Chigwell

Dickens called Chigwell the greatest place in the world, and the town has spent nearly two centuries trying to live up to the review with electric gates. The old coaching inn he loved still faces the churchyard, though the cars parked outside it now cost more than his advance. Chigwell is on the Underground in the way a country club is open to the public: the trains to Woodford turn up when they feel like it, and the people who live here have barely noticed, because the car never leaves the drive.