A property podcast run by a leading estate agency has caused a stir after one of is participants criticised urban home buyers who move to the country.

Winkworth’s Property Exchange podcast which is presented by former Times property section editor Anne Ashworth, is usually a relatively low-key affair dealing with house prices.

But its latest episode featuring Mark Hedges (main picture), the editor of Country Life magazine, took a controversial turn.

Hedges told listeners that townies moving to the country needed to pay attention to the ‘rural code’.

Grumpy

This code includes not getting ‘grumpy’ if you’re stuck behind a tractor because ‘farming matters’, a warning that latte coffees are hard to come by and that Uber taxes don’t operate in the shires, to ‘get a dog’, and not to flaunt your wealth or salary.

Bemoaning the invasion of the Cotswolds by Bentley and Tesla-driving urban arrivals as well as the huge rise in house prices locally, Hedges, who hails from the area, said the “biggest threat to the countryside comes from politicians who lack understanding about its importance and need to protect it”.

“Country Life did some research which showed that two-thirds of people want to live in the countryside.

“Only 18 per cent do live there. The Government doesn’t think it will win an election in the countryside but there is a real passion and interest and momentum of feeling from people that the countryside matters.”

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