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The Ribble Valley in Lancashire with its rolling hills and market towns and beautiful villages is officially the happiest place in the UK, according to the Office for National Statistics.
Less well-known nationally than the internationally renowned Lake District, it still pulls in four million visitors a year which bring in more than £260m for the area’s economy.
The researchers from the ONS found on a happiness scale ranging from zero to 10, Ribble Valley’s residents scored an average of 8.30 when asked to rank how happy they felt.
This was significantly higher than the 7.56 score of the country as a whole. Anxiety levels in Ribble Valley were low, too, at 2.4 out of 10.
Residents across England were asked on a scale on 0 to 10 to rate how satisfied they are with their life overall, whether they feel they had any meaning and purpose in their life, and about emotions (happiness and anxiety) during a particular period.
The Office for National Statistics found there was little change in personal well-being measures in the UK, apart from a slight improvement (of 0.04 points) of average happiness ratings.
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The Ribble Valley stretches from the ancient market town of Clitheroe with its ruined Norman castle to the picture-perfect village of Waddington, two miles away, and into the vast and unspoilt Forest of Bowland, taking in the wilderness of the moorland with its distant views of Blackpool on the Fylde coast.
Recent figures suggest visitor numbers to the Ribble Valley are up 7.4 per cent on 2018’s figures.
There’s also Whalley Abbey, which dates back to the 1300s on the banks of the River Calder.
Eight miles away at Sawley, are the remains of a Cistercian Abbey. The skyline is dominated by the looming Pendle Hill after the witchcraft trials of 1612.
Manchester, Blackburn and Bolton are within reach by train and the motorway network makes it commutable for Preston and Lancaster, about 40 minutes away or an hour to Blackpool and Manchester.
The area also has a reputation for epicurean delights with the Inn at Whitewell winning accolades for its range of food and visitors flock to the Clitheroe Food Festival in their thousands.
In an interview with the Lancashire Evening Post, Ribble Valley Council’s leader, Stephen Atkinson, said the visitor figures “reflect another year of sustainable growth in the local visitor economy”.
In second place in the survey is the Orkney Islands (marginally: as they have 8.29 points along with Chichester). Then Hambleton with 8.19 points and Fylde with 8.18.
The bottom five are Norwich with 7.15, Worcester with 7.14, Lincoln with 7.09 and South Ribble with 7.02 and Surrey Heath at 6.71.
Perhaps it’s not a surprise. In March, the Royal Mail found it to be the fifth happiest place in England after examining life expectancy, crime rates and personal wellbeing.
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