Escaping the city and moving to one of the region's most desirable villages is a dream for many - but it doesn't come cheap. The celebrity haunt of Broadway, a stunning village on the edge of Worcestershire, is one such place where house prices can reach eyewatering levels.
The village recently featured on a list of UK's top places to live in 2024 by lifestyle website Muddy Stilettos, with other communities such as the celebrity village of Barnt Green and the picturesque town of Malvern also making the cut. They were chosen for number of reasons, including having idyllic green spaces, impressive properties, a thriving high street and highly-regarded food scene.
The website described Broadway as the perfect place to go for the "roses-around-the-door Cotswold lifestyle". Here's an in-depth look at why Broadway made the list - and how much it would cost to move there.
READ MORE: Hidden gem village in Midlands named one of 2024’s best places to live
What Muddy Stilettos said
The lifestyle website wrote: "Picture-perfect with historic, honey-coloured buildings and a wide, genteel high street (hence the name), Broadway is arguably one of the most beautiful Cotswold villages – indeed it’s moniker is ‘The Jewel of the Cotswolds’. It really does feel like you are on a film set it’s so pristine and well-groomed.
"Located five miles west of buzzing Chipping Campden, the lovely lanes are home to artisan delis, art galleries, upmarket tea rooms, antique shops and boutiques. Whilst it gets its fair share of visitors it has a strong local community, a lovely central village green and being right on the border of Worcs and Glos (and just 20 minutes hop to Oxfordshire) you are really well placed for the best of both counties.
"Broadway, with its butterscotch houses and rolling countryside, might not be cheap, but goodness it’s worth it."
Life in the village of Broadway
The village is dotted with pretty cottages, shops and tearooms - but there's so much more to Broadway. It's become an ideal place to do a bit of celebrity spotting - during the Cheltenham Festival, the rich and famous can be seen pottering around the village which has direct trains to reach the horse-racing event
The Lygon Arms hotel meanwhile has hosted an array of celebrities over the decades including Amanda Holden, Elizabeth Taylor, Hugh Grant and Renee Zellwegger. Richard Burton even wooed Elizabeth Taylor there, which is why it has a special Taylor/Burton Affair cocktail that is lilac, famously the colour of Taylor's eyes.
As well as swathes of stunning countryside, the village also has a number of notable attractions on its doorstep including the Cotswold Lavender fields, which people travel from across the world to see. Then there's the West Midlands' best preserved nuclear bunker, hidden away on the site of Broadway Tower.
The Royal Observer Corps used the bunker at the height of strained relations with Russia in 1960 when they trained in case nuclear missiles were launched.
House prices
Properties in Broadway had an overall average price of £606,029 during the last year, according to Rightmove. The majority of sales in the area during the last year were detached properties, selling for an average price of £822,067.
Terraced properties meanwhile sold for an average of £531,500, with semi-detached properties fetching £392,000.
