Uttlesford has once again been named as one of the best places in the UK to live.

Search by Hamptons International, based on housing affordability and happiness ratings, has placed the district as the eighth best location in the country for the most happy, though expensive areas.

Chichester, in West Sussex, tops the happy and expensive list, with Allerdale, in Cumbria, is the overall best place to live in the UK. The worst place to live, according to the research, is Harringey, in London.

In Uttlesford, where the average two-bedroom home costs £244,000, has a happiness rating, collated by the Office of National Statistics (ONS), of 7.6 and a life satisfaction rating of 7.8.

The district’s figures also placed the mean wage of residents at £47,793.

Johnny Morris, head of research at Hamptons International, said: “We compared housing affordability with happiness and life satisfaction scores to look for the most affordable and happiest housing markets.

“As we carried out the analysis we also discovered the markets where happiness was very high, despite affordability being poor as well as the markets where both affordability and happiness scores were low.

“Affordability it seems needn’t always be a barrier to happiness, in the South East at least, the less affordable markets are more likely to have a higher happiness score, likely a factor of wealthier residents living in leafy well healed areas.”