RG19

Thatcham, Greenham and the old common

Thatcham runs along the A4 with open common land to the south. A long way from us, but on the map and honestly priced.

The A4 through the district is fast, kerbed and busy, and a car stopped on it is in the wrong place. We would usually rather recover than fit in a live lane there. Thatcham itself is estate housing with parking courts and speed tables. South of it, the roads around Greenham Common and Crookham Common are wide, straight and eerily empty — old military ground with concrete edges and access tracks that break up at the join. Concrete joints hammer sidewalls in a way tarmac does not. Ashford Hill and Headley are proper lanes again.

Broken down on the A4 itself: get out on the pavement side and ring straight away. That job jumps the queue.