Is this REALLY the perfect place to retire in Britain? Leafy market city lauded for with £700k houses and thriving excessive road… however what do residents suppose?

Nestled in the Chiltern countryside, the charming town of Amersham is filled with picture-postcard cottages, quaint coffee shops and high-end boutiques.

Takeaway chains are nowhere in sight and the streets feel far removed from the hustle and bustle of London – though a 45-minute train will take you straight into Marylebone.

So it comes as no surprise that the leafy market town has become an attractive hotspot for prospective homeowners of all ages.

But there is one demographic with which Amersham – where average house prices top £700,000 – has become particularly popular, and that is retirees.

Amersham, along with its neighbouring Chesham, has been dubbed Britain’s ‘best place to retire’ in research conducted by investment group Legal and General. 

While the town is ‘simply beautiful’ with its quintessentially English charm, the UK is packed with similar beauty spots which offer historic architecture paired with rolling countryside.

To find out what it is about Amersham specifically which draws in those of pension age, the Daily Mail visited its quaint Old Town.

The Old Town is home to the famous 13th century St Mary’s Church where One Direction star Liam Payne’s funeral was held last year, and also boasts the award-winning Old Amersham Memorial Gardens.

There is no question the town has risen in demand as Knight Frank data for the area of Amersham shows average house prices have risen from £566,339 in July 2021, to £646,722 in the year to July 2025.

Walking her dog Dizzy along the Old Town’s High Street, resident Jeanne Boyd, told of how Amersham is the ideal spot for those in retirement.

Ms Boyd, 78, told the Daily Mail: ‘I’ve lived here eight years and I am very happy living here.

‘I lived in the country in nearby Chipperfield before and it was beautiful but you had to get in the car to go anywhere.

‘But here we’ve got everything.’

She pointed ahead as she said: ‘Over there just behind the church is a GP, it’s not even a five-minute walk from my house, and right there is a hospital. It’s not got Accident and Emergency but it’s got everything else.

‘You can live here and get anywhere without a car.

‘And our GP practice has won awards, the town has won awards, the Memorial Garden was awarded the best garden this year.

‘On Sunday afternoons in the summer we have concerts in these gardens every week, and they are free. Sometimes they will have a small contribution for charities.

‘And you’ve got lovely coffee shops. There’s another little one opening up, it’s got seating outside and I’m excited to try it.

‘We even have a few celebs, Mary Berry used to live near here. The Strictly drag performer La Voix lives here in a great big mansion on a hill.

‘The station is right up here so you can get the Metropolitan line straight to London, and the bus services are really good.

‘And then five minutes away from Old Town you’ve got Marks and Spencer and Waitrose, so you don’t need to venture out.

‘There’s a real community feel here, so it’s a lovely place to live, and great for retirement.

‘The only problem I would mention is the property prices are quite high here, but it’s the fact it is so near London.’

The Legal and General research ranked the top 20 ‘retirement happiness hotspots’ in the UK, and named Amersham and Chesham in the top spot, followed by nearby Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, in second, and Dorking and Horley, Surrey, third.

According to estate agents Knight Frank, who have a branch just off Amersham’s Old Town High Street, the area is popular with the older demographic as well as young commuter families.

While according to Rightmove, average house prices sit at £706,641, the town holds a range of accommodation from small flats and cottages to large townhouses which run into the multi-millions.

Max Warby, Sales Associate at Knight Frank’s Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire office, said: ‘The retiree age group are gravitating towards the town. It’s got everything, high streets, coffee shops, independent stores and boutiques, and then also a lot in the way of leisure, clubs and more.

‘It is a town that has catered for all. It’s a lovely, vibrant place to be and there is a feeling that there is a strong sense of community with lots to get involved with.

‘The Chiltern Line takes you into Marylebone in 40 minutes, and the Metropolitan line takes you into London. So people can be out here to enjoy the quaint town but if they want to go into London for the theatre or for dinner there is a straightforward journey in.

‘And it’s very much a town of two halves. 

‘So you’ve got the new town, Amersham-on-the-Hill, where the underground station is, and it’s got a newer architectural feel and more chain shops as well as independents, while Old Town has leafy, picturesque streets with periodic architecture and has a quieter feel to it.

‘So you’ve got both, and wherever you are there is lots in walking distance.

‘Another big draw to Amersham while you’ve got the vibrancy, the architecture, the community, is that it is just a beautiful part of the country. It’s in the Chiltern countryside. So there are some lovely walks.

‘So while the town does not feel wildly different to a suburban London street, you’ve got all this great nature.

‘There’s a really big spread in prices. You can get small cottages or flats up to around the £500k mark, then some housing will be up to the £1million mark, and others will even go to the two, three, four, even five million mark if they are really special houses.’

According to Rightmove’s data over the past year, the majority of properties sold in the area were detached properties, selling for an average of £1,161,593.

Meanwhile, flats fetched an average of £347,050, while semi-detached properties sold for approximately £664,100.

Beside the high-end boutiques and multi-million pound townhouses lining the street were parked rows of cars including Porsches and Maseratis.

Amersham local Roger Howe, 82, was parking his Porsche on the high street as he visited the local sourdough bakery for some fresh bread.

Mr Howe, who is the landlord of the Red Lion Pub in Coleshill, a village nestled beside Amersham, said: ‘The majority of my customers during the week are retirees, for sure.

‘I’m 82 myself and I live here so I know what I’m talking about.

‘It’s a great place for retirement because people tend to be in very, very close contact with each other here. Everyone knows each other well.

‘I see mainly two age groups here, I see the older retirees that came to my pub for Remembrance Day coffee morning on Sunday, and then I also see the younger families with little kids going to the local school.

‘Amersham is a friendly place to be, it’s so easy to commute, and everything is in very close striking distance.

‘And it has a lovely atmosphere about it. There is no crime. 

‘I have never felt intimidated in the area. I had to take my chef to Aldenham the other day and it was not a safe place to be. It was not nice at all.

‘And that really makes you appreciate places like this.’

He added: ‘There’s lots for older people to do. There is pilates in the village hall, and Tuesday afternoons are Bridge afternoons. So there is a big community feel.

‘I’ve lived here for eight years. I used to run operations for Stringfellows, but I retired from it and wanted my own restaurant. 

‘So I searched for a place for a few years and found the closed down pub in Coleshill and opened it up.’

Standing by the oven swapping in sourdough loafs at Ourdough Bakery, ‘Kenny the Baker’, 45, said: ‘If I could afford it, I would move here right now. 

‘It’s the people. The people themselves, the community here, it sounds like a cliché but the community makes it, the community is amazing.

‘From day to day trading here for two years, I’m yet to have a bad customer.

‘No one comes by looking for a problem.

‘I live in Watford, so it’s quite different, but here even when I’m walking through the car park to here, 99 per cent of the people say “hello”.

‘Watford, the difference is immense. People seem tensed up even in the morning, but here people are happy.

‘It’s just lovely here.

‘I didn’t realise at first but there is no fast food, no McDonald’s in the village. They purposely keep it in a traditional way, I don’t think the council give permission for takeaways.

‘If they did, it would look like Wembley, where I lived before, full of rubbish.’

Asked about a fresh honey sign in the bakery, he said: ‘The lady who does the honey, her husband runs the Griffin next door. We have a members’ club there and we all know each other.

‘We opened the bakery first at the back around two years ago.

‘This store, I did this as a pop up and it took off straight away, so when it became available I got this location.’

While the high street seems fairly quiet, inside local favourite, Seasons cafe, tables are packed with elderly groups tucking into their lunch.

Lisa and Jake Dumbarton, 31 and 33, own the busy cafe with Lisa’s brother Sam Hollis-Race, 28.

While they live in Chesham, which they say has more affordable house prices, they run their cafe on Amersham’s Old Town High Street, and say their target market is those of the older demographic.

They said: ‘Chesham is really affordable. It’s nice and it’s on the train line but it’s affordable. And there is always something happening in the town centre, festivals, carnivals.

‘We’ve got a little kid so it’s great because there’s always something to do.

‘You’ve got lots of older people and then a lot of younger families. You see a lot of grandparents pushing their grandchildren around.

‘Amersham is lovely too but it is definitely more high-end.

‘Our target market at our cafe here is retirees and it’s the same people who come in every week. The retired people are the ones who are free during the week to visit.

‘Old Amersham appeals more to retirees than Top town, we would say.

‘There are a lot of old people who have lived here a long time, and they’ll be the ones that are here every day. 

‘Sometimes they come in just for a tea and it’s really nice because the first hour and a half of your day is having a catch up with them.

‘We have so many that queue outside in the morning, wait to come in and have conversations about what’s happening in the world, what’s happening in the old town.

‘There is a really nice community feel, everyone looks out for each other.

‘One regular hurt himself recently and we’ve all been over to check on him.

‘Retirees often need company and they want structure to their day to keep them going. 

‘They don’t want to stay in bed everyday, and Chesham and Amersham is great for that because there is always something to do.

‘It’s such a social place where everyone kind of knows each other. Even if you’ve lost your partner you still feel you are part of something because of the community.’

They added: ‘It’s nice to look at and so close to London, it’s only 45 minutes to Marylebone.

‘But then you’ve still got the countryside.

‘You’re far enough away to not feel swept up in the chaos of London, but still close.

‘It’s a little old town with the cobbles, wonky houses, listed buildings.

‘A lot of the buildings down here including this cafe are listed. So it’s really nice, it’s kept its character.

‘The buildings are slightly odd shaped, quirky, quaint, but I think that’s what people love about it.

‘It’s very rare for a high street to be buzzing these days. We haven’t got any convenience shops, that’s all in Top town, yet we get a lot of visitors and it’s busy.’

Opposite the road, at the Amersham Museum, Sally Alford, who lives in the town and is a patron at the Theatre Shed in neighbouring Chesham, was attending a local museum event.

She told the Daily Mail: ‘I can understand why retirees love it because there is a sense of community.

‘The play had children from local schools but also people from all through the community of all ages including older people.

‘There were no auditions, everybody just comes along and create a character by looking at the houses and history of this area.

‘I myself live in Amersham-on-the-Hill, and it’s a lovely walk from Top Amersham.

‘The architecture in the town is beautiful and it’s a warm, welcoming community.

‘I’m a Londoner myself and I moved here and I thought “not the countryside” but it’s amazing.

‘I moved here about 30 years ago because my late husband’s job moved out here.

‘I said I didn’t want to move to the countryside but I’m glad I did because it’s a great quality of life and it was a great place for my sons when growing up.

‘My house opens up to a park at the back of the garden, so my sons would play there.

‘There is a lot of nature and greenery and some great walks.

‘It’s a lovely, quaint town.

‘I sort of just ended up here but it’s been a fine place to have ended up.’

Further down the road, Linda Pacoa, 79, who works at Amersham in Bloom and helps maintain the award-winning Remembrance Gardens in the Old Town, said: ‘The gardens were awarded the Gold star champion this year.

‘I live just here, and it’s great. It’s near to Amersham hospital and local shops.

‘I’ve been here nearly all my life, 53 years or something like that.

‘I moved here from Portugal with my husband because he wanted to move. I got a job near here and we’ve been here ever since.

‘I love it. There are very nice walks around here.

‘I’ve been helping here at Amersham in Bloom for around 10 years now.’

Another local, aged 70, said: ‘I have lived in Chesham for 11 years, I often get the bus or drive down to Amersham for the nice walks.

‘I’m originally from Norfolk but I moved here for my daughter.

‘It’s quiet, it’s got good transport links to London and it’s near the M25.

‘I can walk to the underground station.

‘And there are nature walks everywhere and coffee shops everywhere as well as boutique shops.

‘It’s perfect for retirement because you’ve got lots of clubs and activities and there is a community feel.

‘Even though it’s close to London it still feels like you are living in a small town.

‘House prices are quite high here, it’s quite expensive, but luckily I’ve got my own.

‘I think the doctors and things seem quite good too, you’ve got Amersham hospital round the corner.

‘And more than anything, it is just really pretty.

‘The South Bucks way is just down there if you want to go walking, it’s miles of country walks.

‘Then you’ve got the Chess Valley, which is very popular for walking.

‘It’s popular for retirees. It’s very quiet and there are no chains apart from maybe Whistles and no chain coffee shops in this Old Town area.’