The Sunday Times Best Places to Live 2023: Village of Bourn makes list of most desirable areas in the UK

The Sunday Times has revealed its Best Places to Live for 2023 - and Bourn, in Cambridgeshire, has made it onto the list
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The Cambridgeshire village Bourn has been named as one of the UK’s Best Places to Live 2023 by The Times.

Bourn, with its “neat cottages, excellent schools, fine dining, rewilding meadow and babbling brook”, made the newspaper’s annual list of 72 of the best places to live, alongside six other areas in the Eastern region.

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“Bourn is a great place to live. It feels rural but Cambridge is on the doorstep,” Mark Proud, 48, from Bourn, told The Times. Mark’s family run Manor Farm, and have lived in Bourn since 1945.

The Sunday Times has revealed its Best Places to Live for 2023 - and Bourn, in Cambridgeshire, has made it onto the listThe Sunday Times has revealed its Best Places to Live for 2023 - and Bourn, in Cambridgeshire, has made it onto the list
The Sunday Times has revealed its Best Places to Live for 2023 - and Bourn, in Cambridgeshire, has made it onto the list

"Although we have lots of amenities for a small place, the best thing is the community.

"Everyone really looks out for each other. We feel spoilt living here.”

Saffron Walden, in Essex, claimed top spot in the East, alongside entries from Norfolk and Suffolk. Bourn was the only place in Cambridgeshire to make the list.

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Bourn was credited for its sporting amenities, boasting tennis, football and cricket clubs, and The Cambridge Country Club, which has an 18-hole golf course.

On the back of a multi-million-pound renovation, the country club now also offers a clubhouse with a wellness centre, gym and spa.

The Wysing Arts Centre presents opportunities for artist, with recording studios, a gallery and by hosting workshops and events.

Outdoor activities centre Wildly Curious fuels children’s sense of adventure, who are said to “love” the bushcraft activities and archery on offer, and the Merribourn club caters for the older residents, with quizzes and a gardening group.

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The Times added that “foodies have plenty of choice”, from “tasty daytime fare” at The Stove, the Willow Tree gastropub with “a beautiful garden”, and the “award-winning” Lalbagh Bangladeshi Indian restaurant.

In terms of places to live, Bourn presents opportunities to live in period cottages, former farmhouses, barn conversions and new-builds, with “prices ranging from £400,000 to £4 million”.

Plans to build a further 3,500 homes at Bourn airfield have also been approved.

According to Halifax, using Land Registry data, the average property price in Bourn is £698,300.