If it weren't for the steady stream of traffic through its centre, Dulwich Village would really feel like a village. Even though it is only 6 miles from central London, the stately Georgian and Victorian core is surrounded by green space - a mixture of sports clubs, parks, a golf course and the extensive grounds of the elegant, Italianate Dulwich College public school. In the heart of the village itself is Dulwich Picture Gallery, which houses small, but high-quality, art exhibitions in the 17th-century building that used to be Dulwich College before it moved half-a-mile south in the 19th century. The aging leather sofas in the village's imposing Crown & Greyhound public house are a pleasant place to enjoy a pint, but the surrounding restaurants mostly belong to bland, chains targeting young families. Ofsted ranks the state infant and junior schools in the village highly, but commuters need to hike up to North Dulwich station, which has a fairly frequent service into London Bridge.
7/10
