It was a story in a newspaper that was the last straw for Evie Winter-Luscombe.
The tragic death of a young girl in south London, whose asthma had been exacerbated by high levels of pollution, hit the mother-of-two hard.
“I just thought: ‘What are we doing living here, in a crowded flat, with roads all around us and air you can’t breathe?’,” said Evie, 42. “I have had enough.”
Evie and her husband Andrew Luscombe, 44, had been living in a two-bedroom flat in a block in Earlsfield, with their two girls Dessie, now seven, and Indiana, now five.
Andrew, who works in IT, was willing to relocate and Evie, who had worked as a nanny before the girls were born, quickly decided Winchester, the glorious Hampshire city which has since become a red hot property ticket for buyers fleeing London during the pandemic, was the place to go.
She “dragged” the family down to take a look around in early 2018, and they quickly found a house they loved – and could afford.
Later that year they bought a three-bedroom terraced house in Abbots Barton, just over a mile from the city centre and right on the fringes of the South Downs.
The view of a park and children’s playground was the house’s main selling point, as well as its price.
The couple sold their London flat for just under £360,000 and paid just under £370,000 for their new house.
“It needs a lot of modernisation, which we haven’t got around to yet, but we have got really lovely neighbours, and we are happy,” said Evie.
Prices in Winchester have jumped during the pandemic – according to the latest UK House Price Index the average sale price rose by 9.9 per cent in the last year alone – and Evie estimates that their house would be worth more than £400,000 today.
“We were lucky we bought it when we did,” she said.
“I am a Londoner, I was born and brought up in Highbury and there are less people in Winchester than there are in Islington which never ceases to amaze me,” she added.
“Everyone knows everyone, whereas London is very anonymous. I have made some lovely friends through the play groups and school, and there is a theatre in town, plus a new leisure centre which is beautiful.”
Her only gripes are a lack of general shops in the city centre – you are fine for artisanal cafes and gift shops but buying clothes for the girls or everyday homewares requires a trip to Southampton or Basingstoke – and the unreliable and expensive bus services.
“Other than that I don’t really miss London at all, this is a much friendlier, more peaceful way of life,” said Evie.
