It covers about 2.5 square miles (6.5 km2) and is the largest civil parish in the Borough of Wokingham.

The most important exceptions to this are Church Hill just to the west of the village centre, and Ashridge to the south-east.

[3] Bill Hill, on the Twyford Road, is an Early Georgian house[6] which was probably built by Sir Montague Blundell just after 1720.

[4] The house incorporates an innovative 'triple pile' plan, where the hall and parlour are placed next to each other, with the service rooms to the rear, and separated by a corridor containing the staircase.

This layout was a "radical departure from conventional domestic planning", anticipating later architectural developments.

[12] Hurst House, northwest of the church, was built in 1847 for Archibald Cameron, vicar of Hurst, and incorporates an older house built in 1530 by Richard Warde, who was sub-Treasurer of Henry VIII and later a member of Parliament for Berkshire and Windsor.

[8][13] Hurst Lodge, on Broadcommon Road, is a Grade II* listed 17th-century house built for the Barker family,[14] and later the property of the Countess of Buchan.

[citation needed] The primary school shares a breakfast club with St. Nicholas Pre-school playgroup,[18] a registered charity and member of the Pre-school Learning Alliance, which is open to all students and children of the playgroup.