Every week brings a new headline for the housing market. A week or two ago, one group of experts was confidently predicting a 10% fall in house prices this year; yet in the last few days a different statistical survey suggested the opposite, and claimed in fact that asking prices are already 1.9% higher than they were before March and denying any signs of a price dip.
Whenever such predictions are so wildly at odds with each other, the inference is simple: nobody has a clue. If studying medieval history for four years taught me anything, it's that the true impact of things is never understood while they're still going on, and often not for many years afterwards.
But of all the best-guess predictions we've seen so far in 2020, the one which most rings true is that house buyers will increasingly look to swap city for countryside. The increasing urbanisation of the population witnessed over the last two centuries can't continue (it'd mean a Blade Runner-style future if it did) indefinitely; the virus feels like the tipping point to being reversing that process.
And so it is that one of the more unusual pieces of research we've seen this year will be of huge interest to many buyers: a look at places which offer super-fast broadband for easy working from home, while also offering plenty of beautiful places nearby.
The question is, how do you put these together? The Highlands ticks the boxes for natural beauty, but fails at broadband speed. Remote coastal cottages in Devon or Cornwall fall into the same category. So rather than pick obvious-but-remote beauty spots, a new study commissioned by mojomortgages.com decided to look at places with decent broadband and a good number of National Trust properties to visit nearby.
Of course, it's hardly a flawless system, but it's not a bad idea at all, and it threw up some interesting results — and some places which many might not have thought of. Here's the top 10, with a few examples of places you could buy in the environs:
Falkirk
Average internet speed in Mbps: 80.5; National Trust properties nearby: 22
What you could buy: An eight-bedroom detached house at £730,000 via Rettie
Llanelli
Average internet speed in Mbps: 37.8; National Trust properties nearby: 11
Darlington
Average internet speed in Mbps: 83.8; National Trust properties nearby: 8
Stirling
Average internet speed in Mbps: 35.4; National Trust properties nearby: 26
What you could buy: This four-bedroom villa at £370,000 via Aberdein Considine
Scunthorpe
Average internet speed in Mbps: 79.3; National Trust properties nearby: 7
Halesowen
Average internet speed in Mbps: 76.1; National Trust properties nearby: 28
What you could buy: This four-bedroom house with beautiful garden at £795,000 via Lex Allan Grove
Dumfries
Average internet speed in Mbps: 34.3; National Trust properties nearby: 41
Dunfermline
Average internet speed in Mbps: 51.2; National Trust properties nearby: 60
Huddersfield
Average internet speed in Mbps: 79; National Trust properties nearby: 40
What you could buy: This huge country pile via Simon Blyth is up for sale at £1.25 million
Inverness
Average internet speed in Mbps: 35.7; National Trust properties nearby: 42
50 best places to live near London
The indispensable guide for getting into the country without ending up out of touch with the town.
-
A flat for sale in the building where Agatha Christie lived, and it's both the most interesting and most affordable home for sale in Hampstead todayThe Isokon Lawn Road flats in Belsize Park are a Grade I-listed architectural icon with a fascinating history, and one of them is currently for sale. Toby Keel takes a look.
-
Guinness, The Beatles and Beckham's first game for England? It can only be the Country Life Quiz of the Day, October 15, 2025Test your general knowledge in Wednesday's quiz.
-
A flat for sale in the building where Agatha Christie lived, and it's both the most interesting and most affordable home for sale in Hampstead today
The Isokon Lawn Road flats in Belsize Park are a Grade I-listed architectural icon with a fascinating history, and one of them is currently for sale. Toby Keel takes a look.
-
Five homes with their own orchards that will be the apple of your eye (almost literally)If you've been looking enviously this year at neighbours with apple trees that have been heaving with fruit, here is the solution: five lovely homes for sale that come with their own orchards.
-
A beautiful Victorian vicarage that was home to one of the Cadbury family heiresses is on the marketPenny Churchill tells the tale of Monks Bridge in Warwickshire.
-
An outrageously opulent mansion in London's answer to Beverly Hills, with a gym that 'wouldn't look out of place in a 7* hotel''One of the finest houses in St George's Hill' is on the market. Annabel Dixon takes a look at what's on offer.
-
Six homes with fantastic features, from pools and paddocks to waterside settings, as seen in Country LifeOur look at the best homes to come to the market via Country Life this week includes a Chipping Norton farm and a Cornish dream home
-
Queen Victoria's chaplain's house on the Isle of Wight is for sale, and it's a riot of colour, charm and joyA stone's thrown from Queen Victoria's beloved Osborne House on the Isle of Wight, the house where her chaplain lived is now on the open market.
-
An Art Deco masterpiece with five-bedrooms, a private pool, a cinema, a helipad and the ability to conquer oceansLady Christine is the very essence of opulence and could be yours for a cool €55.75 million.
-
The elegant 19th century townhouse where JFK and Jackie Kennedy dreamed of the presidency, and made their wish came trueThis beautiful five-bedroom house in Washington DC's Georgetown was once home to perhaps the most celebrated couple of the 20th century: John F. Kennedy and his wife, Jackie Kennedy.
