Everyone who lives in Hitchin knows it is a special place - but where does it rank compared to other towns across our area in terms of happiness?

Rightmove's Happy at Home Index analysed how residents feel about their town while asking them to rank ten happiness factors.

Issues included friendliness of neighbours, quality of local amenities, a sense of belonging and civic pride, and the quality of nature.

Hitchin came a creditable third in the entire East of England including the whole of Hertfordshire.

Bishop's Stortford came top while St Albans came runners up. Below Hitchin in fourth place came Ely then Norwich.

Rightmove says that the answers show that thanks to the Covid crisis, 30 per cent more people said they now appreciate their towns more than before the lockdown.

The property site also found people living in rural and coastal areas tend to be happier with where they live than those in cities and urban areas.

Further afield, St Ives was named the happiest place to live in Great Britain.

The Cornish seaside town beat Skipton in North Yorkshire and Leamington Spa in Warwickshire to the top spot in Rightmove's Happy at Home Index.