"Don't think it is bumpkin central" for one moment is how the Sunday Times introduced its readers to the Gloucestershire market town of Stroud.

It ranks the capital of the Five Valleys in its Sunday Times Best Places to Live 2018 in association with Habito - with the town coming in at number seven in its list for the South West.

"This is the other end of the Cotswolds from Chipping Norton, in more ways than one: in this unspoilt countryside, you're more likely to see an overworked Land Rover than an Overfinch Range Rover.

"But don't think this is bumpkin central: Stroud itself is a bohemian foodie kind of place, left leaning both politically and spiritually, and happily catering for everyone from hippies to high-net-worthers," is how the newspaper's glossy guide goes on to sum up Stroud.

"Jasper Conran called it the Covent Garden of the Cotswolds - and, while he was probably thinking of its farmers' market, it also likes to make a song and dance."

As the Sunday Times points out, the town's Fringe music festival has become so popular organisers have taken a year off to work out how best to accommodate the growing crowds.

And its once neglected canal is currently being refreshed by volunteers from the Cotswold Canals Trust. Progress was recently felt sufficient enough for a visit from His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales - patron of The Canal & Rivers Trust.

Several of the district's schools - the national title points out - also make it into made The Sunday Times Parent Power guide, with two primaries (Woodchester Endowed and Rodborough Community) making the top 100.

Girls' grammar Stroud High and boys' grammar Marling also score highly, the Sunday Times points out.

And if Stroud is quite to your fancy, you can't go too far wrong with the surrounding villages either according to the article.

Researching what makes the "perfect home" was, according to the national newspaper and website, no easy task.

"Decisions are hard. Weighing up the benefits of Peckham versus Painswick, for example, is a challenge.

"We have poured over the statistics: school league tables and crime rates, house prices and the number of parks and leisure centres a town may have," said the Sunday Times.

Ultimately, it said, it went for "locations with all the essentials and a little bit more".

Coming in ahead of Stroud in the South West listing were Bodmin Moor, Cornwall, Bridport, Dorset, Bristol, Bishopston, Falmouth, Cornwall, Marlborough, Wiltshire.

Stroud was followed by Tavistock, Devon, Tisbury, Wiltshire, Totnes, Devon and Wadebridge, Cornwall.