Green space, good culture and great people won’t always guarantee happiness, but they definitely help. Most of the time, when you live somewhere with those things right on your doorstep, they’re a surefire mood boost. That’s why, for it’s pick of Britain’s happiest places to live, the Guardian has given nature, culture and community centre stage.
Of course, those aren’t the only things that indicate a place’s cheeriness. The paper also weighed up factors like locals’ accessibility to heath care, the quality of public transport, crime figures, broadband speed and air quality.
After all that research, plus some discussion and ground reporting, one town emerged as Britain’s happiest place to live in 2025. According to the Guardian, it’s the Northumberland town of Berwick-upon-Tweed.
Not to be confused with North Berwick (the Sunday Times’ best place to live last year), Berwick-upon-Tweed is the northernmost town in England, sitting just 4km south of the Anglo-Scottish border. Fun fact: England and Scotland fought over the town for decades and it actually switched between the two 13 times before finally becoming English in 1482.
The Guardian said: ‘Today, Berwick-upon-Tweed remains an often overlooked jewel. Yet people who know it, adore it – it is a great place to live with community spirit in bundles.’
Berwick is packed with history, with its Elizabethan town walls (built to keep Scots out) considered some of the best preserved in Europe. For a dose of nature, it’s got Spittal beach, gorgeous coastal paths, Coronation Park (featuring a sculpture trail), Castle Vale Park and the wider Northumberland countryside to choose from.
The Guardian also recommends Riverside Cafe, Atelier and Amran’s Indian Kitchen & Grill for eating, Curfew for drinking and the Maltings for culture (film, theatre and visual arts) and community groups or clubs (‘whether tennis, tai chi, art, bowling, history, or braving the freezing North Sea’). And if you fancy a bit of city life now and again, you’ve got both Edinburgh and Newcastle just over an hour away by train.
The average house price in Berwick sits at a reasonable £220,000. At the top end, for a six-bed semi on Castle Terrace (one of the town’s ‘most desirable streets’) you’re looking at around £760,000.
Completing the Guardian’s top three happiest places to live was Evesham in second place (because ‘what could be a happier existence than living in the asparagus capital of the UK?’) and the Welsh town of Caernarfon in third place. You can find out which places in London featured in the list here.
ICYMI: The two small UK cities recently named among the happiest places to live in the world.
Plus: Rightmove named this seaside town the UK’s happiest place to live.
Stay in the loop: sign up to our free Time Out UK newsletter for the latest UK news and the best stuff happening across the country