by West Londoners tend to look to the M4 for inspiration when considering moving out of London.
Your first stop is Berkshire, arguably the most varied of the home counties, with its mix of new towns and old settlements, Crossrail hotspots and backwaters, adorable country towns and, of course, Britain’s most majestic city.
House price growth in Berkshire has been similarly mixed over the past decade.
The best performers have been affordable areas such as Reading and Bracknell, which have been gaining traction with buyers priced outside of London and in more affluent areas.
If you’re thinking about moving to the royal county of Berkshire, its sheer variety may seem overwhelming.
To help you choose the perfect place, Homes & Property has curated a guide to the county’s highlights with up-to-date pricing data from estate agent Hamptons:
Value for money: Bracknell
In 1949, this quiet market town was declared a new town and expanded to provide desperately needed housing for displaced post-war Londoners.
The legacy of this decision is too many roundabouts and underpasses, and strips of boxy, slightly depressing-looking houses (and many of the current new homes are equally dull).
But Bracknell is also a genuine regeneration area, with a new town centre, a growing cluster of technology companies and many practical positives.
Affordability is an obvious reason to consider Bracknell. Average prices are £410,000, and you could rent a flat for an average of £232,000. Prices have fallen slightly this year, but remain almost 12 percent higher than at the start of the pandemic and up 63 percent over the past decade, the best performance of cities today.
Trains to Paddington take just over 50 minutes, and there are also direct services to Waterloo, taking just over an hour.
All schools in the city have an Ofsted rating of ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’.
Green spaces are also a plus. Of course, there are parks in the town centre, but also Swinley Forest, which offers 2,600 acres of open land on the Crown Estate, perfect for walking and mountain biking just south of the town.
The closest thing to London: Windsor
Located on the banks of the River Thames, steeped in history and bustling with tourists, Londoners will feel at home in this ancient market city.
Home to royalty since the days of William the Conqueror, Windsor also has excellent transport links, schools, the Great Park, pretty shops and a lively restaurant and cafe scene.
Average prices in the city are among the most expensive in the county, at £605,000. The cost of living crisis and rising interest rates have taken their toll: Prices have fallen four percent over the past year, but are still 13 percent above pre-pandemic levels. Over the last decade they have grown a solid, not stellar, 42 percent.
Reasons to live in Windsor include its schools which, like Bracknell, are all rated good or outstanding by Ofsted. Trains to Waterloo take less than an hour.
Castles aside, properties in central Windsor range from Victorian terraces to riverside terraced houses and Georgian villas. The most elegant place is the Golden Triangle, bounded by Osbourne Road, Frances Road and Kings Road. A house here will make you popular when there is a royal event on the horizon, as its houses face or overlook the long walk leading to the castle. But you’ll find better prices west of the city center.
Windsor has its own theatre, a contemporary arts venue, The Firestation, with a program ranging from films to comedy, and an annual music and literature festival. For younger readers, Legoland will be a big draw, while the Royal Windsor Horse Show was one of Queen Elizabeth’s favorite outings.
For a bite to eat, you can hang out at Patch on the Plaza, an open-air restaurant serving an innovative seasonal menu: try pink hummus, Bagshot Park lamb, or beer-battered zucchini blossoms.
Or make the two-mile trip to Oakley Green to try The Greene Oak, a gastropub run by two chefs who previously worked at The Ivy.
For cocktails there is The Eton Mess, just across the river. And in Bray, a village five miles from Windsor, you’ll find probably the richest concentration of Michelin-starred eateries in Britain.
Least like London: Kintbury
Kintbury, situated on the North Wessex Downs, is a quiet and beautiful village on the Kennet & Avon Canal. Being by the canal means taking long walks or bike rides along the towpath marked by one of the area’s waterside pubs.
Its diminutive size may surprise Londoners, but Kintbury is big enough to have a village pub, The Blue Ball, a shop and a primary school rated ‘good’ by Ofsted. Older pupils will have to travel to Hungerford (three miles) or Newbury (five miles), where school standards are also high.
One reason Kintbury is particularly popular with those who will still need to travel regularly to London is that it has its own train station, with services to Paddington taking just over an hour.
Average prices in the RG17 postcode, which also includes Hungerford, are £474,000. For this type of budget in Kintbury, you can choose a two or three-bedroom period cottage in the center of the village. Low budget? You could buy a slightly dated three-bedroom house for under £350,000.
Average prices are 13 percent higher today than in 2019 and have grown 41 percent over the past decade.
Best connected: Maidenhead
A year ago, Crossrail services to London began, heralding a new era of rail transport for the city of Maidenhead, in the Domesday Book.
The city already had commuter trains to Liverpool Street (from just over 50 minutes) and fast services to Paddington (20 minutes). What Crossrail brought to the party was a seamless transition to the tube. Journeys to the West End take about 50 minutes.
For drivers, the city is just north of the M4 and Heathrow Airport is 21 kilometers away. There are also bus services to Windsor, Bray, Reading and Henley.
Despite its Thames location and long history, until recently Maidenhead was a bit of a dingy place, dismissed as a chain-store-filled “clone town” by the New Economics Foundation. But things are improving.
There’s a new leisure centre, work is underway on The Landing (a development of rental properties and shops in the city centre) and the 1960s Nicholsons shopping center is set to be redeveloped (although retailers are struggling harshly to block the plans).
Maidenhead also has plenty of open spaces, including Braywick Nature Park, with its outdoor gym and sports fields, and Kidwells Park, which has a skating rink and hosts the annual Maidenhead Festival.
The average property price in the city is £605,000, with flats selling for just over £300,000. Values fell five percent last year, but are nine percent higher than pre-pandemic prices and have risen 56 percent since 2013.
Neighborhoods to check out include Pinkneys Green, a village outpost two miles from the city center containing some of the area’s grandest houses, and Furze Platt, popular with parents thanks to its excellent primary school .
Ideal for families: reading
If Maidenhead is still a work in progress, then Reading is the finished article: a once depressing town that has undergone seismic changes in recent years.
Although technically a city, Reading has a city feel and, with over 300,000 residents, is larger than Newcastle or Nottingham. It is also cosmopolitan, with 150 languages spoken.
The most obvious reason Reading attracts families is the incredible quality of its schools: ten mainstream state primary schools rated ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted, plus top non-selective grammar and final year schools for older pupils.
Transport links are good, with Crossrail services and main line services to Paddington (from 25 minutes).
There are plenty of things to do for kids of all ages: walk the Thames Path, see the Bayeux Tapestry at Reading Museum, scale new heights at Parthian Climbing, visit Beale Wildlife Park or catch a match at the Madejski Stadium. .
Outdoor swimmers can do it in style at the impeccably restored Thames Lido, and Reading Festival is the highlight of the city’s year, with Billie Eilish, The Killers and Sam Fender on the bill last summer.
Meanwhile, Reading’s restaurant scene is thriving with options like The Reading Room, at The Roseate boutique hotel, and The Corn Stores, a steakhouse/members club next to the station.
Homes in Reading cost an average of £463,000 and have managed to rise (admittedly only 0.9 per cent) over the difficult last year. Values have increased 19 percent since 2019 and an impressive 60 percent since 2013.
