Villages and small towns do seem to offer a communal quality not found in bigger towns and the suburbs of cities. And that difference came through loud and clear in my conversation this week with a couple who swapped a Lake Macquarie suburb for an Upper Hunter village 13 years ago. Eric and Beryl Sweeney retired and left Warners Bay, where they'd been very busy in the community, for Nundle, on the back road between Murrurundi and Tamworth. I'm not sure what we should call that change, because it's not really treechange and certainly not seachange, but they are loquacious exponents of it.

And, once again, I was reminded of the advantages of village life - relaxed pace, a friendly ambience and a sense of everyone being in it together. For many, though, the most compelling advantage is the cheaper property, and often a house in a village sells for half the price of a similar city house.

Nundle has 289 people, or it did in the most recent census, and I'm sure Eric and Beryl would tell you that's the ideal population. One place that I see as a village, despite the weekend crowds of visitors, is Morpeth with a population of 1100. I suspect that population might not be the only factor that defines villages and small towns.

In The Herald today I mention a few such places that appeal to me, and I and I'm sure others would be pleased to read of those in and beyond the Hunter Region that appeal to you. Tell us about the village you live in or would like to live in and why.