Fremington, Devon

Fremington is what happens when a place that once sent members to Parliament settles gratefully into being three miles from Barnstaple. The bypass took the traffic away in 1989 and the village has been quietly delighted about it ever since, which tells you most of what you need to know about the ambition levels here. It sits on the tidal Taw with a pill, a quay, a primary school and a bungalow for every retired couple who worked out that the estuary view costs less on this side of the water. Nobody moves here to be noticed.