Rightmove names the UK's happiest place - and it's...

Leamington Spa in Warwickshire has been named as the happiest place to live in Great Britain in Rightmove’s 2017 Happy at Home Index.

In second place is last year’s winner, Leigh-On-Sea, and following in third is the Wirral. Harrogate - another spa town - is fourth.

Richmond upon Thames is named the happiest place to live in London, Dumfries came out on top for Scotland and Llandrindod Wells took the title for Wales.

Over 17,000 people across Great Britain took part in the Rightmove study which asks residents how happy they are where they live, and also asks them to rank 12 happiness factors.

The 12 factors in the study range from how friendly the neighbours are and how much people feel they can be themselves, to how good the local services are.

Leamington Spa scored highly for friendly neighbours, a strong sense of belonging, a place where locals feel they can be themselves and good access to nature and green spaces. The average asking price of a home in Leamington Spa is £330,848, which is almost £20,000 higher than a year ago. The national average asking price is currently £310,003.

Last year Leigh-On-Sea was named the happiest place to live, and this year it takes the runner-up spot, though the seaside town still scored extremely well for essential local services like schools and doctors, strong community spirit, good pubs and restaurants and friendly neighbours.

This year seven out of the top 10 happiest areas are in the South (Leigh on Sea, Tunbridge Wells, King’s Lynn, Epsom, Richmond upon Thames, Poole and Chichester).

“We’ve looked at the connection between each of the factors and what contributes to how happy people say they are overall, and it’s the people in an area and how someone feels about living there that makes the biggest difference. So the strength of community spirit, people feeling like they belong and that they can be themselves are all more important than the services and money that they have, though these do still contribute to overall happiness” says Rightmove research manager Abiola Oni.