Southbourne has been named as one of the best places to live in the UK.
It’s among 72 locations – including eight in the South West – singled out in the annual Sunday Times Best Places to Live guide.
Judges visited all the locations and assessed factors including schools, transport, broadband speeds, mobile signal, culture, access to green spaces and the health of the high street.
They said about Southbourne: “You get to enjoy blue-flagged beach life with a relaxed atmosphere and still catch a direct train to London in under two hours.”
Published by The Sunday Times, the Best Places to Live guide was released today.
An abridged version will be published as a magazine supplement on Sunday 23rd March.
Helen Davies, Editorial Projects Director and Best Places to Live Editor, said: “It is easy to feel overwhelmed by everything going on in the world, but there really is so much to celebrate as we look closer to home.
“From small gestures that lift the everyday – like verges blooming with daffodils and volunteer-run dementia cafés, to larger initiatives from repair cafés to new railway stations.
“What makes our guide unique is that we actually visit all the places we choose and talk to locals to find out what life is really like there.
“That means we can see what people really love about the places they live.”
Saffron Walden in Essex is named the overall Best Place to Live in the UK.