The Surrey village has some the highest average price houses you will find anywhere else in Britain
The Telegraph called Tilford a “charming” village and praise it for being home to “one of the best-preserved” medieval packhorse bridges in England(Image: Surrey Live – Grahame Larter)
A Surrey village has been named as one of poshest in Britain by the Telegraph in its annual list that aims to highlight places which reflect the highest in British society.
This year, a Surrey village of barely a thousand residents has made the list. Tilford boasts some of the highest average house prices you will find across the Telegraph’s rankings, and across the country as a whole.
Each year, the Telegraph publishes its rankings for Britain’s poshest villages. The picks are based on a range of categories which make a village great, reviewing its community, village hall, pubs, shops and sporting facilities offerings, alongside importantly its average house prices.
Previous editions have seen Shackleford, near Guildford, named as the county’s poshest, taking the accolade in 2022 and 2024 while last year’s winner was Chiddingfold, also near Guildford which was praised for its traditional feel as well as being home to what the title suggested is Surrey’s best pub, in the 14th-century Crown Inn.
“Charming” Tilford is a village of barely a thousand residents which can be found around three miles from Farnham(Image: Emma Pengelly)
This year, there are 15 new entries to the Telegraph’s poshest villages, with its reporters citing “falling house prices” as the deciding factor, which was aided by exclusive research from estate agents Savills.
Tilford can be found in the Waverley borough, near the ancient Waverley Abbey ruins and just a few miles south of Farnham.
Telegraph reporters state that Tilford took the crown this year due to its historic medieval bridges, ‘haunted’ pub, location on the banks of the River Wey, but notably due to it having some of the highest average house prices on the entire list.
Tilford’s mean property cost of £1,502,248 was the third highest in that metric across the entire list with the Surrey village only being beaten out by two neighbouring counties.
Hampshire’s Beaulieu took the number one spot in this metric, with an average of over £2.2 million, with West Itchenor in West Sussex in second with an average of just above £1.5 million.
Tilford is also on the door-step of Hankley Common, which is home one of Britain’s popular golf courses and has been used in Hollywood blockbusters(Image: Getty Images )
The estimated housing figures for Tilford are quite staggering when you consider that the average house prices in neighbouring towns are nearly a million less.
According to the RightMove the average house price for 2026 was £565,666 for Guildford, £622,642 in Farnham and £589,625 for the largest village in the area, Cranleigh.
But its not just house prices which make a village posh according to the Telegraph, who also took into account location, heritage, amenities and whether it ticks the boxes of a classic British village, such as being home to a village green or thatched cottages.
Tiny Tilford performed the best in Surrey in all these categories, as the Telegraph cites its setting in the Surrey Hills, its village green and its ‘haunted’ local pub.
The ‘haunted’ Barley Mow pub is based right opposite Tilford village green (Image: Google)
The village is relatively new in comparison to many other areas of the county, with some of its first major developments in the form of farm houses and a chapel, believed to have been built in the 16th and 17th Century.
Despite this, the title gave special plaudits to Tilford for being home to “one of the best-preserved” medieval packhorse bridges in England.
It is believed to have been built back in 1128 next to the village green, marking an important crossing point where the two arms of the River Wey meet.
As of a 2011 census, it was only home to around 800 residents. However the Telegraph highlight a tight-knit community, with drama groups and bands often practising inside its late-19th Century village hall.
An image of All Saints C of E Infant School in the village of Tilford, where real-life Peter Pan once stayed(Image: Surrey Live – Grahame Larter)
Praise also went to the schools in the Tilford area, with the All Saints infant school based in the village having a ‘Good’ Ofsted rating and the slightly further afield Waverley Abbey CoE junior school in Farnham being where the older kids head to.
In terms of private schools, the Telegraph highlighted the “popular” Frensham Heights co-educational school, which was founded in 1925 in nearby Frensham.
One unique quality which set Tilford apart from the rest of Britain’s ‘chocolate box villages’ according to the Telegraph was its ‘haunted’ pub.
This being the Barley Mow, which can be found directly opposite the village green. The 16th Century pub is said to be proud of its ‘quintessentially English’ feel but visitors may have to be aware of the supposed ghost of former owner and famous 19th-century cricketer William ‘Silver Billy’ Beldham.
The famous cricketer’s picture hangs inside the pub, with various stories over the years that his ghostly presence may still linger.
Moving away from ghost stories though, the Barley Mow is a staple for the village, with TripAdvisor reviewers calling the food “excellent”, and the staff “very friendly”.