Wigmore

Detached houses behind neat front gardens, a scatter of semis on the side roads, almost nothing to rent on the flat market — Wigmore reads as a settled, owner-occupied corner of Medway rather than a place people pass through. The average age here nudges toward the late forties, well above the national median, and that shows in the quiet of the streets as much as in any figures.

Money-wise, this is about as comfortable as Medway gets: Wigmore sits in the top decile nationally for both income and deprivation, meaning it's less deprived than almost anywhere else in the country, and the property market backs that up. A detached home here sells for around £565,000 against a national detached average closer to £420,000, and the overall median of £445,000 runs well above both the Medway and England-wide figures — a For Sale board on one of these roads is advertising freehold security and space, not a starter flat. Schools add to the settled-family picture: Hempstead Junior and Fairview Community Primary both serve the area, and though this isn't a rail-commuter's dream location with stations on the doorstep, the combination of house size, school provision and that older median age points to people who moved here once and stayed.

Green space per head runs a little below the regional average, but with population density noticeably lower than the South East norm, Wigmore never feels packed in — gardens do a lot of the work that parks might elsewhere. The crime picture is the one figure worth sitting with: the rate here comes in dramatically higher than the Medway average, driven largely by violence and sexual offences, shoplifting and anti-social behaviour, which together account for most reported incidents. That's an odd note against an otherwise reassuring set of grades — safety still scores a solid B+ locally and the trend is flat rather than worsening, so it's worth reading as a shopping-and-town-centre effect layered onto a quiet residential base rather than danger on the doorstep. Broadband is strong, with most premises reaching full fibre, which matters if working from one of those home offices is part of the plan.