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Fowey in Cornwall is the UK’s fastest rising picture postcard town, according to new Alto data. Average property values in Fowey rose 67% in ten years, from £350,000 in 2016 to £585,000 in 2026. Hathersage in the Peak District (up 63%) and Weobley in Herefordshire (up 57%) came second and third. |
Picture postcard places have a habit of holding their value.
Alto looked at ten years of sales data for a shortlist of the UK’s prettiest villages and towns, then ranked them by how much average property values have risen since 2016. Every location in the top ten grew by at least 40%.
The top ten fastest rising picture postcard villages and towns
| Rank | Location | County | Average value 2016 | Average value 2026 | Rise (%) | Rise (£) |
| 1 | Fowey | Cornwall | £350,000 | £585,000 | 67% | £235,000 |
| 2 | Hathersage | Derbyshire | £367,000 | £596,000 | 63% | £229,000 |
| 3 | Weobley | Herefordshire | £238,000 | £373,000 | 57% | £135,000 |
| 4 | Chiddingstone | Kent | £408,000 | £637,000 | 56% | £229,000 |
| 5 | Lacock | Wiltshire | £249,000 | £386,500 | 55% | £137,500 |
| 6 | Alrewas | Staffordshire | £357,000 | £548,000 | 54% | £191,000 |
| 7 | Clun | Shropshire | £261,000 | £400,000 | 53% | £139,000 |
| 8 | Painswick | Gloucestershire | £387,000 | £584,000 | 51% | £197,000 |
| 9 | Appledore | Devon | £247,000 | £369,000 | 49% | £122,000 |
| 10 | Montgomery | Powys | £214,000 | £298,000 | 40% | £84,000 |
Source: Alto sales data, 2016 and 2026. See “How we worked this out” below.
Why Fowey tops the list
Fowey is an historic port town on the south coast of Cornwall. It’s known for its Georgian townhouses, quayside cottages and a waterfront where buildings are stacked in tiers up the hillside.
Average property values in Fowey have risen by £235,000 since 2016, the biggest cash rise in the top ten, taking the average from £350,000 to £585,000.
The town has plenty of famous fans. Comedian Dawn French lived there for 15 years, in a Grade II listed mansion overlooking the Fowey estuary, and the BBC series Beyond Paradise, starring Kris Marshall and Sally Bretton, is filmed there.
Hathersage and Weobley: Two film locations in the top three
Hathersage in the Peak District came second, with average values up 63%, from £367,000 to £596,000. Buyers get the Peak District on the doorstep and can still commute to Sheffield or Manchester. It’s a popular film location too. Pride and Prejudice, starring Keira Knightley, was filmed there.
Weobley in Herefordshire came third, up 57% from £238,000 to £373,000. The village has a rich medieval heritage and doubled as Stratford-upon-Avon in the Oscar-winning film Hamnet.
What stands out in the rest of the top ten
- Chiddingstone is the most expensive. The Kent village has an average value of £637,000, up 56% since 2016.
- Montgomery is the most affordable. At £298,000 on average, the Powys town is the only Welsh entry, and it’s still up 40% in ten years.
- The South West dominates. Four of the ten are in the South West: Fowey, Lacock, Painswick and Appledore.
- Five places now average over £500,000. Chiddingstone, Hathersage, Fowey, Painswick and Alrewas.
- The West Midlands is quietly strong. Weobley, Alrewas and Clun all made the top seven.
Why the UK’s prettiest villages keep rising in value
Picture postcard locations haven’t escaped the wider market, but they’ve kept growing over the long term because people keep wanting to live there.
Alto CEO Riccardo Iannucci-Dawson said: “Even in a depressed property market you will find bubbles which outperform other areas because they are beautiful places to live and defy the general downturn. Fowey is one such place and all ten picture postcard locations on the list benefit from the wow factor which makes them more desirable places to live than neighbouring areas.”
What this means for estate agents
National headlines about a slow market don’t tell a seller in Fowey or Hathersage much about what their home is worth, or how to price and market it. Ten years of local sales data does. It’s the same data behind our Speed of Sale Index and our look at which property types are selling fastest.
He added: “Alto allows agents to analyse long-term sales and rental data, going back decades, to market homes most effectively and extract the maximum value out of each new listing. We have access to sales data right across the UK from thousands of agents and can quickly highlight trends and local hot spots which may require a different sales strategy.”
If you’re an agent and want to see what Alto can show you about your own patch, we’ll walk you through it.
How we worked this out
- Data: Sales recorded through Alto in 2016 and 2026. Because it covers Alto sales only, it may not include every sale in each area.
- Shortlist: Alto started with a shortlist of picturesque villages and towns, pulled sales for the postcode areas covering them, then narrowed those down to properties in each village itself.
- Outliers: Where a village had at least 10 sales of a property type, unusually high or low prices were taken out so they didn’t skew the average.
- Sample sizes: Some villages are small, so treat the figures as a guide rather than a precise valuation.
FAQs
Which picture postcard town has seen the biggest rise in house prices?
Fowey in Cornwall has seen the biggest rise of the UK’s picture postcard villages and towns, according to Alto data. Average property values in Fowey rose 67% between 2016 and 2026, from £350,000 to £585,000.
How much is the average house in Fowey?
The average property value in Fowey is £585,000, according to Alto data for 2026. That’s £235,000 more than in 2016.
How much have house prices gone up in Hathersage?
House prices in Hathersage have risen 63% in ten years, according to Alto data, from an average of £367,000 in 2016 to £596,000 in 2026. It came second in Alto’s top ten fastest rising picture postcard villages and towns.
Which is the most expensive picture postcard village in the top ten?
Chiddingstone in Kent is the most expensive location in Alto’s top ten, with an average property value of £637,000 in 2026. Values there are up 56% since 2016.
Which is the most affordable picture postcard town in the top ten?
Montgomery in Powys is the most affordable location in Alto’s top ten, with an average property value of £298,000 in 2026. It’s also the only Welsh town on the list.
Is it worth buying a house in a picture postcard village?
Over the last ten years, average values in all ten of Alto’s fastest rising picture postcard villages and towns rose by at least 40%. Past growth doesn’t guarantee future rises, so speak to a local agent about the specific property.
Which part of the UK has the most fastest rising picture postcard villages?
The South West. Four of the places in Alto’s top ten are in the South West: Fowey, Lacock, Painswick and Appledore.
Where does this data come from?
The figures were compiled by Alto, which is connected to more than 6,000 estate agents across the UK. They’re based on sales recorded through Alto in 2016 and 2026.
About Alto
Alto is the UK’s number one cloud-based CRM (customer relationship management) software for estate and letting agents, built to handle sales, lettings, property management and client accounting on a single platform.
Around 35% of UK estate agents use the system, and users save an average of 10 hours per week on paperwork.
