In 1915, the Metropolitan Railway coined the term Metroland to describe a band of countryside just north-west of London, marketed as a land of idyllic cottages and wild flowers. But amid claims of overcrowding and a sea of ubiquitous semis, how does Metroland’s 21st-century reality compare with the original dream?

One hundred years ago, in the summer of 1915, the railway’s publicity people devised the term “Metroland” to describe the catchment area of villages stretching from Neasden into the Chiltern Hills. The railway had bought up huge tracts of farmland along this corridor in the decades before the first world war, and it was ripe for development. All they needed was a sales pitch. ... Metroland today is very different to the vision once conjured up by the railway’s brochures and posters. Open countryside has long since been engulfed by the ubiquitous semis, and there is now no obvious delineation between the old village centres. In recent years, there has been a steady drip of stories about overcrowding, slum landlords and “beds in sheds” . The noisy high streets of Brent and Harrow now look indistinguishable from much of inner London.

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My own journey through 21st-century Metroland begins in Neasden, the original staging post for the Metropolitan line’s expansion, the place Betjeman described as “the home of the gnome and the ordinary citizen”. Life along the thoroughfare of Neasden Lane is now default low-income London: chicken shops, nail bars and bookmakers. Most of the window adverts for accommodation are in Polish, with bedsit rooms offered at £90 a week (I dread to think what £90 a week gets you in any part of London).

There are signs that some of Neasden’s longer-standing gnome-owners are not overjoyed with all the daytime street-drinkers here. The council was recently forced to clear graffiti from the underpass reading: “Beggars not welcome! Keep Neasden nice! Keep Neasden beggar-free!” ... In Harrow, unofficial capital of Metroland, the winding crescents are mostly quiet and gardens still well-kept. But in the gaps between the semis, it’s not difficult to spot jerry-built brick buildings at the bottom of gardens. The borough has attracted a lot of attention for its “beds in sheds” problem. Last year, Conservative councillor Susan Hall, then leader of Harrow Council, ordered a thermal imaging plane to fly over the streets and create a heat map of “unexpected hotspots” (319 occupied outbuildings were discovered).

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One hundred years on, Metroland is still providing a starting point for many young families. Ironically, families such as the Zarnescus are choosing to then move out of London altogether, skipping over the green belt in search of a more affordable version of the suburban ideal.

For many people who would like to do the same, the high cost of commuting into London and the unreliability of public transport generally – especially the railway system that once inspired the creation of Metroland – remains the big barrier to fleeing cramped, over-expensive housing in central London.