It’s near impossible to pronounce, but this village is one of the best places to live in the UK
Name rooted in French proves tricky for non-locals
FrankLin
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An English village has been voted one of the best places to live in the UK – despite its name being notoriously hard to pronounce.
The village of Beaulieu (pronounced bew-ley), in the New Forest, was namechecked in The Telegraph’s list of “54 poshest UK villages” for 2023.
The paper noted that the average house price in the Hampshire village was £1,524,287, as well as praising its “16th-century high street” and “artisan shops”.
The name Beaulieu is French in origin, and translates roughly as “lovely place”.
The Telegraph list is compiled with property company Savills, and remarks: “It is chocolate-box pretty with a period high street boasting artisan stores, while being on the doorstep of both the New Forest and Buckler’s Hard.
“The sailing hub of Lymington is 15 minutes away and there is a wide choice of schools, both state and private.”
The list took into account history and heritage, architecture, quality of shops, restaurants and bars, and house prices in the area.
Other villages that made the list included Studham, Bedfordshire; Sunningdale, Berkshire; and Kirkby Overblow in North Yorkshire.
Beaulieu was the most expensive in terms of average house price, with Little Gaddesden, Hertfordshire, close behind at £1,333,501.
The village with the cheapest average house price was Dinnington, Tyne & Wear, at £210,671.
Similarly affordable were Newgale and Roch, Pembrokeshire, at £219,555; Haigh, Greater Manchester, at £257,020; Llanarmon-yn-Iâl in Wales, at £290,118; Hightown, Merseyside at £299,304; and Warkworth, Northumberland at £289,459.
Most villages listed had average house prices over or just under £1m.
In June, a Welsh restaurant was named the best in the UK, the first time in 16 years that a restaurant outside of England had taken the top spot.
Ynyshir, the traditional country house-hotel overseen by chef-patron Gareth Ward on the west coast of Wales, was described as “uncompromisingly edgy” in an Instagram post from the awards this morning.
Also last summer, Edinburgh was named the best city break out of 53 cities worldwide.
