Hart in Hampshire named best place to live in UK

Hart in North East Hampshire has been crowned the UK's best place to live for the fifth time as rural areas triumphed in quality of life survey.

Halifax named the quiet area as the top spot for 2017 in the latest annual results.

Its Halifax Quality of Life Survey takes into account factors such as residents' health and life expectancy, wellbeing, earnings, employment, crime rates and weather.

The Orkney Islands in Scotland took second place, followed by Rutland in the East Midlands, Wychavon in Worcestershire while last year's winner Winchester took fifth place.

Hart climbed back up to the top spot from last year's position of 26 having scored strongly in the Office for National Statistics (ONS) personal wellbeing survey, Halifax said.

More than nine in 10 (97%) residents there report good or fairly good health and it has the longest average female life expectancy in the UK of 86.7 years, and the third longest for males (82.5 years), the report found.

Hart residents enjoy 32.5 hours per week of sunshine, against the national average of 29.7 hours.

But the benefits of living in the UK's best place come at a price, with the average house price in Hart standing at £419,231, 8.8 times the average annual pre-tax local income.

Russell Galley, managing director, Halifax, said: "Hart seems to have been offering residents an unrivalled mix of living standards for five of the last six years, seeing employment rates, average earnings and ONS personal wellbeing rankings bounce back after falling from the top spot last year.

"Along with Hart, many areas in southern England score strongly in categories including the labour markets and health.

"Northern areas tend to perform well on education and benefit from more affordable properties with lower house prices to earnings."

Here are the top 50 places with the best quality of life in the UK in 2017, as ranked by Halifax