The 50 best rural areas to live

by Cliff D'Arcy on 01 May 2011  |  28 comments
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For quality of life, you can't beat these 50 rural locations!

Halifax has been doing some digging into our quality of life in Great Britain.

The UK's biggest mortgage lender -- part of Lloyds Banking Group -- examined 140 Local Authority Districts to find the 50 rural locations where living standards are highest.

To find these 50 'rural hotspots', Halifax ranked local performance based on 15 key factors, covering the labour market, the housing market, the environment, education and health.

South Cambridgeshire gets the gold

The winner of Halifax's "Rural Areas Quality of Life Survey" is South Cambridgeshire. Here's why this rural district is such a nice location:

• Residents tend to be fit and well, with 95% reporting general good health;
• Higher-than-average life expectancy (81.6 years for males);
• A high employment rate (79%), with many residents enjoying high incomes (weekly average earnings of £739);
• Above-average school qualifications: (75% achieve five or more GCSE grades A-C, versus the average of 74% for England & Wales); and
• A good climate, with average rainfall of 597mm per year, versus the national average of 871mm.

So, based on health, life expectancy, employment, earnings, schooling and regional climate, South Cambridgeshire tops Halifax's table!

The north-south divide

Halifax's survey clearly identified a north-south divide among rural areas. It found that residents of southern England generally enjoy the best rural quality of life. Indeed, 36 of the 50 top-rated rural areas (72%) are in the South: 15 in the South East, 14 in the East of England and seven in the South West.

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Of the 14 remaining areas, nine are in the East Midlands, three in the West Midlands, and two in Yorkshire and the Humber.

In the North, rural areas tend to be highly rated for exam results and environmental measures, such as low population densities and light traffic flows. In the South, rural areas perform better on earnings, employment, health and weather.

The 50 rural hotspots

Here are the top 50 rural Local Authority Districts to live, as ranked by Halifax:

* Ranks rural districts in England, Wales and Scotland (Northern Ireland is excluded)

The best of rural Britain

To dig deeper, let's find the leading rural areas for each of Halifax's 15 quality-of-life variables:

Labour market

Housing market

Urban environment

Physical environment

Health

Education

The best rural area in your region

Finally, I can vouch for moving to the country.

Almost 2½ years ago, my family and I moved from west London to East Hampshire (number 20 in Halifax's rural rankings). As a result, our quality has life has improved: the schools are first class, people are friendlier, traffic is lighter, motorists drive more courteously, and there's hardly any aircraft noise. What's more, we can clearly see the stars at night again!

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