A sense of pride in the community has helped Hemel Hempstead to a top-30 spot in a list of the happiest places to live in Britain.
Online estate agent Rightmove carried out a survey of around 40,000 people across the country and assessed how much they enjoy where they live.
And the people of Hemel Hempstead were clearly content with the town – giving it a ranking of 28th out of 110 areas nationwide and fourth out of 20 in the south east.
Rightmove’s Happy At Home Index for 2013 quizzed participants on 12 factors about where they live, covering feelings towards their property, home and community.
Impressive national ratings for Hemel Hempstead came in the ‘contentment in your property’ and ‘investment in your home’ sections – where the town finished in 13th place overall.
The area also scored highly for ‘neighbourliness in your community’, securing a rating of third out of the 20 places in the south east.
The sections in which Hemel Hempstead scored lowest were ‘value in your property’ and ‘pride in your home’ which both scored a rating outside the top-80 in the country.
Harrogate came out on top of the survey overall, while Watford finished in a lowly 77th position nationwide and 18th out of 20 for the south east.
St Albans top-scored for the region, with the Roman city also taking fifth place nationwide.