The Sunday Instances Greatest Locations to Stay 2025 revealed – Buzz Credit score

Property brokers in Saffron Walden can be happy to be taught that the Essex city has been named the very best place to reside within the annual Sunday Instances Greatest Locations to Stay information.

The genteel market city tops an inventory of 72 places throughout the UK chosen by The Sunday Instances to characterize the very best of Britain in The Sunday Instances Greatest Locations to Stay 2025.

The annual information gives nice advertising and marketing materials for property brokers within the prime featured areas, notably these named among the many ten regional winners.

Regional winners:

EAST OF ENGLAND: Chelmsford, Essex

LONDON: Walthamstow

MIDLANDS: Ilmington, Warwickshire

NORTHERN IRELAND: Dundrum, Co Down

NORTH & NORTHEAST: Ilkley, West Yorkshire

NORTHWEST: Woolton, Liverpool

SCOTLAND: North Berwick, East Lothian

SOUTHEAST: Petersfield, Hampshire

SOUTHWEST: Chew Valley, Somerset

WALES: Gower Peninsula, Swansea

Judges stated that Saffron Walden was chosen for its knockout historic seems to be with glorious state colleges, a wealthy cultural providing and an exploding foodie scene in addition to its handy commuter hyperlinks to London and Cambridge.

The market city used to have a repute for being stuffy, old style and costly. Whereas the property costs are nonetheless excessive, SW is having fun with a graceful new lease of life. Incomers are bringing recent concepts, cool unbiased retailers and engaging locations to eat. If the standard excessive avenue is dying, Saffron Walden is reinventing it for the twenty first century.

Helen Davies, editorial initiatives director and Greatest Locations to Stay editor, stated: “It’s simple to really feel overwhelmed by every thing happening on the planet, however there actually is a lot to have fun as we glance nearer to residence. From small gestures that elevate the on a regular basis – like verges blooming with daffodils and volunteer-run dementia cafés, to bigger initiatives, from restore cafés to new railway stations.”

The Sunday Instances’s skilled judges visited all of the places and assessed components from colleges to move, broadband speeds and cellular sign to tradition, in addition to entry to inexperienced areas and the well being of the excessive avenue.

The chosen places are available all styles and sizes, from the Scottish Island of Tiree and the distant Welsh village of Maenclochog to vibrant market cities, and suburbs of massive, full of life cities akin to Leeds, Liverpool, Sheffield and London.

There are extra new entries than ever earlier than on this 12 months’s information and no place for a lot of earlier winners together with York, Winchester, and Altrincham. As all the time, the judges seemed for thriving places with a powerful sense of neighborhood slightly than well-known names with excessive home costs.

Davies stated: “What makes our information distinctive is that we really go to all of the locations we select and speak to locals to seek out out what life is de facto like there.

“Meaning we are able to see what folks actually love concerning the locations they reside. That could possibly be something from distinctive colleges and quick trains to lovely homes and countryside. The well being of the excessive avenue is vital, however greater than anything, what we’re in search of are cities, villages and cities with sturdy communities who work onerous to make the very best of the place they reside, and play onerous too.

“We additionally contemplate affordability. Excessive home costs aren’t any barrier to inclusion – so long as they supply worth for cash. Completely different folks can be in search of totally different qualities when they’re selecting a spot to reside. One factor all our chosen places have in frequent is that the individuals who reside in them are proud to name them residence.”

Amanda Bryden, head of Halifax Mortgages, which sponsored the information, commented: “We all know it may be daunting shopping for your first residence, trying to transfer to your subsequent residence and even getting a brand new mortgage to your present residence. There may be a lot to consider even when you’ve discovered the correct home in the correct space. The perfect factor to do is communicate to a mortgage adviser as early as you possibly can within the course of. They are going to be ready that will help you perceive the mortgages accessible to you and find out how to get the very best deal to your circumstances that will help you concentrate on the thrilling issues that include shopping for a house too.”

Earlier winners of the Greatest Locations to Stay in Britain title are: Stamford, Lincolnshire (2013); Skipton, North Yorkshire (2014); Newnham, Cambridge (2015); Winchester, Hampshire (2016); Bristol (2017), York (2018), Salisbury, Wiltshire (2019), Altrincham, Cheshire (2020) Stroud, Gloucestershire (2021), Ilkley, West Yorkshire (2022) Wadhurst, East Sussex (2023), and North Berwick, East Lothian (2024).