A stream of sunshine, a nearby ocean, and an eternal, fulfilled promise of harmony would probably tick all the boxes when it comes to choosing somewhere to live in London. Since we aren’t afforded that luxury, it seems that a beautiful path along the Thames, a giant park with deer roaming around, and a nice proximity to royal botanic gardens will do the trick around here.
Need proof? Richmond has just been named the happiest place to live in the UK in the annual “Happy At Home” index by (TW if you’re switching houses at the moment) Rightmove. It saw off stiff competition across the country, including from Winchester, Hampshire, and Monmouth, Wales, taking the second and third places.
It’s the 12th year this study has been carried out, and this marks the first time a London borough has ever taken the spot, with Richmond given full bragging rights. Green spaces in the borough played a part in the area landing at number one, with residents also “feeling a sense of belonging to the area and being comfortable to be themselves”.
Fancy moving to Richmond off the back of reading the Rightmove index? Great idea! But you may want to be sitting down to read about the house prices in the area. Renting a spot is going to set you back around £3,148-per-month, and to buy a place outright, you’re looking at forking out just shy of £1m, on average (and that’s before you start looking at the type of house that many a celebrity tends to splash out on in the area).
London’s second happiest borough was Kensington (also close to giant green spaces), which came in at eight overall, just ahead of St. Ives in Cornwall, which topped the list last year. City of London (#21), Camden (#23), and Wandsworth (#25) came just behind in the London running order.
Happy At Home index was completed by more than 26,000 people this year, and factors such as a sense of community were said to be key to happiness in this year’s study.
Tim Bannister, who is a property expert at Rightmove, spoke on the study, saying: “The results of this year’s study highlight that residents continue to value living near green spaces and natural beauty – features that became all the more important during the pandemic.”
Check out the full rankings by Rightmove here.