Winchester has got some serious history. A few hundred thousands years of history if you really want to dig into the archives or take a look at the nearby Iron Age settlements at Oram's Arbour, St. Catherine's Hill, and Worthy Down. But the point is Winchester has been a desirable place to live for a long time, and that still holds true today.

In fact, Winchester features regularly in lists of the best places to live in the UK and it’s easy to see why. From the proximity to London, the surrounding countryside, great schools for all ages, shops, pubs, restaurants and some of the most beautiful and well-maintained housing stock on the market, the place has a lot going for it.

Returning to the property market, Winchester has something for all tastes. Grade II listed family homes in the mid to low seven figures, contemporary homes with rolling gardens and easy commute of the town centre, to smaller but enormously characterful period homes and even apartments in the city centre. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it’s a competitive market, but there is a lot to choose from.

For anyone looking for a bolt hole from London to the East, or Southampton and Bournemouth on the South Coast, the commute is a doddle: There are trains to London Waterloo that take an hour or so, through Basingstoke; to Southampton (15-25 mins) via Southampton Airport. And if you’re driving, you’re right on the M3, so you can make the M25 in an hour and Southampton and Portsmouth in 30 mins, 40 mins to the New Forest for a bit of RnR and 50 mins to Bournemouth.

In terms of schools, there’s Harestock, Weeke, The Westgate, Western CofE, Oliver’s Battery, All Saints CofE and Winnall get a “good”, from Ofsted, while St Peter’s Catholic, St Faith’s CofE and St Bede CofE are ranked as outstanding. For secondary age there’s Henry Beaufort and The Westgate and King’s. And for anyone heading for higher education there’s the beautiful and prestigious Winchester School of Art.

In terms of things to do, with all that Hampshire has to offer from rolling downs, to forests and coastlines, you’ve got it all. London’s a short journey away and Winchester itself has a wonderful range of things to see, do, eat and drink. 

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