Typically English town of Hart named best place to live in Britain

LONDON, Dec. 16 (Xinhua) -- A typically tranquil English town regained its crown Saturday as the best place to live in Britain.

Hart in the county of Hampshire has won the title five times in the last six years, but was pushed from its top perch last year by an equally stunning English township, Winchester.

The Halifax, one of Britain's biggest mortgage lenders announced its list Saturday restoring Hart to the number one spot.

Three out of five of the best places to live are in southern England, while residents of Craven, North Yorkshire in northern England were the happiest in Britain, according to the study.

The bank says Hart, 58 kilometers away from central London, has been catapulted back into the top spot based on residents' health and life expectancy, wellbeing, earnings, employment, a low crime rate and relatively good weather.

But it appears there is a price to pay for having such great quality of life, with the cost of living in Hart much higher than in many other parts of Britain. An average house price in Hart costs 554,000 U.S.dollars, equal to almost nine times the average annual income, compared to the national average of 7.3.

Hart moved from 26th position last year having improved relative to other local authorities on average earnings, employment rate and in the Office for National Statistics personal well-being survey.

What makes Hart such a good place to live? The Halifax commented: "Residents feel fit and well with 97 percent reporting good or fairly good health. It has the longest average female life expectancy in the UK of 86.7 years, and third longest for males (82.5), and Hart has one of the highest employment rates, with eight in ten (84 percent) 16-64 year olds in work and weekly average earnings of 1,125 U.S. dollars."

The survey also shows adults living in Hart are amongst the most happy, satisfied and content in Britain, with residents enjoying one of the lowest crime rates in the country. They also have a relatively good climate with more sunshine (32.5 hours per week against the national average of 29.7 hours).

Second-best place to live is almost 1,000 kilometers from Hampshire, in the faraway Highlands and Islands of Scotland. The Orkney Islands were named as runners-up, while Rutland in the East Midlands of England came third.

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."

More than two-thirds of the top 50 best places to live in the UK are in southern England, with 17 in the South East, a further nine areas in the East of England, five in the South West and four in London.

Stratford-upon-Avon, birthplace of William Shakespeare was in 10th place, while Westminster was the only part of London to be included in the top 15, scoring 13th place. The nearby City of London was in 18th spot. Enditem