Desirable Villages
Easy access to a train station is desirable if you need to head to a City for work or play. As in all locations, houses close to a station tend to attract premium prices. The main commuter stations for Cotswolds residents are Kemble, Stroud, Moreton-in-Marsh, Charlbury and Kingham. Princess Anne has been seen boarding the train at Kemble Station.
The popularity of commuting is such that you can forget about getting a parking place at Kemble after 9.30am. First Great Western who operate the trains out of Kemble have added extra services in recent years to reflect the increased demand. The journey time from Kemble to London Paddington is 1 hour 20 minutes which makes a day trip very do-able. Trains run from Kemble from 6.00am with the last train leaving Paddington at 10.15pm with one change at Swindon, the main intercity station.
Desirable villages close to Kemble station include Kemble itself, Ewen, Somerford Keynes and South Cerney. Kemble is a friendly village with a good mix of ages. It has a village hall offering a variety of activities including toddlers groups, an over 50s club and rural cinema once a month showing the latest general release films. All Saints Church in Kemble dates from the 13th century. There is also a well supported post office/village shop and the Tavern Pub next to the station.If proximity to a station is not important then the villages of Barnsley and Poulton, close to Cirencester, are both attractive places to live with good pubs and some beautiful period houses of all sizes. In the Eastern Wolds, the small village of Farmington, close to Northleach, is very attractive as are the villages in the Coln Valley such as Coln Saint Aldwyns and Winson.
At the start of 2007, Kingham, just inside Oxfordshire, was voted England’s favourite village by the readers of Country Life magazine. Sitting on the eastern edge of the Cotswolds it has a mix of housing, a main line station to London, pubs and a hotel, primary school, village store and post office, a large village hall, village green and church.
The north Cotswolds, around Broadway, is popular with retired people from Birmingham which is just an hour away. The villages of Evenlode, and Temple Guiting are attractive. The latter, set among trees at the side of the River Windrush, acquired its name from the Knights Templar who owned the manor from the twelfth century. Evenlode, located close to Moreton-in-Marsh, is situated by the River Evenlode and has many attractive large houses.
The small market town of Nailsworth, near Stroud, is enjoying something of a renaissance after years in the doldrums. It is now thriving with a large section of independent shops including traditional toy shops, ladies boutiques, and the delicious Hobbs House bakery. Property in the Stroud valleys has traditionally been cheaper than in the more well known Cotswold villages. However it is worth bearing in mind that the houses tend not to be built in traditional Cotswold stone and are more densely packed. It is also very hilly and can seem dark in some of the valleys.
The large towns of Tetbury and Cirencester have their attractions but as with any large town they are noisier and have more traffic and crime than small villages.Large gardens will be scarcer and parking could be a problem with a town house. However on the plus side there is the benefit of not having to use the car all the time with shops and cafes within easy walking distance.
The risk of flooding should be a major consideration in any house search following the severe damage inflicted on large swathes of the Cotswolds in the summer of 2007. Around one thousand properties were affected in total across 79 towns and villages. Cotswold District Council has surveyed the 20 worst affected towns and villages in terms of the number of properties damaged. Top of the list is Moreton-in-Marsh, followed by Chipping Campden, Bourton-on–the-Water, Lechlade, Fairford, Willersey, Whelford, the Watermoor area of Cirencester, Naunton, Poulton, Lower Slaughter, Andoversford, Barnsley, Northleach, Southrop, Weston-sub-Edge, Eastleach, Aldsworth, the Chesterton area of Cirencester and Bledington.