PEOPLE who live in Bucks are the healthiest in the country. They have the highest life expectancy - babies born today can expect to live until they're 80 - and they're also among the best paid in Britain with the average salary at £40,000 a year.

Buckinghamshire has come out top in the latest Halifax survey to find the counties in Britain which offer residents the best quality of life.

The findings published today revealed that our county scores highly on each of the indicators pointing to quality of life: health, education performance, earnings, housing quality, weather, carbon emissions and levels of crime.

Children in Bucks do third best at GCSEs but class sizes at primary school can't match the Western Isles where the average number of pupils in a class is 14.4.

It won't come as a shock that Bucks houses are the biggest in the country - the average is 6.1 rooms - but surprisingly they're by no means the most expensive. The average price of £313,644 puts the county in 25th place - the 13 most expensive are all London boroughs. Even so, buyers pay a premium of £21,501 above the South East average for a home in Bucks.

It is the first time the Halifax has ranked counties for quality of life.

Surrey was placed second in the top 50 and Merton in London came bottom.

Halifax chief economist Martin Ellis says there's a price to pay for living in the county with the mostest. "Average prices trade at a premium so there is a price for reaping the benefits of living in Buckinghamshire."

And to cap it all, the sun even shines longer here - usually about 28.7 hours a week compared with the average of 27.7 in other counties.