I visited the ‘most desirable place to live’ near Birmingham and thought I was in a Miss Marple village

Ombersley may be 40 minutes from Birmingham, but it feels like another world and another time. This tiny Worcestershire village, with its immaculate rows of hedges, quaint thatched roofs and red telephone boxes, feels like a throwback to an Agatha Christie novel.

This could be why it is regularly named as one of the most desirable places to live in the UK and featured in ‘most beautiful villages’ lists. It’s easy for me to imagine Miss Marple behind the curtains fluttering in one of the many pretty cottages, while the murder suspects hang out in the two traditional country pubs, The Cross Keys or the Kings Arms.

The black and white timber-framed buildings make this enclave look even more picturesque, halfway between Droitwich and Worcester, off the busy A449 Worcester Road. It has its own cricket club, where cups of tea clink in the clubhouse, but there is also a tennis club and golf course not far away.

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Even the top cafe, Checketts, looks more like a miniature castle with its fortress-style facade opposite the picture-perfect Victorian St Andrew’s Church. Inside, Checketts has chic, cutting-edge decor with cozy nooks for coffee, brunch, large lunches and pizza.

There are wine tasting evenings and a big focus on buying local with a drinks list consisting of bottles from the Halfpenny Green vineyard on the Shropshire border. An old-fashioned bicycle with a front basket is fixed to the brickwork above the door outside and looks like something out of a Christie novel.

You might say this stylish eatery is a hub for locals in the center of the village, but leafy Ombersley is a one-street place. Almost everything is based around the well-preserved main road. It’s so frozen in time that I expect locals to shop with wicker baskets in hand, as they did in Marple’s fictional village of St Mary Mead.

A bright red telephone box sits at one end and harkens back to the Second World War, with a vintage telephone and war signs kept inside, including the famous ‘Your King and Your Country Need You’. I also notice another antique red telephone booth sitting proudly in someone’s garden.

There are larger houses further out in the picturesque countryside, including quite a large one where the Duke of Wellington even stayed. It is now under new ownership but was once home to the famous Sandys family of lords, ladies, barons and a bishop. Their rather grand collection is about to be auctioned by Chorley’s at Prinknash Abbey on June 25.

It is that kind of nobles that have helped raise this rather hidden and small village into a real estate asset over the centuries. Now, the average house in Ombersley will set a house hunter back £558,500, but that’s less than most houses for sale here.

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Property prices in Ombersley

While the overall average price of a house in Ombersley sold for £558,500 in the past year, according to Rightmove, most of the houses for sale are more expensive detached properties.

The majority of sales over the past year were for single family homes which sold for an average price of £655,357. Semi-detached homes are priced at £461,643 on average.

Prices have remained stable over the past year, but the area is in demand, reflected in property prices rising by 24% since 2017, when the average sale price was £449,911. It has good transport links close to the M5 making it good for commuters.

Village Shops in Ombersley

The picturesque main street is dotted with a few shops but is limited. There are no chains like The Works or WH Smith here, but independents, including a kitchen renovator and a beauty salon.

There’s a butcher, a delicatessen and you know you’re in the country because there’s even a butler’s shop in Oldfields of Ombersley. Riding gear and boots are all the rage there.

Ombersley Village Store is tucked behind Checketts Cafe, but there’s also a farm shop in Holt Fleet Road to buy fresh local produce from this semi-rural pocket of Worcestershire. Shopping is minimal here, but close enough to reach Worcester with its department stores and High Street name.

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Schools in and around Ombersley

Those highlighting Ombersley’s desirability in their lists, including Muddy Stilettos, The Telegraph and the Daily Mail, cite the nearby “good schools” as among its positives.

Ombersley Endowed First School in School Bank is a primary school which has been rated ‘good’ by Ofsted. Grimley and Holt C of E Primary School in the neighboring village of Grimley was rated ‘outstanding’.

The village is within easy reach of Droitwich and Worcester, where Northwick Manor Primary School and Hindlip CofE First School have also been rated ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted. Other highly regarded establishments include Royal Grammar School Worcester, Bromsgrove School, Malvern St James and Worcester’s The King’s School, although many of these are public schools.

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