With its picture postcard scenery and historic houses, the Warwickshire village of Tanworth-in-Arden is a desirable location to set up home, writes Sarah Probert.
It is the perfect English village scene - chocolate box Georgian houses, imposing church and friendly country pub surrounding a perfectly clipped village green.
Few villages still have a heart, a green where people can congregate and watch the world go by, but Tanworth-in-Arden's centre gives it great charm and kerb appeal.
This heart has remained virtually unchanged for a few hundred years, with many early photographs showing similar images of the church and pub, places which have been at the core of this community for centuries.
Some shops may have come and gone, an old garage closed a few years ago to make way for new housing, and the traffic is always something for people to complain about, but if you live in Tanworth, you can guarantee you are in one of the most desirable villages in the Midlands.
Of course, this desirability comes at a price, with the average semi fetching well over £300,000.
The influx of commuters, which may have caused a slight stir with some of the stalwart locals, has no doubt led to an expansion of the village, with modern housing dominating the outskirts, but residents can still find ample character properties in the centre and cluttering the rural lanes nearby.
The beauty of the village, besides its appearance, is the surrounding countryside, offering wonderful walks and three lakes at Earlswood, suitable for fishing and sailing.
You are more likely to hear the sound of horses hooves and tractors than rush-hour traffic here, making it a perfect haven - an escape from bustling cities and towns which surround it.
A peek inside the parish magazine also shows that the community is very active here, with the village hall housing myriad groups from a 40-year-old pantomime organisation to the WI, as well as a gardening club and the Tanworth Singers.
It was this community spirit which first attracted Ashley Bent to the area a few years ago. As pub landlord of The Bell, in the centre of the village, he was keen to get involved with life in Tanworth.
So when the shop and post office closed, he took it upon himself to re-open the facility inside the pub. There was an uproar that the shop was going and he feared elderly residents reliant on public transport would be left stranded as the infrequent bus service would not be able to ferry them to amenities in nearby towns.
The post office is continuing to thrive today, in a purpose-built facility at the end of the bar, although Ashley fears the Government may axe the facility in its forthcoming round of cuts in rural services.
The shop has also failed to generate enough custom since it first opened, despite offering delicious local cheeses and meats, as well as quality ready meals.
"We are closing the deli but hoping to retain the post office and have a very small shop, reducing about half of it and creating a bigger bar to meet the demand for locals wanting to have a drink at the weekends," says Ashley. "We are hoping to keep the post office open but we are waiting for a decision from the Government on that.
"We can't keep the post office open without the grant we get, but we want to offer something on a small scale, even if it is from just behind the bar."
When Ashley first took over The Bell, a complete refurbishment which turned it from a farmers' drinking hole to an upmarket gastro pub wasn't to every local's taste, but it is now attracting huge crowds.
It has become a meeting point for locals and is bustling at weekends with both residents and tourists who flock to enjoy the country surroundings.
"It is a quiet and sleepy village. The people who live here are great characters and lovely people. It is a very pleasant place to live, particularly for the older people because there is quite a bit going on with the church and various societies," Ashley explains.
"It is a proper village, albeit quite upmarket. The post office makes a difference and now we have created a hotel here a lot of villagers use us for events, putting people up at weekends. Part of village life is the pub, post office and church.
"If I hadn't taken this pub on five or six years ago a lot of people say it probably would have been closed altogether and it has become the hub of the community."
The Bell does not only keep the locals topped up with refreshments, but is also a meeting place for the village book club, the PTA and a Sunday school.
It is also popular with pilgrims who flock to Tanworth once a year to pay tribute to former resident Nick Drake.
Nick, who is considered to be one of the most influential English singer-songwriters of the last 50 years, died of an overdose in 1974 and is buried in the church graveyard.
The singer was known for his acoustic songs and, although he failed to attract a wide audience during his lifetime, his work has grown in stature since his death.
