How high is your TQ? A critical question, if we're to be neighbours

It was a momentous day. We started house hunting.

Well, not houses, really. Villages. We've been window shopping houses online for ages, but as we all know, it's about location, location, location. We're about to sink our roots (and our life savings), for the next 20 or 30 years. We need to take this seriously. So we climbed in the car, put the top down (it was a spectacular, warm and sunny day), and started meandering through likely areas while developing our shopping list for the perfect village.

Our starting point is simple. No more than 15-20 minutes (five to ten miles) from commuter-friendly Basingstoke train station, but in a rural, village setting. When contemplating Basingstoke's modern offices, big ring road and the American-style mall that dominates the town centre, you'd think this a tough mission. But one of the glories of the area is that town fades to country so quickly. There's a solid handful of proper villages around the outskirts that fit our criteria.

And what, you ask, are those? Let's start with the basics. A good village should have a generous margin of farm fields and woodland around it, ideally cut through with well-marked paths for picturesque dog walking. We'll have to do our research to make sure that none of the thousands of new homes planned for Basingstoke in the next few years cut into the village greenbelt. We award bonus points if a local farm offers views of cows, pigs and sheep from the road; double points if they run a shop that lets us buy the meat when it comes time for the picturesque animals to fulfil their destiny. Deduct points if the farmyard smells overpower the village air. (Although some are perfectly acceptable. It is the country, after all.)

We need a good pub, ideally in the centre of the village but at the minimum within walking distance. It should be filled with locals, allow dogs and be a charming place to grab a pint. Ideally, it's a respectable gastropub, has some exposed beams and working fires, a chatty landlord and an attractive garden, and bans children. (OK, we know the last isn't a viable option, but we can dream.) Points off if any male patrons sport large tattoos, skinhead haircuts

or earrings. Big bonuses for men in tweed accompanied by sporting dogs, especially if carrying any bird or rabbit they've

just shot.

The local church should be Georgian at the youngest, and hopefully have some medieval elements. We're hoping for some high church gravitas, a good choir and a charming, intellectually robust vicar like our own Father David (of St. Mary's Bourne Street, who married us). We would hate a happy-clappy evangelical type and modern lack of ceremony, but in this secular age we'll be content with anything that still performs services, occasionally rings its bells and has an active community.

A village shop would be great, but is unlikely without getting into places big enough to lose their charm. All this should be scattered around a village green which, this being Hampshire, is probably a smallish patch enlivened by a dock pond. The ducks, of course, should have a cute little house perched upon a tiny islet in the pond's centre. Quite possibly paid for by some disgraced MP's fiddled expense account.

Architectural variety is critical. It's not about one house. The whole village needs to look good. That means a variety of styles, from that (hopefully) ancient church to Georgian houses to some half timbering and a smattering of Victoriana. By my third village I'd created the Thatch Quotient, or TQ. This is the proportion of charming, thatched cottages to the rest of the houses in the village. Thatched roofs, once the humble material of peasants and yeoman farmers, are now both trendy and expensive. They also look great. So any village with a high TQ heads to the top of the list.

Modern architecture isn't banned. In fact, we wouldn't mind the conveniences of new construction in a Jane Austen-style setting. As long as the design is sensitive, fits into its surroundings and has a decent garden. The maintenance costs on my current 200-year-old cottage have sold me on that!

Too many semi-detached houses, especially of the boxy and cheap variety, are a bad sign. Terraces (row houses in American) are a red flag. Unless they're gingerbread-cute, originally built by the local lord of the manor to house his estate staff, or Tudor alms houses, which both add historic and architectural bonus points.

And speaking of the lord of the manor, the perfect village has his house ... if not him. Ideally there's a grand pile sitting near the church behind some stately walls and an impressive gate, gracing the horizon with a cluster of towers or an interesting roof line. Not a rambling stately home, but something that might go for £5 million or so in Country Life, and that's now home to some captain of industry or retired rock star. Although Piers is hoping for retired organised crime boss, thinking that would do wonders for the village's security. Whatever his profession, he and his lady should be genial, involved in village affairs and regulars at the local.

Beneath all the old world charm, there are some important modern factors to consider. Decent mobile phone reception. High speed broadband ... if not available now, on the planned roll out in the next couple years. We'll check with our friend on the county police force about crime statistics. Local schools mean little to us, but we'll consider them for resale value.

And that's the fruit of our first day's exploration. Can any village meet these lofty standards? You'd be surprised.

Old Basing has managed to retain a village feel while being surrounded by the new town that took its name. Medium TQ but a lovely church, a good architectural mix and is just 3.5 miles to the station. Mapledurwell has sky-high TQ, a magnificent local gastropub and feels like it's deep in the countryside, despite being just half a mile off the A30. Dummer, just a stone's throw from our current place, also has high TQ plus excellent pub and impressive manor house (Victorian-era Jacobean revival, I'd guess.) North Waltham's TQ is medium, but gets a boost from its village shop and working farm and shop on its outskirts, though the pub is a bit of a hike.

Looks like these four are at the top of our shopping list. And if you think our village requirements are picky ... wait until you see the criteria for the house.