A large housing estate in Dorset has been named among the top 10 places to live in England and Wales.
Merley, which is located near the villages of Oakley and Canford Magna, ranked in ninth place out of 1,447 locations.
The list comes from Garrington Property Finders, who analysed all these locations based on a few key factors.
These were natural environment, wellbeing, heritage & culture, schools & jobs and value for money.
An interactive tool breaking down the scores for every location can be found on the Garrington Property Finders website here.
Why is Merley among the best places to live in England and Wales?
Merley made the top 10 list thanks to wellbeing aspects, low crime rates and low pollution levels among other factors.
Its scores in each category were broken down as follows:
- Natural Environment: 59
- Wellbeing: 30
- Heritage/Culture: 598
- Schools, Employment & Connectivity: 463
- House Price Quality & Value: 406
The average price of a family home here is listed as £571,783.
Explaining why Merley ranked so highly, Danny Rowland, Garrington Regional Partner in Dorset, shared: "It may come as a surprise that the suburban neighbourhood of Merley ranks so highly in our data-led, quantitative analysis.
"But Merley performed strongly in the Natural Environment category of our ranking, as it has easy access to beautiful areas such as The Cranborne Chase Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and to the sandy beaches of Bournemouth.
"It is also an area of low flood risk, despite its proximity to the River Stour and the current floods.
"Merley also scores highly on wellbeing factors such as access to parks and footpaths, and has low air pollution levels and low crime rates."
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How did other Dorset areas rank in the list?
Sherborne was ranked as the second-best place to live in Dorset, but it was ranked a fair few places below Merley in 242nd.
Meanwhile, Dorchester was in third place in the county in 297th place.
Comparing how other major locations ranked in Dorset, Bournemouth was 299th, Poole was 569th, Christchurch was 759th, Bridport was 915th, and Weymouth was 965th.
What do you think is the best place to live in Dorset? Let us know in the comments.
