We visit the 'posh' West Midlands village where family homes are becoming better value

More than 1,400 places across England and Wales feature in the Best Places to Live 2025 guide produced by Garrington Property Finders.

Birmingham and the West Midlands features both highs and lows in Garrington’s latest ranking. Whitnash in Leamington Spa and Knowle and Dorridge in Solihull were voted the top two places to live in the region for 2025.

House prices in Knowle and Dorridge have fallen by 1.96% over the last 12 months

I recently made a trip to the village recently to find out what makes it so popular at the moment. Just a short journey from Solihull and Birmingham, Dorridge offers locals the chance to retreat home to the West Midlands countryside while still being able to enjoy the work opportunities that Birmingham offers.

Unless you fancy a half hour walk, you’ll need a car, or bus, to get to Knowle from Dorridge. But Dorridge has excellent transport links, with trains direct to London. There are a handful of independent shops, including the Boho Bakehouse, which was packed, as was the Forest hotel beer garden.

I had a chat with the manager of the Skogen bar on Station Road - an independent Scandinavian style venue serving pizzas - to get some insight into what it’s like working in the area.

“This venue’s been here for around seven years,” the manager said. “There’s only two bars in Dorridge so it’s quite a unique place for the town.

“Custom is great here. Not so much in Knowle as there’s quite a few bars and not as many people, and a few pubs out into the countryside but if you want to walk rather than drive, these are the two options in Dorridge basically.”

He added: “I don’t live here, I live in Coleshill, but I love it here. In terms of running a bar somewhere this is as good as it gets. There’s never any trouble, everyone’s friendly.”

Nearby Knowle is the smaller, yet more lively of the two villages, with a greater range of shops and bars filling its pleasant high street. It’s also home to gorgeous cottages as well as the renowned Cheals restaurant, which is listed in the Michelin guide.

It’s certainly not a cheap area of Solihull to live in - according to RightMove, house prices in Dorridge have an overall average of £703,950 over the last year - but it’s definitely one worth visiting if you’re looking for a relaxing day out in a quaint village in the region.