What’s going for it? Things nestle in the Weald. This wide, occasionally wild landscape of wooded undulations between the North and South Downs has surprising nooks where past times lurk as if unchanged since Grace died in The Archers. Steam railways. Stately homes. Hops. And settlements seemingly plucked from a vintage tin of Quality Street. Cranbrook (the metropolis), Goudhurst, Lamberhurst, Hawkhurst, Sissinghurst and Biddenden are quintessentially English spots of weatherboards, Yardley and bellringing that might get Mr Farage choked up. But don’t let that put you off. Reclaim it! This landscape can bring a tear to my eye, too, even if money, in recent centuries, has airbrushed out the iron smelting and industry that made this landscape. These towns might be preserved, but they aren’t unchanging. Even aspic melts. And newfangled vineyards on hillsides are proof that even the Weald can’t escape the future.
The case against Beauty rarely comes cheap. Roads can be a bit of a bobsleigh at rush hour. Genteel, and only just the right side of well-preserved.
Well connected? Trains: the nearest stations are a 10- to 15-min drive to Staplehurst, twice hourly to Charing Cross (60 mins) or Ashford (20 mins); or a 20-min drive to Tunbridge Wells, several trains an hour to Charing Cross or Cannon Street (60 mins), or Wadhurst, with half-hourly trains to Charing Cross (65 mins) and Hastings (30 mins). Driving: 15 mins to the A21, half an hour to the M20, Maidstone and Hastings; 45 mins to Ashford.
Schools Primaries: Lamberhurst St Mary’s CofE, Brenchley & Matfield CofE and Sissinghurst CofE are all “good”, says Ofsted, with Goudhurst and Kilndown CofE, Colliers Green CofE “outstanding”. Secondaries: High Weald Academy “requires improvement”, but is “taking effective action”; the selective Cranbrook School is “outstanding”.
Hang out at… The Three Chimneys at Biddenden is every millimetre the ideal country pub. Apicius in Cranbrook is the local fancypants.
Where to buy Anywhere you can. It’s all peachy. But boy, do you pay for it. The full gamut of property – 17thC cottages to 60s suburbs – with a penchant for the Wealdean style. A few Victorian piles, plus oast houses. Large detacheds, £500,000-£2.5m. Town houses, £400,000-£1m. Semis, £300,000-£600,000. Terraces and cottages, £190,000-£350,000. Not a vast rental market: three-bed houses, £900-£1,700pcm.
Bargain of the week You’ll be lucky. This three-bed detached needs updating; a (relative) steal at £340,000 with Lloyd Martin.
From the streets
Nicola Blake “Hartley Dyke Farm Shop is not to be missed – you can get anything from a croissant and coffee to a whole week’s shop, with fab local fruit and veg, plants and flowers. A gem!”
Sally Driver “I love the shop Spice in Cranbrook, which has all sorts of gifts for the home and presents for friends.”
• Live in Cranbrook and Goudhurst? Join the debate below.
Do you live in Colne, Lancashire? Do you have a favourite haunt or a pet hate? If so, please email lets.move@guardian.co.uk by Tuesday 17 March
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