The Cotswolds is where London's pace finally gives way to honey-coloured stone and proper hedgerows, and it rewards anyone who takes the time to look beyond the obvious postcard views.

Bourton-on-the-Water and Bibury draw the crowds for good reason, with their low bridges and riverside cottages, while Stow-on-the-Wold and Burford offer the same golden-stone charm with a little more room to breathe.

The Slaughters remain about as quiet and unspoilt as English villages get, and Chipping Norton and Tetbury add a working market-town buzz - shops, restaurants, and a genuine community - to the more rural stretches around them.

It's a part of the world made for a second home or a permanent move out of the city, and finding the right village, rather than just the right house, is exactly where local knowledge earns its keep.