A town in East Lothian has been named the best place to live in Scotland by The Sunday Times.
North Berwick came out on top in a list of eight locations across Scotland chosen by the publication to represent the best of Britain in the annual Sunday Times Best Places to Live guide.
The Sunday Times’s expert judges assessed a wide range of factors, from schools, air quality, transport and broadband speeds to culture, green spaces and the health of the high street - and the popular coastal town took the top spot.
North Berwick wasn't the only local town to place in the list either - coming in at 8th for the whole of Scotland was Portobello.
The judges said: "Maybe it’s the energy radiating from North Berwick Law, a 300 million-year-old volcanic plug that stands brooding over the town, or the profusion of yoga teachers practising downward-facing dogs at the Barefoot Sanctuary event space near Milsey Bay beach.
"Either way, there’s no denying the spiritual aura of North Berwick, an elegant seaside resort that has been luring jaded urbanites from Edinburgh – only 30 minutes away – and beyond for decades.
"Never more so than during the pandemic, when locals working from home have been able to wander the shoreline or simply gaze out to the gannet-speckled Bass Rock in their lunch hour".
Helen Davies, The Times and Sunday Times Property Editor, said: “North Berwick is our winner in Scotland because it is one place that really does have it all: heavenly beaches, jaw-dropping views from North Berwick Law, a successful secondary school and a lively high street.”
The full list is as follows:
The Sunday Times Best Places to Live 2021: Scotland
● Winner: North Berwick, East Lothian
● Bearsden, East Dunbartonshire
● Broughty Ferry, Tayside
● Dennistoun, Glasgow
● Dunkeld, Perth and Kinross
● Isle of Eigg
● Melrose, the Borders
● Portobello, Edinburgh
See the full Sunday Times Best Places to Live guide here.
