South West gets vote as the most desirable place to live

Even if home owners had unlimited bundles of cash to splash out, the majority of those surveyed by property website Primelocation.com would want no more than a ‘modest’ four or five bedrooms.

Almost one third (30 per cent) said their dream location to set up home would be in the South West, a region packed with attractions including honey-hued Cotswold villages, the dramatic coastlines of Devon and Cornwall and the Georgian terraces sweeping through the world heritage site of Bath.

The findings suggested that in an ideal world, most people would shun the bright lights of the city, with half of people surveyed aspiring to live in a rural village or a country town and around a fifth choosing a seaside town as the perfect place to live.

Just one in seven of 3,500 home owners surveyed would live in London, despite house prices holding up relatively strongly in England’s vibrant capital.

Victorian and Edwardian homes are seen as the most desirable properties and a multi car garage and walk-in wardrobes were also high on people’s dream lists.

The majority of those surveyed also said that their ideal home would be detached.

Lawrence Hall, spokesman for Primelocation.com, said: “Typical British reserve and understatement shines through in selecting of their ideal property.

“Forget sprawling mansions or flash penthouses, the quintessential English country house with enough room for a family is what the majority of Brits view as their dream home.

“A quiet rural retreat is preferred to city life and with numerous chocolate-box villages spread across the South West it’s little wonder the majority of Brits would position their ideal home there.”

The website also found that problem neighbours would be the biggest turn-off for people househunting for their ideal property.

More than half (57 per cent) of people surveyed said that anti-social neighbours would put them off buying a home, followed by 28 per cent who felt that an unkempt garden would make a home less desirable.

Just 4 per cent of people in the survey said they would make Yorkshire and Humberside their home.