What makes the good life – health clubs and pubs? The Halifax annual list of the top places to live in the UK might tempt you to compare your property and lifestyle.
Our interest in the annual league tables arose back in 2017 when the list was topped by Winchester, a city and a place with a relatively high proportion of flats for southern England.
But is the grass really greener? Here at Deacon we live and work by the beaches in Bournemouth and have the New Forest on our doorstep, so we are already pretty pleased with where we are.
We did wonder at a relatively-large city being judged to offer the best quality of life, especially as the UK usually seems to celebrate the rural idyll and smaller towns and Winchester was the only city to feature in the Top 5.
- Winchester, South East
- Orkney Islands, Scotland
- Wychavon, West Midlands
- Derbyshire Dales, East Midlands
- Hambleton, Yorkshire and The Humber
So, what does it take to be No. 1? (Of course, our vote is still with Bournemouth!).
Winchester, it seems, clinched the number one position in the Halifax Survey not just because of the usual parameters of residents’ health, employment and earnings along with high scores in personal well-being surveys, but also due to having plenty of leisure facilities. With more and more emphasis being placed on achieving a good work-life balance these days, the survey included a leisure category for the first time.
Is it a sign of the times? Apparently so: The Times list for 2021 favoured small towns with good facilities rather than villages.
After all, globally we are migrating to bigger and bigger place. Already over half of the world’s population lives in cities, a proportion that is expected to increase to more than two thirds by 2050.
Reviewed 30/03/2023 – NR
FP775-2017
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