Award-winning lifestyle platform Muddy Stilettos have just finalised their list of Best Places to Live for 2024, highlighting England’s most beautiful villages, towns and cities in various counties. And while it was the cutesy village of Castle Cary in Somerset that came out on top overall, repping Berkshire in the rankings is the lovely village of Sonning – a spot that even a few famous faces choose to call home.
It wouldn’t take you long to notice that Sonning is destined for a chocolate box. In fact, English writer and humorist Jerome K. Jerome described the village as “the most fairy-like little nook on the whole river” in his comic travelogue, Three Men in a Boat.
Why move to Sonning?
Obvious pros include its picture-perfectness, which would grant you endless bragging rights, as well as its close proximity to the Big City. With just a short drive to Twyford, you can catch a train into London in less than an hour (just 30 minutes if you time it right). A relatively painless commute, all things considered. However, the property prices might have you thinking twice about relocating. Most listings on Rightmove right now are over a million pounds, which could explain why the likes of George Clooney, Jimmy Page and Theresa May are the ones settling down in this riverside village rather than I.
More pros include: a cosy local pub, which also features in Three Men in a Boat as the “veritable picture of an old country inn”; the Instagram-famous Coppa Club, known for its dine-in igloos; and The French Horn hotel and restaurant, which has occupied the same spot for centuries serving up the finest French cuisine. There’s also The Mill at Sonning, a boutique theatre where tickets include a two-course meal at the venue’s restaurant – apparently the Clooneys and Brian Blessed are regulars in the audience.
Community is tight in Sonning, which is best demonstrated in their annual river and village clean ups, and the flamboyant Sonning Festival which takes place along the river every other year.
So there you go, even if a move is off the cards, it may well be worth a day trip from the city.