District ranked as 38th best place to live in the UK

Good health and quality of life saw West Berkshire ranked in the top 50 best rural places to live in the UK in a national survey this week.

It was placed at number 38 in the annual Halifax Rural Areas Quality of Life Survey, released on Monday, which measures the attractiveness of rural districts based on a range of factors, including residents' good health and life expectancy, crime rate, weather, employment, school results, broadband access, and personal wellbeing.

West Berkshire was named as the joint-second healthiest district, with residents in 96.8 per cent of households rating themselves to be of good or fairly good health, along with the same percentage of residents in Chiltern, south Cambridgeshire and Aberdeenshire.

The Isles of Scilly were the said to be healthiest at 97 per cent.

Stealing the title of the best rural location to live was the East Midlands district of Rutland, while South East districts ranking above West Berkshire included Chiltern, Waverley and Mid Sussex at second, sixth and eighth places respectively.

West Berkshire has moved down two places from its rank last year, and from 20th position in 2013.