SKIPTON has been named the second happiest place to live in Great Britain, following research by online property agents Rightmove.

The results were revealed following this year's Happy at Home Index, with Skipton beaten to top spot by St Ives, in Cornwall.

The Rightmove study, now in its ninth year, asks residents to tell us how they feel about where they live, as well as asking them to rank ten happiness factors.

The ten factors range from how friendly the neighbours are and how good the local services are, to the sense of belonging and the quality of nature and green spaces in the area.

Kendal, in Cumbria, came in at 6th on the list, while Harrogate was ninth.

Leamington Spa, in the West Midlands, was third behind Skipton.

The 2020 study was calculated from 21,000 respondents and adds: "Our study also discovered that people living in rural and coastal locations were more likely to have developed a greater affinity with their local area during the initial lockdown period, with our study suggesting that accessibility to green spaces made people more appreciative of where they live.

"Of the people who plan to buy or rent in the next 12 months, over half (56 per cent) claimed they now place greater importance on access to nature and green spaces when deciding on the area and home they want to live in.

"This trend is most notable amongst younger home-movers in the 18-34 age group.

Overall, the experience of spending more time at home and in their local area this year has positively impacted how much people like where they live. Over one third (36 per cent) said they now like their area more, 46 per cent said there’s been no change in how they feel, and only 18 per cent said they now like their area less.