Putney

Putney is where the Boat Race starts, so once a year the whole country tunes in to watch two crews of students leave it as fast as they can row. The rest of the year the river belongs to the rowing clubs and to anyone who bought a flat facing the water and has mentioned it twice since you sat down. Edward Gibbon was born here and spent his life writing about decline and fall, a subject the house prices have lately been reading up on.