Chorley is the 'happiest place' in Lancashire according to a new index of places across Britain.

Property website Rightmove, which runs a ‘happy at home’ index asked residents how they feel about their area. It based on 13 ‘happiness factors’.

In the northwest Kendal was top of the list followed by Altrincham and Chorley. Bury came in 6th in the Northwest and 59th nationally.

Burnley was 11th on the list (126th nationally) followed by Preston (17th in the northwest and 148th nationally) and Blackburn (18th in the northwest and 165th nationally). Both towns  came in ahead  of Manchester and Liverpool.

Bolton came in 22nd in the northwest and at 183 nationally.

The happiest place in England was believed to be Richmond upon Thames in south-west London, whilst the unhappiest was said to be Slough (number 2017 nationally) and Hillingdon at 218th .

The survey said it spoke to 26,000 people about how happy they were with their local area.

Questions posed included 'feeling proud about the area you live in’, ‘having a sense of belonging’ and 'earning enough to live comfortably’.

As well as public services and green spaces, people were also asked about 'community spirit' and if people were 'generally polite'.

In second and third place nationally this year were Winchester and Monmouth in Wales.

Residents of the borough of Richmond scored it highly for 'feeling a sense of belonging to the area and being comfortable to be themselves'. Homes here can cost close to £1m (£952,305) and the average rent is said to be around £3,100 a month.