Great news for some; Boris has prescribed another six months of working from home for those who can. But if this latest Covid-containment strategy has sparked thoughts of escaping to the country, tapping away at a keyboard while overlooking green fields and flocks of sheep, be warned: you are probably too late.

This six-month window of opportunity should spell temporary escape for another wave of London émigrés who are fed up with shuffling around their Battersea townhouses and pocket gardens after months already spent at home.

But property agents say they aren’t braced for another mass exodus of the sort seen just before the spring lockdown. All the bankers, lawyers and rich tech types already relocated to the country six months ago - or just after lockdown lifted in July, in time for the new school year – and now there are very few decent country homes left to rent. Especially for those wanting to hedge their bets by staying within an hour or so’s commute of London, in case the office comes calling sooner than expected.

“Those looking now are unlikely to find what they want,” says Sarah Broughton, director of Prime Purchase buying agency. “It’s all about the schooling, so most people timed their move to fit in with the school year.”

The lack of available houses is also due to the fact that many landlords have been persuaded to sell up at premium prices over the summer, “fearful of new, punitive taxes in the coming months or years,” says Harry Gladwin, partner at The Buying Solution.

Or landlords who would usually rent out houses for the medium or long-term have turned to Airbnb instead, “to make more money by capitalising on the fact that people are holidaying at home rather than abroad,” adds Broughton.

One friend, who was tying up her Blackheath house sale in August to start a new life in Hampshire, wasn’t even allowed to see some of the rental properties she was interested in.

“The lettings agents were so inundated with applicants, they restricted viewings and said we couldn’t even see anything until we had exchanged on our house – which was very stressful, as it meant exchanging and completing within two weeks, with nowhere to go and three school places to sort out at the last minute,” she says. “It was the same with properties for sale. Lots of agents said they would only accept viewings from chain-free buyers.”

Some City workers even say a six-month country sabbatical may be the wrong thing to be seen to be doing right now. One hedge funder says that he and his colleagues have agreed to go into their central London office twice a week. “Now is the time to knuckle down, be seen and be available at all times to your employer,” he says.

James Hyman, head of residential at Cluttons estate agency, agrees. “What it comes down to right now is uncertainty and job security. No one knows how long this is going to go on for and what effect it will have on their jobs, and very few professionals are in a confident enough position to pack up and move to the country for six months now.”

Instead, Hyman is seeing the opposite trend – increased interest, particularly on the rental side, from people wanting to live closer to the City, so they can walk to work and avoid public transport.

“Connaught Village [near Marble Arch] is proving popular, as you have all the amenities of Marylebone and Hyde Park but you can walk to Mayfair and the West End. In the East, Shad Thames and Wapping are a short walk or cycle to the City or Canary Wharf, but quiet and uncrowded.”

For those hell-bent on hearing the sound of cockerels as they fire up their laptops on autumn mornings, though, there are some attractive six-month rural rental opportunities. In South Warwickshire, a 50-minute train commute to Marylebone from nearby Banbury, Low House is a historic, six-bed, Grade II listed village house available for six to 12 months, at a cost of £1,154 per week through Strutt & Parker.

Surrey’s super-prime addresses offer some high-priced havens for escaping Londoners, including a six-bed house on the Wentworth estate in Virginia Water for £17,000 a month, and a six-bed house in Cobham for a monthly rent of £18,500, both through Knight Frank.

Buying agent Harry Gladwin also suggests looking at top-end country house retreats. “With the hospitality sector likely to struggle through the coming months, there will surely be a range of houses like this that will make themselves available for longer-term private rentals, avoiding the challenges of opening to the public,” he says. “It enables them to retain staff until the spring, when hopefully there will be a vaccine and easier trading conditions.”

Otherwise, you could buy, of course. Magna Carta Park, a private country estate near Windsor, saw a “mass influx of buyers from London – including some famous golfers – post-lockdown,” says Alex Herman from the developer Royalton Residences, which is marketing the estate’s apartments for £1m-£2m and houses for £1.5m-£4.5m. Many have bought as second or third homes. Some – from Hong Kong and China – have bought to live near sought-after schools.

“It’s all very well heading to the Cotswolds, but this is a good half-way house if you still need to commute,” says Herman. “It’s a gated estate, so even if there is another lockdown, you can still walk among the 57 acres and enjoy the feel of the countryside.” ​

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