A sense of community is what makes a place feel like home. Knowing your neighbours, knowing the best restaurants and knowing your way back from the pub in the dark can all turn a random city into a comforting environment.
That’s what makes our holiday parks so special. The park manager will stop for a chat, your neighbours will pop by for a drink and you’ll know the best local chippy for your supper. We wanted to see where in the UK that sense of community is the strongest. Ranking cities on things like happiness, safety and the number of local businesses, we can reveal the best community in the country.
What’s more, we’ve got static caravans for sale near all of the top contenders.
The best communities in the country
Edinburgh revealed as UK’s strongest community
It’s up in Scotland where you’ll find the strongest community in the UK. Edinburgh takes the title, scoring highly for happiness (7.4/10), local businesses (998), community activities (1,151) and local Facebook groups (91).
The city also reported less crime than anywhere else in the country, with only 124 incidents in the last 12 months.
Exeter comes in second place. The city just outside of Devon scores slightly higher for happiness (7.8/10) and Facebook groups (95), however, falls back on local businesses (673) and community activities (254). Safety also costs Exeter points, with 5,306 crimes reported in the last year.
Completing our top three is Oxford. The historical city is packed with architecture, character and stories, as well as the world famous university. It also scores well for happiness (7.4/10), community activities (475) and Facebook groups (97), while being home to 775 local businesses.
Edinburgh, Bournemouth and York have more local businesses than anywhere else
Local businesses aren’t just great news for the nearby economy, but they’re also fantastic at making you feel like a part of the community. Nip down to the bakery and have a chat while picking up a loaf of bread, head to the coffee shop and be surrounded by friends at breakfast, order from a barkeeper that knows your drink.
Several cities on our list score well here, with Edinburgh, Bournemouth, York, Glasgow, Northampton, Cardiff and Brighton all boasting 998 local businesses poised to serve residents and visitors.
In Edinburgh, it’s the food that keeps the community together. Bowls is an incredible vegan restaurant that serves up a sumptuous selection of Mediterranean meals, while The Table is a real exclusive affair. Capable of seating just 10 people at a time, one chef will cook you a Middle Eastern masterpiece that feels like a family feast.
York is renowned for its history as well as its pubs. One of its spookiest is The Golden Fleece. Set amongst some of the city’s oldest buildings at the bottom of The Shambles, it’s said to be one of the UK’s most haunted buildings and could be home to 15 different spirits.
Brighton’s local businesses boom by the seaside. If you fancy more than one bite to eat, you could join the Very Independent Brighton Walking Food Tour. The tour will take you through some of the city’s culinary hot spots, letting you have a taste of a little bit of everything.
People in Weymouth can’t stop smiling
Weymouth is one of the happiest places in the UK, based on things like friendly neighbours, good local services and access to nature. The Dorset town enjoys stunning views of the coast, along with all the fun and games of the seaside.
The bustling resort fills up in summertime as locals flock to soak up the southern sun. We’ve got caravans for sale at West Bay Holiday Park where you can enjoy the same Jurassic Coast views.
Crawley is another town that scores well for happy faces. Situated just outside of London, locals can enjoy an easy train ride into the capital, or an even shorter trip to the beach at Brighton.
Wrapping up our happy top three is Horsham. The market town in West Sussex runs along the River Arun and is packed with picturesque houses, cafes, restaurants and more.
Edinburgh and Glasgow lead the way for safety
A sense of community isn’t complete without feeling safe. In two of Scotland’s biggest cities, that’s no problem.
Edinburgh only reported 124 crimes last year, with the historic castle looming over any wrongdoers. Glasgow was only just behind with 143 crimes, showing how friendly and respectful people are north of the border.
We’ve got caravans for sale throughout Scotland. Settle in and enjoy the sights, sounds and security of this stunning, rugged country.
Put yourself at the heart of the community
Owning a caravan means you’ve got a holiday home away from home. You can come back every year and feel part of the local community, share breakfast with the same neighbours, chat to the same friends and enjoy the same great food, drinks, atmosphere and experiences.
It’s a holiday that you can get to know and love time and time again.
We’ve got caravans for sale in some of the strongest communities across the UK. Whether you’re looking for a small place to put your feet up after a day of exploring, or an indulgent space to relax and recline in with the whole family, we’ve got the caravan for you.
Explore all our caravans for sale and find a place to call your own.
Methodology
We ranked UK towns and cities based on happiness, safety, number of local businesses, number of community activities and number of Facebook groups to determine which place has the strongest sense of community.
We sourced our happiness rates from ONS, safety stats from ADT, number of local businesses from the UK Small Business Directory, number of community activities from TripAdvisor and number of Facebook groups directly from Facebook.
The locations were then put in order based on a final index score which decided the areas with the strongest sense of community, made up of their results for every metric. If an area didn’t have data for a particular metric it was removed from the final results.