Istead Rise

Istead Rise was built in one go after the war and has spent every year since resisting the urge to do anything else. Stairs were treated as optional here and most of the buyers agreed, so this is the kind of village where an estate agent can call a bungalow aspirational with a straight face. The bus comes often enough to count as folklore, so the car runs the place and the driveway is what people actually paid for. Gravesend is just up the road, close enough to shop in and far enough to pretend otherwise.