The City quitters

THE rush to escape cities for a life in the country will protect rural property hot spots from a downturn, it is claimed today.

The 200,000 families said to be keen to 'downshift' this year are expected to keep up prices in villages with good links to major urban centres.

At the same time, the drive by the Government and major companies to shift workers out of the South East to the regions will also have an impact.

The analysis from Country Life magazine also identifies a number of regions proving extremely popular for their fresh air, space for children to play, leafy views and sense of community.

They include the South West, seen as attractive for both elderly retiring couples and young families keen to escape the urban sprawl.

Four of the UK's ten fastest growing cities are here: Exeter, Bath, Plymouth and Wells.

Major organisations such as the Met Office have moved to the region, helping to trigger a flood of new arrivals and fuelling house prices.

The trend has even inspired the BBC drama series Down to Earth, which has just returned to screens.

Penny Churchill, the magazine's property correspondent, said: 'Compared to other UK hot spots, the West Country is positively incandescent.'

Villages around Exeter, together with the estuary towns of the South Hams and the Dart, have seen sharp price rises in the last four years.

In the Midlands, Country Life suggests the area around Shipston- on-Stour, south Warwickshire, will do well as it borders the scenic but more expensive Cotswolds.

It believes that Londoners who have previously headed for Bath, Oxford and Winchester are now looking even further west to Cheltenham. In the North West, the magazine points to the decision by the BBC to shift services to Manchester as likely to boost prices in the surrounding area.

It suggests the area west towards Wrexham is likely to benefit, as is the town of Whitchurch, on the border of Cheshire and Shropshire.

Meanwhile, prices will remain high in the 'prosperous and appealing' city of Chester.

In the North East, the magazine suggests the regeneration of Newcastle upon Tyne, where house prices have doubled since 1999, will continue to drive up rural property values.

It predicts that villages around Alnwick in Northumberland will continue to thrive, while there could be booms in Whittingham, Rothbury and Wooler. Improved communications have pushed back the boundaries of the Leeds-York commuter belt, which embraces villages to the north of Harrogate and around Ripon.

In Kent, the new high-speed rail link between Ashford and St Pancras will open up large parts of the county to London commuters, triggering a rush to surrounding villages.

Construction of a Bexhill-Hastings link road will improve the ability to commute between the towns of Sussex, including Brighton, as well as to London.

But in East Anglia, Miss Churchill said, plans to build 478,000 homes along the M11 corridor will 'seriously affect' the future of towns and villages from London to Peterborough.

She added that the planned expansion of Stansted airport in Essex will hit nearby rural home values.

However, she added: 'Rural areas of Suffolk, Norfolk and Cambridgeshire away from the M11 and A14 corridors are likely to benefit.'