Exiting Londoners have long embraced the Cotswolds as their home-from-home in the country, prizing it for its undeniable beauty plus the chance to hobnob with People Like Us at Soho Farmhouse or Daylesford Organic.
What they don’t know is that there is an alternative that is cheaper, closer, more authentic, and just as beautiful — and with no risk of bumping into Jeremy Clarkson at the local garage.
The Dedham Vale National Landscape – formerly known as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, just like the Cotswolds – stretches along the River Stour, through Essex and Suffolk.
Its 34 square miles covers a lovely swathe of farmland and ancient woodland and while it lacks the rolling curves of the Cotswolds it does have some absolutely gorgeous villages which have inspired artists for generations, notably local lad John Constable who immortalised its scenes during his career.
“A lot of people who leave London want to go west – they don’t realise how beautiful it is north east of London and how good the train links are from Manningtree or Colchester,” said buying agent Paddy Pritchard-Gordon, of Prime Purchase. “It is a bit of a forgotten gem.”
It is also, certainly by Cotswolds standards, affordable. An average home in Manningtree, the only town with a train station, sells for £379,600 according to research from estate agent Hamptons.
For something a bit fancier you will pay an average of £550,000 in the well-resourced villages of East Bergholt and Dedham. Homes in Charlbury, a key town in the north Cotswolds, trade for an average £613,160.
Charlbury prices are also struggling with the current climate of high interest rates, with prices down 2.2 per cent in the past year. Prices in Manningtree are also down, by 1.6 per cent year-on-year, but East Bergholt and Dedham are up by 7.8 per cent.
Over five years the Dedham Vale towns have seen 14 per cent growth, while Charlbury has enjoyed 19 per cent growth, mostly earned during the height of the post-pandemic race for space.
Abby Clayton and Andrew Mackenzie discovered the vale quite by chance. The couple were living in Upminster, east London, with their daughter Daisy, now five, and working as wedding caterers.
A work contact who runs a teepee company got in touch in 2020 to say that she had acquired some land in East Bergholt and was planning on building a Daylesford-style barn complex, and would they like to set up a farm shop and café? “My first question was: “Where is East Bergholt?” said Abby, 42.
Despite its unfamiliarity when she and Andrew, 46, went to view the site they were instantly smitten. “The further we drove down the A12 the more relaxed we felt,” said Abby. “It was stunning, and it was calm. We just knew.”
Fields Farm Shop and Restaurant (fieldskitchen.co.uk) opened its doors in October 2021 and its mix of local produce and posh cooked breakfasts and comfort food favourites (fish finger sandwiches on sourdough) has earned a loyal following.
In 2022 the family sold their three bedroom house in Upminster and moved to a Victorian cottage in the nearby village of Holbrook, where they bought a Victorian cottage with a two acre garden which they share with Daisy and the four teenagers they have – between them – from previous relationships.
Abby’s three horses live in a rented field beside the cottage. “We are living the country dream,” she said.
When not working or looking after the horses the family likes to go paddle boarding on the River Stour, or go on long walks. “It never feels boring,” said Abby. “There are some lovely restaurants, and we have found everyone welcoming.”
A more established Dedham Vale transplant is Zoe Bates. She spent almost a decade living in Colchester before her husband, Graham, stumbled across Manningtree and fell in love with the tiny, historic, riverside town.
His two sons from a previous relationship had just left home so the couple were free to move to somewhere quieter and nine years ago they swapped their modern semi for a three bedroom cottage in Manningtree.
Zoey, 52, a silversmith turned upholsterer, has a studio in the garden, and has opened her own shop on the high street, Bates Upholstery and Interiors (batesupholstery.com), which has added to the town’s already impressive array of independent shops.
Graham, 53, works in property maintenance so he can live wherever he pleases.
For Zoey, Manningtree ticks every box. It has good train services – trains to Liverpool Street take from 59 minutes - and a strong community which gets together to organise everything from art trails to Pride events every year.
Although the town is small it has a great range of shops, cafes, pubs, and restaurants, in particular the Mexican inspired Maiz which attracts diners from all over Essex.
The local bookshop hosts regular read and drink evenings, inviting locals to come in and sip a glass of wine while getting into a good book.
“In the first few weeks of being here we made more friends with our neighbours than in nine years in Colchester – everyone is overwhelmingly friendly,” says Zoey. “It feels quite holiday-like with its tiny little beach.”
The town’s man-made sandy beach is set beside the River Stour, and the Stour Sailing Club offers dinghy sailing, rowing, and kayaking. There is also a wild swimming group, the Manningtree Mermaids.
Back on dry land there are also lots of dog walking options for Zoey’s two Staffordshire terriers, Earnie and Cookie, who can explore the riverbank or the local woodland to their hearts’ content.
Sharnie Rogers, head of eastern region at Strutt & Parker estate agents, said being on the borders of Essex and Suffolk gives buyers a taste of bucolic bliss with a realistic commute into town.
Most buyers tend to search either in or close to the villages of Dedham and East Bergholt, or in and around Manningtree.
Dedham with its Art & Craft Centre and boathouse where you can hire a rowboat and meander your way along the Stour, and East Bergholt, are the posher option, with bigger houses and higher prices.
Manningtree is more first-time buyer friendly, which may explain why its prices have been flat this year while East Bergholt and Manningtree attracts second steppers with equity built up, often in London or Cambridge.
Incoming buyers prize the Dedham Vale for its access to the Suffolk coast, its pretty as a picture postcard properties, and its independent vibes.
“There really are no chains,” says Rogers. “What you have got is boutique shops and cafes, and they are thriving all year around. I think part of the reason is that you don’t get too many second home buyers in the area – it is families who want to live here and send their children to school here.”
