Berkhamsted

Berkhamsted is where people move so they can live in the Chilterns, then spend the week on the train to Euston or in the spare room, telling colleagues on video calls about the Chilterns. Geoffrey Chaucer once ran the building works at the castle, and the town still treats a famous name on the job as the minimum standard. These days the biggest employers are the schools and Waitrose, which tells you most of what you need to know about who is buying the houses. The castle is a ruin, the only thing in town that has been allowed to let itself go.