Falling house prices have cast a pall over the property market but there may be a safe haven for homeowners – in the Trollopian form of vicarages.

As Country Life magazine on Thursday launched a contest to find Britain’s finest parsonage, Crispin Holborow, head of the country house department at estate agents Savills said: “A rectory or parsonage is one of the safest properties to buy in today’s uncertain market.”