Aston Abbotts Today

Aston Abbotts today is a far cry from the self-supporting agricultural community described on the history page of this website. Although much of the surrounding land is still farmed, the growth of mechanised farming methods has left few people directly involved within the industry. A modern-day Astonian could still be a farmer, but more likely might be a commuter travelling to Aylesbury, Leighton Buzzard or even London. People from all walks of life live in Aston Abbotts.

Although modern-day Aston Abbotts has a rich cosmopolitan mix of people there are signs of its farming roots everywhere. Many of the farms still exist, though absentee landlords now hold some of the land. Other farms have long since been lost, with only their names remaining: Nash's Farm is now a small courtyard development of modern houses built in the 1990s. Home Farm is now a sympathetically restored farmhouse home, but separated from its original lands. Longmoor Farm is residential, with the old barns also having undergone residential conversion. Church Farm has a helipad.

The growth of car ownership in the last century coupled with a desire of professional townspeople to escape the hurly-burly of town life for a real or imagined rural idyll have caused many commuters to swell the population of Bucks villages. Some of these have settled in Aston Abbotts. As described on the history page the village has changed dramatically in the last century but never more so than in the last few decades. These saw a gradual but relentless erosion of traditional rural village life, with farms being sold, land being redeveloped for residential purposes and village facilities like the bakery and Post Office closing.