Kingham is the second-least affordable ‘picturesque’ place in UK, says new study

Instagram data was combined with a survey of 2,000 UK adults, to curate a list of the 125 most picturesque places in the UK.

The average local house prices were then compared to their wider area before awarding each place an ‘affordability’ score out of 100.

The study discovered that homes in Kingham are priced 107 per cent above the county average at £960,772.

And Kingham has been tagged 15,000 times on Instagram, earning it a place among the top 125 most ‘picturesque’ UK locations, the study by Hammonds Furniture found.

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Kingham has not one but two gastropubs in the village. The Wild Rabbit is a fine-dining restaurant and modern British inn owned by Carole Bamford of the nearby Daylesford estate.

And the Kingham Plough is a very trendy pub with hotel rooms attached that often makes lists of England’s best gastropubs.

Both are frequented by musician Alex James who lives on a farm in Kingham where he now makes cheese and runs The Big Feastival each August.

Set up by the former Blur bassist turned foodie Alex James, with the support of Jamie Oliver, Feastival was one of the first to put food, rather than music, centre stage.

Author Fiona Mountain, who was formerly a BBC Radio press officer, and is now the author of historical mysteries lives in the town, too.

About 12 miles from Kingham is modern country club Soho Farmhouse, part of the famed Soho House chain, which has attracted hordes of A-listers - including Meghan Markle - since it opened in 2015.

With its honey-stone cottages and houses wreathed with purple wisteria, not long ago Country Life readers voted it the best place to live in England. 

Luke Morgan, director of Strutt & Parker’s country department, described it as the “Notting Hill of the Cotswolds,” a chic London neighbourhood.

And Rupert Wakely, partner and office head for Knight Frank’s branch in nearby Stow on the Wold, said Kingham specifically is an A-list village, “where people want to be.

"You’ve got Daylesford Organic Farm Shop up the road about a mile away. You have The Wild Rabbit, which is a restaurant that’s become very trendy, and the Kingham Plough, which is a very good pub in the village. And you have a train that takes you to London Paddington station, which is the main draw to the town.

"All those things marry together to become extremely popular for weekend homes for Londoners and primary residencies,” he said. “Despite the seemingly rural location, we see lots of parents do a three-day commute to London, and from some parts, it is even possible to do a commute daily."

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Kingham also has a village shop and post office, a community primary school in the village, as well as the independent co-educational Kingham Hill School.

Also close by are Great Tew Primary and Windrush Valley School.

Another Cotswold village, Lower Slaughter, was also in the top three least affordable picturesque places in the study with a home costing £845,000 .

It was tagged nearly 20,000 times on Instagram.

 Kirsty Oakes, head of product and marketing at Hammonds Furniture, added: "This ranking should hopefully provide people with some inspiration for gorgeous and affordable places to move to, or if nothing else, help them extend their UK travel wish list!”  

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This story was written by Miranda Norris, she joined the team in 2021 and covers celebrity and showbiz news across Oxfordshire as well as news from Witney.

Get in touch with her by emailing: Miranda.Norris@newsquest.co.uk

Follow her on Twitter @MirandaJNorris

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