The London commuter belt swells periodically and slims back down again, and needs adjusting on a semi-regular basis. Traditionally this has been linked to the property cycle. When the London property market gets too hot, homeowners sell up, cash in and take advantage of the huge value gap between the capital and the countryside.
Most recently the expansion of the commuter zone was due to a unforeseen disruption. During the pandemic and in the aftermath, commuters pushed the boundaries of travel time and distance to live in the most idyllic parts of the British coastline and countryside thinking that remote working was here to stay.
As working life reverted to more normal pre-covid patterns for many quick access to the office became a priority once again. However, some have managed to cling to a few days a week working-from-home and are therefore able to choose further flung locations from London.
This is the second in our ‘best villages’ series, based on research by Savills and Country Life. The first part looked at the super-commuter villages within an hour of London; this second instalment goes the other way, naming ten villages where you'll have to put up with a long commute of an hour and a half or more — but where you'll be glad you did.
Interestingly, speed and distance aren't directly linked here — and indeed the village on this list with the shortest commute is also the furthest away. Long Buckby, in the north of Northamptonshire, is on a fast line into the capital taking only 68 minutes. But would you consider it a commuter village? That part is up to you.
Notes on methodology: These villages have their own railway station, or one close by, with a direct service into London that goes during normal commuter hours. Season ticket prices are based on travel five days a week for a year. Average house price figures from Savills / Land Registry.
Long Buckby, Northamptonshire
- Average house price: £479,361
- Journey time: 68 minutes into London Euston
- Season ticket: £7,352
Long Buckby is not an obvious pick for commuters skipping over the home counties to move north. Many headed in this direction get distracted by the Notswolds (the villages on the Northamptonshire side of the Oxfordshire border) won over by an address close to the chi-chi Cotswolds AONB.
However, for value for money and a direct train service into London, buyers should keep going until they hit upon Long Buckby, on the other side of the M1 and to the northwest of Northampton. Rachel Johnston of Stacks describes it as 'a stealth commuter spot.
'It's a former shoe-making village,' Johnston adds, 'but feels more like a small, self-sufficient town with shops, a library, and pubs around the market square.'
Two-bedroom cottages start from around £217,000 to detached period houses from £600,000.
This thatched, five-bedroom home in Long Buckby is for sale at £650,000.
'For families and commuters, it provides an ideal balance between rural charm and convenience,' says Nick Rudge of Savills. Despite its remote feel, Long Buckby is only 10.7 miles to Northampton — and you can trim the journey time a bit by going from Rugby instead, though that means dealing with more traffic to get to the station, and busier trains.
Kemble, Gloucestershire
- Average house price: £584,966
- Journey time: 74 minutes into London Paddington
- Season ticket: £12,188
You might not think of Kemble as being the gold-plated epicentre of the Cotswolds. The Beckhams will not be your neighbours, and you won't have Soho Farmhouse on your doorstep. Yet you will have The King nearby — his place at Highgrove is just outside nearby Tetbury — and you'll enjoy living in a beautiful part of England that doesn't get hit by the tour buses you'll find at some of the more famous villages.
On top of that it's cheaper and more convenient, just four miles outside of Cirencester and with a direct train service into London. 'It offers buyers the best of both worlds,' says Sebastian Hipwood of Blue Book Agency.
'Buyers can enjoy excellent access to Cirencester, Tetbury and Malmesbury, strong schools and a genuine sense of village life — without the crowds or premium prices often associated with the north Cotswolds,' he adds.
'It's quieter, less touristy and represents better value while still offering everything people imagine when they picture Cotswolds living.'
This gorgeous house really is the Cotswolds dream — and it's just outside the village of Kemble. Hamptons quote £800,000.
Kemble — whose village church was the setting for the wedding of Peter Phillips and Harriet Sperling in June 2026 — is dubbed the gateway to the south Cotswolds and close to the source of the Thames at Thames Head, and the 180 lakes of the Cotswolds Water Park. It has a school, a village hall and the Tavern pub. Three-bedroom cottage start from £750,000 and £1.5 million for a four-bedroom family home. Country piles will fetch around £2 million.
And on top of that, the station you'd be commuting from looks like something out of Thomas the Tank Engine. Wonderful.
Crowhurst, East Sussex
- Average house price: £442,240
- Journey time: 90 minutes into London Charing Cross
- Season ticket: £6,764
This village suits several different (rather niche) groups and its wide appeal is clear, the number of people using the train station has increased by 27 per cent since covid (according to the Savills research). History buffs will feel at home in 1066 country, just 10 minutes from Battle (home of the Battle of Hastings), and the Crowhurst Yew supposedly predates the Norman Conquest.
For nature lovers the village is surrounded by Sites of Special Scientific Interest (such as the Forewood RSPB reserve) while bleak geeks can enjoy a foreboding stormy sky from the shingle beach of Hastings (under five miles away). It is even closer to Bexhill-on-Sea where there is a burgeoning arts scene. Walkers can head out from Crowhurst on many routes to either the coast or inland to the High Weald.
A short walk from Crowhurst station, £600,000 buys you a detached three-bedroom home with a huge garden.
The village itself has a recreational ground, a village hall and the Plough pub. The nearest primary school is in Battle. Four-bedroom houses start for around £600,000 in the village with larger country homes over the £1 million mark.
Kingston-on-Soar, Nottinghamshire
- Average house price: £246,848
- Journey time: 101 minutes into St Pancras International
- Season ticket: £12,612
Kingston-on-Soar is the closest village to the East Midlands Parkway railway hub, what was meant to be an important stop on the second phase of HS2 linking Birmingham to Manchester. Due to spiralling costs, the former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak scrapped the line beyond the West Midlands, and his successor Keir Starmer (so many PMs in so little time) did not reverse this decision.
However, Andy Burnham has pledged to complete this section, guaranteeing better connections for the villagers living on the Nottinghamshire-Leicestershire-Derbyshire border.
Kingston-upon-Soar is a small and pretty village with an ancient church at its heart and the Grade II-listed Kingston Hall (once home to Lord Belper — a big deal in this neck of the woods). It has now been converted into homes within 16 acres of parkland; one wing, now a four-bedroom house, is currently on the market at £548,000.
This four-bedroom wing of Kingston Hall is for sale at £548,000.
Further amenities can be found in neighbouring Kegworth – such as a post office, a shop, two restaurants, three pubs and a primary school. If you need more entertaining, it's just a 25-minute drive into Nottingham city centre.
Kingston-on-Soar's village signpost shows that you're just a couple of miles from Gotham, the village whose inhabitants inspired Washington Irving to make 'Gotham' the nickname for New York City. Who knew that Batman had roots in rural Nottinghamshire?
Barnham, West Sussex
- Average house price: £378,061
- Journey time: 89 minutes into London Victoria and London Bridge
- Season ticket: £6,236
From the train station at Barnham, travellers can reach London Victorian, Brighton, Littlehampton, Chichester, Portsmouth and Southampton. It suits families with older teens who want independence and mobility. Barnham is five miles north of Bognor Regis and the south coast – although the best beaches in the area are 12 miles away at East and West Wittering. In between the two lies the coastal Pagham nature reserve and on the doorstep are other West Sussex gems, namely Goodwood Race Course and Chichester Harbour AONB.
Jackson-Stops are selling this wonderful 17th century home in Barnham for £1.2 million.
Farmland and industrial glass-house agriculture surround the village. One landmark is the old flint and stone windmill (now a home) and the pub which was an 18th century farmhouse.
Despite its incredible surrounds Andrew Richardson of Jackson-Stops says Barnham is not a traditional, picture-postcard West Sussex village (he cites Rowlands Castle and Amberley instead) but it has plenty of selling (or buying) points. 'Barnham occupies an interesting position within West Sussex, offering buyers access to the coast, the South Downs and the surrounding countryside, with direct rail links to London. The area appeals to buyers who are seeking more space and better value for money than they might find elsewhere along the same railway line,' says Richardson.
Meldreth, Cambridgeshire
- Average house price: £448,696
- Journey time: 70 minutes into London Kings Cross
- Season ticket: £6,280
Commuters to London and Cambridge choose Meldreth. It is to the southwest of Cambridge on the road that runs to Letchworth Garden City. It is surrounded by notable beauty spots and day out locations, such as the National Trust's Wimpole Estate, Shepreth Wildlife Park, RSPB Fowlmere and the Melwood Nature Reserve. Richard Freshwater of Cheffins calls it a 'lovely, lowkey, rural village'.
Properties range from pretty, thatched cottages and barn conversions, to larger detached houses with price tags from sub £400,000 to £1.5 million and higher. 'Houses don't tend to sit on the market for very long as demand is high from London-based buyers or professionals from Cambridge. Another driver is the schools, the primary school has a good reputation, older children can jump onto the train to the secondary schools in Cambridge,' says Freshwater.
This converted barn close to the station blends old and new beautifully. It's for sale with Savills at £1.1 million.
The smaller cottages tend to be bought by first time buyers working in Cambridge who can't pay central Cambridge prices, he continues. Although day-to-day amenities are in neighbouring Melbourn (residents can walk from one village to the other) there is a pub in Meldreth (the British Queen), a primary school and a village hall with community activities.
'Meldreth is one of south Cambridgeshire's quieter success stories — which attracts well-informed buyers who want excellent connectivity, genuine village character and relative good value. It is one for buyers who look beyond Cambridgeshire's most expensive commuter villages, it offers a balance between lifestyle and accessibility,' says Katie Neale of Harringtons.
Lenham, Kent
- Average house price: £417,300
- Journey time: 83 minutes into London Victoria
- Season ticket: £6,200
Lenham residents use Harrietsham railway station (listed further down this page) which is two miles away, although Lenham is the bigger of the duo by population. The village sits between Maidstone and Ashford (although closer to Maidstone and Leeds Castle) on the southern edge of the North Downs. It is a pretty market village with a square at its centre surrounded by Georgian homes, listed properties and period cottages with newer family-sized homes too.
New build, three-bedroom detached homes built by the developer Countryside are priced at just under £500,000 while there is a handsome, Georgian, semi-detached, three-bedroom house overlooking the square for £650,000 (Jackson-Stops). 'Buyers are typically drawn to the area by the balance between character and convenience, with the market made up largely of growing families looking to upsize, together with some older couples choosing to downsize while staying close to amenities,' says Alastair Hancock of Jackson-Stops.
'The village has a great atmosphere with independent shops and restaurants (the Sweetpea Bakery and the Dog & Bear Hotel), schools (the Lenham School is a state secondary and sixth form) and it is close to grammar schools in Maidstone and Ashford,' he adds.
Lenham has an archetypal village centre.
Rowlands Castle, Hampshire
- Average house price: £631,929
- Journey time: 90 minutes into London Waterloo
- Season ticket: £6,176
Although Rowland's Castle is an hour and a half commute from London it has a city on the doorstep being just 2.9 miles from Havant, a suburb of Portsmouth. The peaceful village is however bordered by countryside — including some wonderful bluebell woods — and feels a world away from the urban sprawl of Pompey.
Rowland's Castle is named after a motte and bailey castle that dates back to the 1100s and was once a fortified hunting haunt of Henry II. It now lies in the grounds of a private house by the green in the centre of the village. There are three pubs, the Robin Hood, the Castle Inn and a harvester, and a village hall with a stage and an indoor badminton court. The rec is next to Rowland's golf course and the village is bordered to the south by Staunton Country Park and farm and close to Standstead Park stately home.
For £580,000, this charming detached cottage is full of character — it's being sold by Leaders.
Beyond is the glorious West Sussex countryside, chocolate box villages of South Harting and Buriton and beauty spots such as Harting Down. Rowlands Castle is one of the more expensive villages on the list, with six-bedroom country houses costing more than £2,000,000 and four-bedroom cottages from £700,000.
Harrietsham, Kent
- Average house price: £417,300
- Journey time: 83 minutes into London Victoria
- Season ticket: £6,236
At the foot of the North Downs, and along the Pilgrims Way, Harrietsham, on the banks of the River Len, is steeped in history. In the hills above the village, archaeologists have uncovered evidence of the Bronze Age, the Iron Age, the Romans and the Saxons. At the centre of the village is a Grade I-listed Norman church and the railway station opened in 1884.
The centre of Harrietsham is extremely pretty. It'd be even prettier if somebody had moved that white van around the corner before this picture was taken. But even still: very pretty.
Visitors and walkers head up the hills from the villages to the Ringlestone Inn, originally a retreat for monks, with stories of highwaymen, smugglers and ghosts. Harrietsham has a primary school, a doctor's surgery, a parish church, a village hall, and a local store.
Edward Torry of Knight Frank calls it one of the most desirable villages in Kent with 'charming character cottages, period houses, substantial country houses and new build developments, making it appealing to a wide range of buyers.' This is golf country with a group of clubs nearby: Bearsted Golf Club, Ridge Golf Club, Weald of Kent Golf Course and Tudor Park Golf and Country Club.
Once a Victorian coach house, this place has been transformed in recent years into a gorgeous country home set in three acres. It's on at £1.5 million with Ferris & Co.
Dorridge, West Midlands
- Average house price: £691,488
- Journey time: 102 minutes into London Marylebone
- Season ticket: £7,360
Dorridge is pricey for the Birmingham area. It is a village on the outskirts of the well-heeled Solihull that runs into neighbouring village Knowle. It has its own 'golden triangle' of roads close to the station, which has a direct service into Birmingham as well as London. There has been a shift west and northwest as those looking to relocate to the Cotswolds realise they can get far better value for money and yet still achieve a village lifestyle in Warwickshire and Worcestershire and now the West Midlands.
Just outside Dorridge in nearby Knowle, this characterful home is on the market at £950,000.
This is a village well-stocked with pubs and bars including the Scandinavian Skogen — serving cocktails and pizzas – and the Drum & Monkey. There is a well-trodden Sunday walk from Dorridge to the National Trust's Packwood House by country lanes (around 50 minutes).