At the end of the Metropolitan Line, 26 miles from London, is the farthest Tube station from the capital – Chesham. I visited the pretty Buckinghamshire town earlier this week, and I’d go back for one reason.

The town is north-west of London and part of the capital’s commuter belt. It took me an hour and a half to get there. The line going all the way to Chesham only departs every 30 minutes, but I arrived five minutes before one was due to leave and instead sat on the platform for 25 minutes (a long time to wait for non-Londoners), wondering how else I would get to the Buckinghamshire town. I made it on time, somehow, but it felt like a real trek to get there. Once I was off the Tube, I took the two-minute walk to the high street and was pleasantly surprised by the number of independent shops and the many people going into them. 

Though some locals complain about the number of cafes, charity shops, and nail bars (which is fair, there are quite a few), there was also an independent pharmacy, hardware shop, optician, antique shop, music shop and more. Chesham’s Old Town and pedestrianised high street are very picturesque, having been featured in films and TV shows, including The Imitation Game, Black Mirror, Midsomer Murders, and more. The high street was bustling, so I stopped into Gerry Martins, the local butcher’s, for some lunch. The staff told me they sell thousands of their Chesham sausages every week and hundreds of their sausage rolls.

They’re clearly very beloved; a lady buying some of the sausages went so far as to stop what she was doing to urge me to try one of the sausage rolls. She told me she comes from another town to buy them and always goes home with multiple, in addition to the ones in her freezer.

Her emphatic endorsement was so compelling that I had to take her advice. I shouldn’t have been surprised; she was right. The sausage rolls were incredible.

Next, I stopped into Darvells, a pretty little bakery with a packed window display offering danishes, tarts and more. I went for a custard danish, which I munched on as I wandered. I’d tell everyone to go try one, but I wouldn’t want to deprive locals of such loveliness.

I was lucky enough to be there on market day, which takes place twice a week. There were greengrocers, florists, bakers, and more. By the time I got there, the greengrocer had been cleared out, so clearly locals love their market.

While chatting to Crystal Waters’ fishmonger, Jason, he said that the people of Chesham are lovely. He’s been selling there for 15 years, so I believed him. And that was my experience, everyone was chatty and kind, making me feel very welcome in what felt like a small community. 

When chatting to a lady on the high street, she turned and greeted someone by name.  It was great to see that this type of close-knit community is still thriving.

I left the high street and strolled a few minutes round the corner, where I was met with a street of quaint old houses, each in a different style and made from a different material. It really felt like generations of people’s work was laid out along the road.

Then, I decided to see some of the surrounding countryside, the Chess Valley, and saw a small part of the River Chess. Chesham is also close to the Chiltern Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, but they were too far away for me that day.

I begrudgingly decided to leave once it had started raining and my phone was on low battery. So I wandered back to the Tube stop. The getting there is the only part of this I wouldn’t recommend. The journey back took two hours, with the Tube stopped at Harrow for 20 minutes due to signal failures. 

Chesham was a lovely surprise – wonderful independent shops, and pretty buildings that make it feel quaint. But what would bring me back is the people – welcoming, warm, and wanting to chat to a stranger.