Mid-Suffolk has the best quality of life among rural local authorities in Britain with some of the healthiest and longest living residents, according to the Halifax's "Rural" Areas Quality of Life Survey.
South Cambridgeshire and East Hertfordshire follow Mid Suffolk in the top three rural areas.
In the survey, residents of Mid Suffolk are some of the healthiest and have one of the highest life expectancy rates of 80 years for newborns. The majority of householders are owner-occupiers (77%), while houses are larger than average (6.0 rooms). GCSE results are also above average (67.5% with five GCSEs grade C or above). The area sees two hours more sunshine per week (30.3. hours) than the average for all rural local authorities.
Martin Ellis, economist at the Halifax, said: "Residents of Mid Suffolk have the best quality of life of any rural area in Great Britain. They tend to be healthy, with one of the longest life expectancy rates, and live in larger than average houses. Mid Suffolk also has good school results and the weather is better than average. Significantly, average
house prices in Mid Suffolk trade at an average of £9810 below the regional average. Therefore, an excellent quality of life comes at a relatively reasonable price in Mid Suffolk."
At a regional level, the East of England region has the best quality of life. Apart from Mid Sussex, Chiltern and West Berkshire, the rest of the top ten rural areas are in the East of England. Some 26 of the top 30 by quality of life score are in southern England.
Harborough in the East Midlands has the best quality of life outside the south of England, ranked 14th in the survey. In Harborough, houses are larger than average, life expectancy is very high and GCSE results are some of the best in Great Britain.
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