I visited the Warwickshire Cotswolds town people say is being 'invaded' by Londoners

Is South Warwickshire being invaded by Londoners? A week ago, the Financial Times wrote about the growing popularity of the postcode CV35 - the so-called “unfashionable” part of the Cotswolds and painted it as this undiscovered but beautiful part of the Cotswolds. They’re right as beside the Cotswolds sections of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire, Warwickshire has gone somewhat under the radar.

The first thing to recognise is that “fashionable” is a very subjective term. What makes an area fashionable? Who is that fashion defined by?

READ MORE: I went to the Cotswolds' best-kept secret and it's right here in Warwickshire

Is it fashionable based on how London defines it? Does “unfashionable” mean that an area is worse by its own lack of merit or that it has just eluded the attention of those we as a society call fashionable?

I decided the question for the people of Shipston-on-Stour should be this - “how many Londoners have you seen moving up here?” After all, I do know that London has fashionable postcodes that usually align with either how wealthy or counter-cultural (or both) the residents may be.

Thus, it stands to reason that if someone from a fashionable postcode in the capital moves to CV36, then that fashionable factor follows? Without jumping further down that rabbit hole, it required a trip there.

The preconceived notions of what “fashionable” Cotswold towns and villages were clear in my head. Villages filled with mostly empty holiday homes and coach loads of tourists buying twee knick-knacks from independent shops with price tags that would make an oil sheikh’s eyes water. In essence, a sort of Disneyfied facsimile of English country life, perfectly presented on a platter for cashed-up city-dwellers to gobble up.

Less favourable preconceptions were of the infamous Chipping Norton set, who came to prominence around the News International phone hacking scandal of the early 2010’s. Daily Telegraph columnist Cristina Odone described Chipping Norton as “a state of mind”, while her colleague Peter Oborne described them as “an incestuous collection of louche, affluent, power-hungry and amoral Londoners.”

Either way, the mayor of Chipping Norton conceded at the time of the scandal that “we would prefer to be put on the map for more positive things.” As I approached the residents of CV36, there was a protectiveness that was acutely aware of what the area could become.

The first gentleman I approached didn’t live in the town but came regularly from Banbury. He praised the town’s independent shops and let me know that at one time, the town had 29 pubs.

Others I asked had said the community had remained very oriented around the local people and that they hadn’t noticed any onslaught of newcomers. However, Sheldon Bosley Knight estate agent sales manager Amy Nicholson said there’d been an increase in interest.

“It’s not so much in Shipston but more the surrounding villages. Places like Ilmington, Alderminster, Blackwell, etc.

“It probably started around the covid lockdown with people looking at properties out here and exploring the area. A lot of them are looking at the larger, older, and quirkier houses but a lot also just want that feeling of a small, tight knit community.”

Nicholson’s assessment was that the influx wasn’t enough to significantly change the character of the area. “When people come to Shipston, they always talk about how many independent shops and businesses there are. People are very protective of the town - they wouldn’t want it to change.”

Nicholson said that the village of Ilmington had seen particular interest in the property market and so that warranted a three mile drive down the road to one of the prettiest Cotswolds villages that no one knows about.

It is just inside the Cotswolds AONB. The stone marking the boundary sits at the northern edge of the village.

And as I drove through the town, two things struck me. First was that a church cottage had just recently sold, with several other for sale signs dotted about.

The other was that this was a wealthy village. The houses were immaculately maintained and the pub car park contained an Aston Martin and a very expensive Jaguar.

One resident of the village in the pub said the village, while beautiful, was a lived in community. He starkly said “we don’t want to become a ghost town.”

At the volunteer-run village shop, manager Michelle said they hadn’t noticed many newcomers flooding the village. “We don’t have a lot of houses for sale here and often, people who buy houses here have some connection to the village - they know about it already.

“I think because we’re on the edge of the Cotswolds, we get overlooked. People prefer to be deep into the Cotswolds in Stow-on-the-Wold, Chipping Campden, Bourton-on-the-Water.

“We’re very lucky that we are quite a residential community. There are some holiday homes but not many - most people live here full time.”

The most notable exception to the rule in Ilmington is Foxcote Hall - owned by clothing retail magnate Les Wexner, who is best known for the Victoria’s Secret brand. Wexner was described as both very private but very well-liked in the local area.

The truth is that South Warwickshire is not being invaded by Londoners, though some are certainly curious about the area. There is certainly curiosity but nothing that would see Shipston-on-Stour become the next stomping ground for affluent Londoners to cosplay as lord of the manor.

And in essence, this story has been trying to grasp the intangible. South Warwickshire is just the Cotswolds without the crowds, the manic prices, the scandalous social circles, and is much more centred around the locals. If that makes these communities unfashionable, count me in.