Living in Canterbury: everything you need to know about commute times, best schools and open spaces

Made famous by the bawdy 14th-century tales of Geoffrey Chaucer, the ancient city of Canterbury, 68 miles from London, is as popular now as it was in the Middle Ages.

In fact, today it is booming with countless visitors to its fine cathedral. It has plenty of other beautiful buildings, too, some fantastic schools and plenty of good-value homes. Little wonder thousands of London families move here every year.

Aside from its high-speed commuter links back to the capital, Canterbury is a great staging post for coast and country.

Prices for even Georgian architecture are so affordable that the annual commuter train fare becomes manageable — and worth it to a townie at heart who still wants a city centre with hipster-friendly cafés and wine bars.

The commute: High Speed 1 services from Canterbury West to St Pancras International take from 51 minutes. An annual season ticket costs £5,456.

Market forces: according to Comparethemarket.com, Canterbury’s housing market is the busiest in Britain, with properties taking an average of just 28 days to sell, as twenty- and thirty-something buyers head into Kent to find better value for money.

The latest UK House Price Index shows the average price in Canterbury is £303,835, up 5.1 per cent in the past year. But before you pack your bags and bolt to Canterbury, bear in mind that property price data tends to be based on deals struck around six months ago.

“At the moment the market is incredibly challenging,” says Allun Lewis, senior branch manager at Ward & Partners estate agents.

“Interest rate rises and a general lack of confidence mean that a lot of stock has had to be reduced quite heavily before people will buy. This time last year we had an offer for every six viewings. As things stand we are about 14 viewings per offer. The applicants are still there but we are not getting the offers.”

Dee Ryall, a director at Jackson-Stops, agrees the market is all about price, particularly since the historic price gap between Canterbury and the posher commuter towns of Sevenoaks and Tunbridge Wells has narrowed.

“Canterbury has plateaued a bit but it is still very good value for money. A four- to five-bedroom detached family house in Canterbury might cost you £700,000, but in Sevenoaks it would still be £850,000.”

Househunting: from beautifully presented Georgian houses and converted flats within the city walls for a fraction of what you’d pay in London, to Victorian family-size homes in the ’burbs for about £420,000 — the price of an average London first-time buy — the quality and value of stock is massively in Canterbury’s favour.

The swankiest addresses are within the ancient city walls, where Dane John Gardens is ringed by white stucco Regency houses for about £800,000.

A more typical three-bedroom Georgian townhouse in the heart of the city would cost £375,000 to £550,000.

If you want livelier, hipper and slightly cheaper, St Dunstan’s has a Brighton sort of vibe that artists and writers love and is close to the High Speed 1 services from Canterbury West station.

Property ranges from period three-bedroom houses at about £350,000 to £425,000 to more modern homes, and the area has some great shops and cafés.

Families with an eye on the city’s grammar schools flock to south Canterbury where houses are of Edwardian vintage onward. A four-bedroom detached post-war house would cost just over £600,000, while a four-bedroom semi would be about £450,000.

What’s new? Canterbury’s building pipeline is busy, thanks largely to a single scheme south of the city. Developer Corinthian Land has been granted planning permission to build close to 4,000 new homes at Mountfield Park, effectively creating a whole new suburb with two schools, shops and offices. Building is expected to start next year.

Meanwhile, the city’s amenities will be upgraded by Canterbury Riverside, a new leisure complex on the banks of the Great Stour with a multiplex cinema, cafés, bars, restaurants and shops, plus 189 new homes and almost 500 student bedsits. Planning permission was granted in May.

Buyers who want a new home and want it now have a limited choice, particularly within Canterbury’s city walls where building space is scarce.

The most interesting of the current crop of small-scale schemes, largely thanks to its fabulous location, is Sunbury Mews, a dozen new-build houses no more than five minutes’ walk from Canterbury West station. A three-bedroom house is currently available with Humberts, with a guide price of £525,000.

Upsides: Canterbury is stunning and the streets along The King’s Mile, within the city walls, have an excellent collection of mostly independent shops, cafés and restaurants.

The High Street adds all the chains you’ll ever want into the mix. Canterbury is also good on culture, with the newish Marlowe Theatre plus the Gulbenkian arts centre’s theatre, cinema and bar.

Open space is plentiful. Blean Woods National Nature Reserve is a lovely spot for a stroll, the Kent Downs are just to the south, and you can also hire a punt and tour the city by river.

Canterbury is an easy staging post for day trips to the Kent coast and longer outings to Paris via Ashford and the Eurostar. This city really draws families. It is small but the centre has everything and you can walk everywhere.

Downsides: as a university city, with three campuses in and around it, Canterbury has its fair share of badly behaved students. In terms of property, while there are lots of two-bedroom flats for about £200,000, most are in bog standard boxy blocks; there is a sad lack of contemporary architectural pizzazz in this heritage city. Oddly, it is hard to find a home with a family-size garden and parking in the centre. And while the suburbs are full of family homes, public transport is extremely limited.

Schools: it is hard to overestimate the impact Kent’s grammar schools have on London buyers keen for a good education for their children. The choice of primary schools is strong. St Thomas’ Catholic Primary School and Sturry Church of England Primary School are rated “outstanding” by Ofsted, and there are no sink schools to avoid.

For older pupils who pass the 11-plus, Barton Court Grammar School and Simon Langton Grammar School for Boys get top marks from the schools watchdog. Simon Langton Girls’ manages a “good” report. There are several non-selective secondary schools with good reputations and Ofsted reports.