The six best commuter villages close to London

Staring into a stranger’s armpit on a rush-hour tube train can often lead to thoughts of moving to a tiny village. We imagine that, there, we might find the space to be ourselves. As a description of Louis de Bernieres’ fictional Surrey village, Notwithstanding, reads: it is a place where, “a lady dresses in plus fours and shoots squirrels, a retired general gives up wearing clothes altogether… and people think it quite natural to confide in a spider that lives in a potting shed.” Perhaps it’s just me, but as a Londoner, that all sounds rather liberating.

In the interests of bucolic fantasies, we’ve put together a list of commuter villages near the capital. Should you not be quite ready to give up the city job and start squirrel hunting yet, we’ve included some practicalities like transport connections and house prices too.

Cookham, Berkshire

Although Cookham shares the river Thames with London they don’t have much else in common.