Thorpe, Surrey

Thorpe is a conservation village that happens to share its fields with a rollercoaster. The parish church began as a private retreat where the Abbot of Chertsey could get away from everyone, and the biggest landowner today is a theme park whose whole business is bringing everyone back by the coachload. Wedged between the M25 and the M3, it is a proper old English village surrounded by things built for people on their way somewhere else. Even the Ferrari importer on the industrial estate is selling a way out.