neolithic tombs, Bronze
Age stone circles and
abandoned medieval
farmhouses. The prime
surfing beaches of south
Devon — Bantham and
Thurlestone — are within a
40-minute drive, and the
proximity of the River Dart
offers wild swimming heaven.
Just keep your dog on a lead.
Base yourself in Ashburton,
the biggest town in the
national park with double the
number of residents
(population 3,900) to ponies.
Exeter and Plymouth are both
about 30 minutes by car on
the A38, but can be avoided
thanks to a super-strong
community which fiercely
guards its independent shops,
including Riverford Organics,
and its cultural life. Think
Totnes without the hippies.
In 2017, when the grade II
listed Methodist church came
up for sale, residents banded
together, outbidding
developers at auction, and
converted it into Ashburton
Arts Centre, a now-thriving
live music and theatre venue
with activities from flamenco
workshops to toddler groups.
Sophie Pierce, a former
BBC journalist and author of
Wild Swimming Walks:
Dartmoor and South Devon,
moved to Ashburton with her
husband in 2000. She was at
the auction in 2017. “It was
incredibly tense,” she says.
“When we managed to buy36 April 10, 2022