Godalming

Godalming is Guildford with the volume turned down and nicer stone on the walls. Its most memorable resident once convinced a queue of eighteenth-century doctors that she was giving birth to rabbits, and the town has been politely avoiding anything that exciting ever since. Charterhouse watches from its hill, the Wey reclaims the meadows every few winters, and Farncombe, a short stroll away, still insists it is a separate village. The loudest local controversy is usually somebody's rear extension, and the people who live here pay handsomely to keep it that way.