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Sands
Home Search are independent buying consultants specialising in
finding and acquiring prime country houses & estates, farm
& equestrian property and waterside homes for retained private
& corporate clients.
For further information about our service use the menu at the
top of this page.
About the County of Buckinghamshire
(For a list of all the prime country estate properties sold in
Buckinghamshire recently, scroll down to the bottom of this page)
Stoke Poges, Marlow, Bourne End, Chalfont St. Giles, Aylesbury,
Amersham and High Wycombe.
Buckinghamshire has very good links to the north and west end
of London via road and rail and is correspondingly popular with
commuters.
Buckingham in the north is a market town with
a good range of shops and a university. Heading east towards the
Wadden Chase, there are some attractive villages until the outskirts
of Milton Keynes 'no beauty spot' begins to adversely influence
the landscape.
South of Milton Keynes lies the Aylesbury Vale
which is dominated by Quainton Hill and Pitchcott Hill at its
centre. Close to these hills is the electricity substation at
East Claydon from which five lines of pylons run to different
parts of the county. Allied with the large aerial mast site at
Whitchurch, this makes picking the right spot more important than
ever.
Aylesbury is a large expanding market town of
no particular architectural merit. The country south and west
of here back towards the M40 is far more undulating than it is
further north. Houses are generally more expensive as they are
in the vicinity of the small towns of Long Crendon and Haddenham.
London on the M40 is approximately 1 hour away with trains taking
under an hour from Haddenham to Marylebone. Although convenient,
north Buckinghamshire lacks the beauty and charm of its neighbour
Oxfordshire.
The county splits easily in two with most of
south Buckinghamshire being the hub for commuters into north and
west London. There is a small pocket of countryside between the
M4 and M40, north of Slough, which is surprisingly villagey yet
minutes from London. Houses tend to be few and far between in
this area and, consequently, sell well, often privately. North
of the M40 on to the edge of the Chiltern Hills, areas such as
Beaconsfield, Amersham and the Chalfonts are excellent for commuting
into northern London; the Chalfonts, Amersham and Chesham are
remarkable in the fact that you can step straight on to the Metropolitan
line tube. Further west, the villages and towns are easily commutable
with surrounding pretty countryside. The riverside town of Marlow
arguably enjoys one of the prettiest stretches of the Thames with
excellent access to both M4 and M40 motorways.
Like Berkshire, Buckinghamshire can be
divided into two for the country-house buyer: this time, north
and south. In between lie the sweeping hills of the Chilterns,
acting as a dramatic natural barrier between the commuting towns
and villages of the south, easily reached from London, and the
more rural but less accessible countryside of the north.
The south tends to have a more fluid population
than the north, and a better supply of country houses, but prices
are inevitably higher; the completion of the M40 has, however,
seen prices in the north rise. The new town of Milton Keynes has
also boosted the economy of the north, and has a commuter market
of its own.
Buckinghamshire's diverse countryside gives
rise to an unusual variety of soils and building materials, including
brick, flint and timber. The county crosses the agricultural Vale
of Aylesbury, renowned for its duck, rises over the Chilterns
and drops down into the Thames Valley; on the fringes of London,
the scenery is gentler.
The areas most in demand are in the south,
with good commuting links to the capital; they include the Hambledon
Valley and the riverside areas of Marlow.
Major towns
Buckingham, Bletchley, Milton Keynes, Aylesbury,
High Wycombe, Stokenchurch, Chesham, Beaconsfield, Amersham.
Transport links
Train: Marylebone to High Wycombe 30min, Network
StayAway £12 return; Aylesbury 53min, Network StayAway £13.70
return; Milton Keynes 36min, Network AwayBreak £15.20 return.
Car: High Wycombe is 27 miles from central London,
via the M40; Aylesbury 36 miles, via the A41; Milton Keynes 52
miles, via the M1.
Public schools
Beaconsfield High School (01494 673043). Girls
only, age range 11-18, day. www.beaconsfieldhigh.bucks.sch.uk
Caldicott School, Farnham Royal (01753 646214). Boys only, age
range 7-13, day and boarding. www.caldicott.com
Pipers Corner, Great Kingshill (01494 718255). Girls only, age
range 4-18, day and boarding. www.piperscorner.co.uk
Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe (01494 524955). Boys only,
age range 11-18, day and boarding. Assosiated preparatoryschool.
www.rgshw.com
St Mary's School, Gerrards Cross (01753 883370). Girls only, age
range 3-18, day. www.stmarys-gx.org
Stowe School,near Buckingham (01280 813164). Co- educational,
age range 13-18, day and boarding. www.stowe.co.uk
Wycombe Abbey, High Wycombe (01494 520381). Girls only, age range
11-18, boarding. www.wycombeabbey.com
Leisure
Golf courses: Gerrards Cross (01753 883263);
Denham (01895 832022); Harewood Downs, Chalfont St Giles (01494
762308); Ellesborough, Aylesbury (01296 622114).
Hunts: The Vale of Aylesbury, the Oakley.
Fishing: river Thames.
THE BEST BUCKINGHAMSHIRE COUNTRY HOUSES
FOR SALE IN 2004
(A breakdown of what was for sale & purchase prices)
Ridgewood, Knotty Green, Beaconsfield (new mansion): £6m
The Manor, Little Marlow (12,000 sq ft manor, 8.75 acres): £4.95m
Old Rectory, Amersham (7 bedroom Old Rectory, 14 acres): £3m
Vale Farm, Kimble Wick (renovated country house, 31 acres): £2.3m
Source: Country Life
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benefit from the Sands Home Search service, please call in confidence
on 01425 462 549.
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