So what exactly makes for the perfect English village?
We had a go at answering that question with our list of the vital elements of a perfectly quintessential English village.
We’ve split them up into essential criteria – the things we reckon a village must have – and optional items that enhance an English village and make it stand out.
The Attributes Of A Great English Village
There are an estimated 3,000 English villages (depending on your definition) and so, to make a village extra special, it should really have as many of the following items as possible:
Old Country Church
It would be difficult to imagine a perfect village in England without a pretty country church somewhere in the centre.
Indeed it would have been unthinkable several hundred years ago for any settlement of more than a few houses not to have a church. And for that to have been the most impressive building there.
Many of these churches were started sometime after the normal conquest in 1066, and built on over the next several hundred years, and so there are a whole range of styles and features.
However many an English village has a similar square tower – as opposed to a dome common in continental Europe – with a nave, or main section, housing the congregation’s seating.
Most would also have an altar for communion and a pulpit or lectern for preaching and, almost certainly, they would be of the Church Of England (ie protestant Anglican) denomination.
Many larger villages may have non-denominational or even Catholic church as well, but these would likely to be in less prominent more modern buildings.
The village vicar is (or was) a key member of a village community and it’s likely that the