Salisbury was ranked the 3rd best place to live in the UK, while the nearby town of Wilton ranked 7th
Three Wiltshire towns have been named among the best places to live in the UK post-pandemic. The annual league table, compiled by Garrington Property Finders, ranks nearly 1400 cities, towns and villages across England and Wales according to four criteria – natural beauty, architectural beauty, quality of life and environmental credentials.
Even though working from home is now optional, hybrid working is here to stay, and lightning-quick internet is a must-have for many homebuyers.
The Garrington ranking claims to be the first of its kind to focus exclusively on areas where at least 95 per cent of homes have access to superfast broadband.
In the 2022 edition, Salisbury was ranked the 3rd best place to live in the UK, while the nearby town of Wilton ranked 7th – furthermore, the historic market town of Malmesbury featured 14th on the list.
This means that Wiltshire is the best represented county in the league table, claiming three of the top 20 spots, along with Lancashire.
The addition of the green category to this year’s ranking has shaken up the 2021 pecking order. Just six of last year’s top 20 made it into the class of 2022, with new entrants Wallingford (Oxfordshire) and Shaftesbury (Dorset) climbing 318 and 31 places respectively, thanks to their strong green credentials.
Crowned the number one place to live in the UK is this post-pandemic world, is the neighbouring city of Bath which scored highly in three of the four categories that determine the overall ranking.
Researchers also scored each location for its proximity to open water, National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. In the architectural beauty category, marks were awarded for the number of listed and period homes, while the quality of life category ranked each town, village and city for its air quality, crime figures, accessibility by public transport and the proportion of properties that have access to outside space.
