Cheddington

This sought-after and well-placed Buckinghamshire village is supremely well connected. Close to the Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire borders, Cheddington has the unusual benefit of its own mainline station, with regular and direct trains to London Euston in around 45 minutes and other services running to Birmingham, Coventry, Northampton, Milton Keynes and Crewe.

For those who prefer roads to rail, the A41 dual carriageway, accessed at Tring, is about 15 minutes to the M25 (J20), while the M1 and A5 are also a short drive.

Schooling here is excellent. Cheddington Combined School caters for younger children and, for teenagers the village falls within the Grammar Schools catchment area in Aylesbury. Local facilities include a modern village hall, sports field, tennis club, two pubs, and a 12th Century church, the combination of which has cultivated a huge number of clubs and societies.

Tennis, bowls, petanque, badminton, amateur dramatics and rambling are all on the agenda along with interest groups including a history society, Women's Institute, flower club, old timers, nifty fifties, baby and toddler and youth4youth. We should also mention the Cheddington Pantomime Group.

One stop from Tring and Leighton Buzzard, two from Berkhamsted, 20 minutes by train from Milton Keynes and a 20 minute drive from Aylesbury make Cheddington a great place for those who like to explore. Whether it’s cutesy boutiques and coffee shops or shopping malls, department stores and multiplexes, you’ll find them all within easy reach.

The most famous event in Cheddington’s history is almost certainly the Great Train Robbery of 1963 that took place nearby at the Bridego Railway Bridge (now renamed Mentmore Bridge). The railway has continued to have a significant impact on the village, albeit of a very different nature. Being so well connected has not gone unnoticed and Cheddington’s size has quadrupled in the last 30 years as people take advantage of its easy getting around connections.

• Enjoy the beautiful local countryside
• Have a day out at Whipsnade Zoo
• Tuck into Sunday lunch at The Old Swan
• Become an inveterate socialite at one or more of the many clubs and groups
• “Oh no you shouldn’t! Oh yes you should!” A performance by the Cheddington Panto Group is sure to make you smile

Cheddington has something for almost everyone, from small workers cottages to 4 and 5-bedroom detached homes. Listed 17th century beams and thatched roofs to rival those in nearby Aldbury sit alongside typical Edwardian and Victorian family houses, with more recent developments of 20th century cul-de-sacs adding a modern flavour. Perhaps this has fed Cheddington’s gregarious nature: free of any one style and any one time, it’s a village of evolution and contrasts – and it’s proud of it.