Town or country?

Living in a town or in the countryside both have benefits says Nigel Lewis, head of content at www.findaproperty.com.

The main reason why so many of us work in a town but live in a rural setting is to avoid the drudgery of a city commute – and the joys of clean air and rolling countryside.

Also, there's the advantage of jumping in your car and motoring off to work in less time than most trains take to get between stations.

But, while living near to a town centre and cutting down the commute to minimum is the aim, for many major market and county towns in the South West – including Gloucester – there's a premium to pay if you want to live in the more genteel villages and smaller towns nearby.

Stroud is one example. It and the nearest Gloucester suburb – Quedgeley – are less than ten miles apart and yet they are separated by more than just the M5. There's a £90,000 average house price divide too.

But why? One place is famous as one of the gateways to the Cotswolds hills and is packed with cafés, shops and can claim several famous residents past and present (including the inventor of Thomas the Tank engine, the Reverend W Awdry, and singer Lily Allen).

The other is Quedgeley, the southern suburb of Gloucester best known mostly as home for many years to its eponymous RAF base, which closed in 1995, and now the focus of much new homes building.

The average asking price for property in Stroud is £317,586 reflecting its 'farmers' market' reputation while Quedgeley has an average house price of £238,650 – nearly £90,000 less.

Stroud may be more expensive than Quedgeley, be further away and offer more history, but public transport into Gloucester from Stroud is problematical by the county council's own admission. The other difference between the two is also more than just location, location, location. Stroud's homes range from starter flats to the occasional million-pound plus country houses on its fringes as well as a lot of properties between the two.

And it's a magnet for families moving up the property ladder, particularly because its streets are packed full of three-bedroom houses ranging from £119,000 to £350,000. Quedgeley, on the other hand, is a first-time buyers' stomping ground because there's so much affordable property to choose from even if it doesn't have the same caché. The vast majority of its housing is two-bedroom flats under £110,000and a wide range of three-bedroom houses. Which would you choose?