Surprising Shropshire town named as one of the UK's most relaxing to visit in new study
A new study has ranked one Shropshire town amongst the top three relaxing in the country - and it might come as a surprise to some.
The study, conducted by online-casinos.com, has ranked the most relaxing UK towns using environmental and wellbeing data.
The data has ranked Harrogate as the UK’s most relaxing, with the study citing high-quality green spaces, strong cleanliness levels, low noise and light pollution, and a low population density.
While coastal and spa towns such as Eastbourne, Folkestone and Royal Leamington Spa have all placed highly, one Shropshire location has also made it on the list.
Telford - which was last week included at the rubbish end of a national newspaper's ranking of the UK's largest towns - shares joint-second place with Cheltenham.
The study claims the Shropshire town "combines strong cleanliness and safety ratings" with lower people-per-square-kilometre density.
Data suggested that Telford scored highly in 'green space quality' (88 per cent) and 'cleanliness' (79 per cent).
Researchers added: "Although Telford and Cheltenham share second place, the raw data shows clear differences.
"Cheltenham achieves the highest green space rating in the study at 100 per cent and one of the higher happiness scores (7.7), but with a significantly denser population, with more than 2,600 residents per square kilometre.
"Telford, by contrast, combines strong cleanliness and safety ratings with far lower density, at 675 residents per square kilometre.
"This suggests that while access to green space is important, lower crowding and reduced pressure on local infrastructure also play a critical role in creating relaxing environments."
