West Berkshire

West Berkshire is a county of chalk downs, folded farmland and slow rivers. The Berkshire Downs roll along its northern edge in broad, open curves, giving way to the wooded valley of the Kennet and the smaller lanes and villages that thread between them. It is a gentle sort of landscape, more about long views and quiet horizons than drama, and it shifts noticeably as you move across it, from bare hilltop turf down to riverside meadows and market town streets.

Much of the county's charm lies in this contrast between open downland and settled valley. Villages tuck themselves into folds of the hills or line up along the water, and the countryside around them is given over to farming, with the Downs themselves offering some of the widest, emptiest views in the area. Newbury sits roughly at the centre of it all, a working market town that acts as the natural base for exploring the surrounding country.

There is plenty to do once you're settled in, from walking the chalk tracks of the Downs to exploring the smaller lanes of the Kennet valley by bike or on foot. Newbury and the villages around it make good starting points, with the surrounding countryside easy to reach in almost any direction, and the landscape itself, whether high downland or the flatter ground by the river, is really the main draw of a stay here.