HART has done it again.

For the third year in a row, the Hart District Council area has been named as the best place to live in the country.

The Halifax Quality of Life Survey scored the area well in almost all categories, particularly in the health of its residents and its average life expectancy.

Its 80 per cent employment rate is higher than the 71 per cent national average, but the cost of living is also high, with house prices seven times than the average annual pre-tax local income – higher than the UK average of 5.8.

Martin Ellis, economist at Halifax, said: “The Hampshire district scores highly on most of the measures used, including health, life expectancy, employment, average earnings, low crime and relatively good weather.

“These factors are reflected in the fact that adults in Hart rate themselves among the happiest and least anxious in the country.”

The Hart area covers Fleet in the east and villages such as Hook and Odiham to the west, and has good train and road links to London.

Councillor Dorothy Harvey, chairman of Hartley Wintney Parish Council, said: “I’m not surprised, certainly for our village.

“We are always saying what a beautiful village Hartley Wintney is and how lucky we are to live here.”

Uttlesford, in Essex, came second.