What’s going for it? This is part one of two Let’s Move To Broadchurch specials (part two in two weeks). Don’t say I don’t have my finger on the pulse. Anyhow, when you see lawyer Marianne Jean-Baptiste scurrying into her mission control, or people exchanging significant looks across a wide high street, it isn’t Broadchurch, it isn’t even Dorset – it is Clevedon. Hill Road, to be exact, the main drag. Though Clevedon doesn’t need some much-garlanded, convoluted TV series to put it on the map. It has its pier. Not just any pier. A Grade I-listed affair, “the most beautiful pier in England”, said Sir John Betjeman. It disdains amusement arcades and candyfloss. This is a refined town, draped on its clifftop, eyeing Wales across the Bristol Channel, with leafy hills, gothic villas and one of the longest continually running cinemas in the world, more than 100 years old. Who needs murder, intrigue and David Tennant when you have a matinee at the Curzon to detain you?
The case against The beach isn’t Bondi, but it’ll do: it has its own rubbly, seaweedy charm. It isn’t the best place for a wild night out, either.
Well connected? No train: the nearest is at Yatton, a 15-min drive, with two trains an hour to Bristol (20 mins) and Taunton (50 mins). But the M5 clips the city, and Bristol is a 30-min drive, the M4 20 mins, the Mendip Hills 30 mins and Cardiff an hour.
Schools Primaries: Mary Elton, All Saints CofE, St Nicholas’ Chantry CofE and St John the Evangelist CofE are all “good”, says Ofsted. Secondaries: Clevedon School is “outstanding”.
Hang out at… Murrays Italian bistro on Hill Road is a cut above, and comes with a good in-house deli.
Where to buy There’s an old-ish town kernel, with grand, often Georgian, town houses and villas on the prom front, The Beach, and inland to Copse Road. But this town is all about the Victorian villa and semi, along the clifftop seafront, up Marine Parade and beyond to Bay Road, and inland in delightful estates around Victoria Road to Highdale Avenue. Further out, you can rummage round more modern roads tucked into the wooded valleys, sometimes happening on a parade or villagey nook of period cottages, such as All Saints Lane. Detacheds, £250,000-£750,000. Semis, £180,000-£625,000. Terraces, £170,000-£485,000. Flats, £100,000-£240,000. Rentals: one-bed flat, £450-£550pcm; three-bed house, £750-£900pcm.
Bargain of the week Not many around. But a three-bedroom period semi, close to the seafront, for £249,950 with marktempler.co.uk.
From the streets
Carol Wood “Stroll along Poets Walk for fantastic views over the mud flats and to see seabirds. Browse the Community Bookshop, and have tea and cake on the seafront at Tiffin or 5 The Beach.”
Christina Batts “Twenty minutes from the buzz of Bristol, Clevedon is great for families, with a small-town feel, and crabbing, sailing and kayaking.”
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Do you live in Cranbrook and Goudhurst, Kent? Do you have a favourite haunt or a pet hate? If so, please email lets.move@theguardian.com by Tuesday 17 February.
