Hidden deep in the Worcestershire countryside, Pershore is a Georgian market town that keeps being named as one of the best places to live in the entire country. Last year, it beat the likes of Solihull, Sutton Coldfield and Birmingham in a survey listing the best areas to settle down in.
Meanwhile lifestyle website Muddy Stilettos recently compiled its annual list of the top places to call home in 2023 and Pershore made the cut alongside several other spots in the region. They were chosen for a variety of reasons, including having highly-rated restaurants, beautiful green spaces, independent shops, popular festivals or stunning real estate.
Muddy Stilettos says it uses insider knowledge of places outside of London to help potential buyers decide where they'd like to live. With that in mind, here's a look at why Pershore made the site's top 250 places to live guide for 2023 - and why it's so highly regarded in general.
READ MORE: Five of the best villages in and around Birmingham to move to in 2023
What Muddy Stilettos said
The lifestyle website says Pershore is a 'homely, rural idyll of a town that’s heavy on rural-with-benefits charm'. It continued: "Officially a market town but locals prefer to call it a ‘village’ which gives you a clue to its friendliness.
"Pershore is famed for its elegant Georgian architecture, magnificent Abbey and the charming River Avon flowing parallel to the High Street. A quaint, country-chic bolthole, it often scores highly on quality of life surveys.
"No sprawling suburbs here, just charming streetscapes of Georgian and half-timbered buildings snaking out to rolling countryside and the Vale of Evesham. You get a real butcher, baker and candlestick-maker vibe on the main street and there is very low crime rate.
"With the Malvern Hills to the west and River Avon to the east you’re also on-point for dipping in and out of the Cotswolds at a whim (Broadway is just 20 minutes away)."
Green spaces
Pershore is highly regarded partly thanks to its greenness, with the town boasting several open spaces and recreational grounds. These include King George's Field, which is popular for a picnic or to play a casual game of football.
There's also Avon Meadows, just five minutes from the town centre, which is a riverside Local Nature Reserve and has numerous footpaths and a boardwalk running through the middle of the wetland. Close to the High Street there's St Andrews Gardens, a lovely place to sit and watch the world go by.
Also worth remembering are the beautiful Malvern Hills, which are just a short drive away from the town.
Pershore Abbey
Dating back 1,300 years, Pershore Abbey is one of the finest examples of Norman and early English architecture in the country. It also has a fascinating history: King Henry VIII destroyed the nave at the time of the dissolution of the monasteries and part of it (the north transept) collapsed in the middle 1600s.
Despite these setbacks the abbey survives and is open to visitors every day, free of charge.
Places to eat
Muddy Stilettos recommends the gastro-pub fare at The Pickled Plum as well as the food at quirky, retro cafe Sugar 'n' Spice. Then there's Jimmy Pickles, which is rated highly for its great Indian Fusion dining.
When it comes to food, it's worth mentioning that Pershore is renowned the world over for its plums. The Pershore Plum was the mainstay of the English plum industry from the mid 19th Century until the early 20th Century.
Its best known export was and still is the Yellow Egg Plum, so called because of its yellow colour and distinctive egg-like oval shape.
House prices
Like other market towns in the region, Pershore had a wide range of houses, suitable for all budgets. According to Rightmove, properties in the town had an overall average price of £292,239 over the last year.
The majority of sales in Pershore during the last year were semi-detached properties, selling for an average price of £266,503. Detached properties meanwhile sold for an average of £411,800, with terraced properties fetching £232,375.
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