City Houses in Oxford
Oxford, the city of dreaming spires, has so much to offer. It has not only stunning architecture and the romantic Oxford colleges, but excellent schools, beautiful parks, world renowned medical facilities, exciting shopping, theatres and excellent dining. The surrounding countryside is easily accessible and the commute to London is under an hour. Oxford is full of fantastic residential areas to live, with Park Town, Summertown, Jericho, Headington, Iffley and Marston being highly sought after. Areas such as Littleworth, Holton, New Headington, Headington Quarry and Temple Cowley are also upcoming areas.
In terms of house prices as a multiple of average earnings, Oxford is one of the most expensive cities in England. That said, houses are widely made available and can be acquired with the right persistence. Properties in popular areas do not stay long on the market and require an intelligent strategy to compete against other motivated buyers.
Village and Town Houses in Oxfordshire and the Cotswolds
Oxfordshire hosts some of the most quintessentially English villages in England. Situated within its rolling hills and grassland there are over fifty distinct villages, predominantly built with the local honey limestone.
Although each village is unique, they usually contain endearing features such as an old country church, a pub, a village green and often a river. Almost all of Oxfordshire villages are filled with distinctive character homes, from the limestone thatched cottages in the rural villages to the Edwardian and Victorian homes of larger towns.
Some of the most sought-after villages or towns in Oxfordshire include Burford, Great Tew, Henley-on-Thames, Watlington, Thame, Woodstock, Chipping Norton, Kingham, Chinnor, Churchill, Wallingford and Bampton.
Village/Town houses often become available on the open market but the prettiest ones are hotly contested and working with a buying agent will vastly improve your odds in acquiring one.
Farmhouses in Oxfordshire and the Cotswolds
Farmhouses in Oxfordshire are often set in bucolic valleys, surrounded by pastures that are themselves divided by ancient dry-stone walls and hawthorn hedges.
The architectural informality of English farmhouses frequently involve chunky wooden beams, flagged stone floors, leaded windows and generous kitchens, usually completed with an Aga stove. The meandering layout of farmhouses is due to their evolution over time, so often they are connected to one or more barns and sometimes are built in a semi circle to form a courtyard. Other times, the farm buildings are set further from the main residence.
Oxfordshire farmhouses are highly sought-after. They are often sold with a large portion of land attached to them but this additional acreage can be easily sold off if not required. Due to their scarcity, farmhouses in Oxfordshire, particularly Georgian ones, are very hard to purchase without the help of a professional buying agent.
Manor Houses in Oxfordshire and the Cotswolds
In England, a manor house was historically the main residence of a feudal lord. The term manor or manor house is often used to mean simply either a country house or a more modern replica, without any specific reference to age.
English manor houses date from the late medieval era until their mid nineteenth century peak. At their height, there were almost five thousand manors but now only around three thousand remain. In Oxfordshire, there only exists around two hundred and fifty manor houses.
These types of properties seldom appear on the open property market as they often remain within the same family for generations. Consequently, they are almost impossible to acquire without a property buying agent.