North Yorkshire districts among best places to live in UK

Three parts of North Yorkshire have been named in the top ten places to live in the UK.

Richmondshire came out in second place in the whole country, rising up from ninth last year, in the Halifax's Quality of Life Survey.

Meanwhile Hambleton was in fourth position (up from 28th) and Ryedale is in eighth (up from 12th).

Further down the list, Harrogate was in 28th postition, and Selby was in 50th place.

At the very top of the list in first position was Orkney in Scotland.

The placings are based on a range of factors including labour market, housing, health, education and personal well-being.

This is what Halifax had to say about Richmondshire...

"Richmondshire in North Yorkshire moves into second place from 9th in 2017, a position boosted by excellent personal wellbeing scores across all measures of life satisfaction, worthwhile, happiness and low anxiety.

"It also scores strongly on a low crime rate, traffic flows, population density and primary class size. It has one of the highest ratios of pubs to population, which is no surprise given its attraction to the many visitors wishing to take in the views and walks around the Yorkshire Dales."

Russell Galley, Managing Director, Halifax, said:

“Orkney has consistently been considered one of the best places to live in the UK and Orcadians will be delighted to hear they have now taken the crown. Its remote location may not be for everyone, but this comes with the benefit of having high employment, low crime rates, smaller class sizes and more affordable housing.

“While the South East continues to have the most locations in the top 50, we’ve seen Northern areas perform particularly well on education while they also benefit from lower house prices when compared to average earnings.”