David Faers buys in to the semi-rural appeal of Kings Norton's farmers markets, its leafy spaces and rich heritage.
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There are very few parts of Birmingham that can lay legitimate claim to having a village feel, but Kings Norton is one of them.
The clincher for most newcomers is The Green, a leafy enclave that has been the heart of activity in this manorland since medieval times.
Physical evidence of the area's heritage is there for all to see in the form of the 13th century St Nicholas Church and the black and white timber-framed buildings.
The best-known are the Saracen's Head - Queen Henrietta Maria, wife of the ill-fated Charles I, stayed here on her way back from gathering troops for the Royalist cause in 1643 - and the Old Grammar School, described by The Friends of Historic Kings Norton as "a wonderful-looking timber-framed" landmark that had fallen into decay by the advent of the millennium and was on the English Heritage at-risk register.
With the parish lacking the huge sums needed to put right decades of decay and vandalism, the future for these beautiful buildings was once bleak.
But that all changed when the pair of buildings - both owned by Kings Norton Parochial Church Council and used for a mixture of community purposes - won the BBC2 Restoration 2004 competition.
Expert surveyors, archaeologists and builders set to work and by January this year Canon Rob Morris was posing for Birmingham Post photographer Loretta Brennan in the newly-restored Old Grammar School building with a broad smile that said it all.
His words hint at the strong sense of community that exists in Kings Norton as well as spell out the importance of winning the competition and the transformation for both buildings - the Saracen's Head acts as a base for a fitness league, pre-school play-group, parent and toddler group and senior club as well as The Saracens Theatre Company.
"Words are simply not enough to convey the depth of our gratitude to all who supported the Kings Norton bid in BBC2 Restoration 2004. Whatever happened in the programme - win or lose - we have been given another even more wonderful gift - the restoration of hope in what communities can do together with trust, commitment, laughter and hours of hours of hard graft."
He's almost as pleased, one suspects, with the runaway success of what has become another Kings Norton institution, the farmers market.
Listed by The Independent as one of the nation's 50 best markets, voted West Midlands Farmers Market of the Year for the second year running by its national association and with Certified Farmers Market status, it is a firmly established as a place to meet and mingle as well as to buy everything from fresh produce to garden plants.
It's hard to believe that the organisers have achieved so much in so little time, although their half-serious reference to being founded in 1616 and re-established in 2005 acknowledges a much longer history of market-going in Kings Norton.
"Last June saw us celebrate our second birthday - or 391st if you start from the patent that dates from the time of James I and grants the right to hold a market in Kings Norton," says the website editor, while listing the market's recent successes. "We think it makes a statement - not unlike our commitment as a Community Interest Company - that the market should be for the benefit of the inhabitants of Kings Norton."
None of the regulars mooching around the stalls at the last market would argue with that and, judging by the size of the turnout in this almost rural setting, most of them will have scribbled a note in their diary or Blackberry to make sure they don't miss the next one on Saturday, April 12.
The first punters tend to turn up well before the official opening time of 9am and you can still find plenty of people milling about when it closes at 2pm.
Anyone thinking of buying a home would be a fool to miss it and, when they have finished browsing around the stalls and shop windows around The Green, would be well advised to stretch their legs a little more with a stroll around nearby Kings Norton Park and, if they have the time, to take a peek at Merecroft Pool.
Depending on the day and time, they might come across a band of enthusiastic volunteers from the Friends of Kings Norton Nature Reserve, who regularly give up chunks of their free time to plant trees and bulbs, clear reedbeds and brambles or attend to dead hedges.
If you want to get a further feel for the place and its history, then it's worth taking a longer stroll along one of the towpaths that thread their way through this old part of the city.
Around a third of Kings Norton's listed buildings are canal-related and one of the most impressive is the grade two Canal House - also known as the Junction House because it stands at the junction of the Stratford upon Avon Canal and Worcester and Birmingham Canal.
Follow the towpath up onto the roving bridge - so called because this is where a horse could cross the canal from one side to another while still drawing a barge - and you can get a clear view of what would have been a 19th century equivalent of Spaghetti Junction.
Up to the early part of the last century, this would have been a busy commercial waterway with narrowboats carrying their raw materials and other goods in and out of Birmingham. Leisure boats still pass to and fro and, to do so, they may have to negotiate what is thought to be the only guillotine-gated stop lock on an English canal.
Talk to someone who knows about these things and you find out that, once upon a time, there was a six-inch difference in water levels, with the Stratford canal normally the higher, and the lock enabled boats to pass from one to another. The last recorded use was in 1959 and the winding gear is still there but the rusting gates are now permanently raised so that boats can go underneath without stopping.
Such is the pulling power of the waterways that many homes backing on to the canals have their own narrowboats and other craft moored at the bottom of the garden.
It was the construction of the canals and railway in the 19th century that transformed what was once a truly rural area on the edge of the city itself and it was in the Lifford part of Kings Norton, where the canals meet, that most of the Victorian factories sprang up. A paper mill and chemical works were among the earliest, although this industrial area has undergone extensive rebuilding and is now known as Kings Norton Business Centre.
The railway station - built close to the industrial area - is still there and is now a busy commuter stop on the cross-city line, Redditch to Lichfield.
Its presence helps to buoy local property prices in an age where commuting by car is becoming ever-more stressful and expensive, and there is a good mix of houses in streets like Woodland Park Road that are firmly in the catchment area for the popular girls and boys secondary schools.
The mix is thanks in part to the area's long evolution on the edge of the city, where suburbia still rubs shoulders with the green fringes.
Some addresses stand out as being particularly well respected, among them Beaks Hill and Meadow Hill Road, also with a good choice of house types from the early 20th century onwards.
One might easily spend £500,000-plus on the best of the local domestic architecture but respectable footholds can be had for much less even in one of these admired roads.
The biggest draw here for the bigger spenders might be those properties which back on to the nature reserve, many of them with good large gardens.
Incoming buyers may notice that Kings Norton is also going places, with much smart new build taking the place of some tired residential areas dating from the mid 20th century.
But there are advantages for smaller spenders in these parts, where a sizeable home of unimpressive 60s design might be had for less than the price of a tiny city flat.
Julia Cruikshank, of Dixons Countrywide in Kings Heath, reports that a large, three-bedroom semi was recently sold for £100,000 and a two-bedroom home with good garden for just £75,000.
Further up the price bands, it is also worth watching out for recent reductions, a typical scenario in a quieter marketplace where serious sellers will respond to the mood.
A smart, nearly-new three-bedroom house finished to an extremely high standard may be had for just over £300,000 - and something with even more family space, including good gardens, for just under £350,000.
Heading south, towards the quieter rural fringes and some top villages including Cofton Hackett and Barnt Green, the sky is the limit for the right spot.
Visit birmingham.gov.uk to find out more about Kings Norton and its schools. Also try ofsted.gov.uk and dfes.gov.uk Other useful websites: historickingsnorton.org.uk kingsnortonfarmersmarket.org.uk fknnr.org.uk
