Surbiton homes offer 'The Good Life': energy-efficient houses set in pretty parish house conversion 19 minutes from London

Surbiton came into existence by accident after a plan to build the London-Southampton railway line through nearby Kingston was rejected and resulted in the tracks being laid further south.

Thus, Surbiton station opened in 1838.

But what really put the place on the map for most people was The Good Life, a hugely popular Seventies BBC sitcom about a married couple quitting the rat race to champion an eco-friendly, self-sufficient lifestyle alongside the social climbing denizens of the Surrey commuter belt.

Tom and Barbara Good kept a goat and chickens, turned their front and back gardens into allotments, generated their own electricity with methane from animal waste, made their own clothes and bartered fruit and vegetables for life's essentials.

Broomfield Lodge would have been the perfect address for the Goods.

This unpretentious conversion of a pretty parish school dating back to 1879 borders Fishponds Park nature reserve and has yielded nine energy-efficient homes set around a communal garden.

Trains to Waterloo take 19 minutes. Prices from £385,000.

Call Dexters on 020 8614 1222.