A seaside town has been named as the best place to live in Scotland.
North Berwick, in East Lothian, took the top spot in the annual Sunday Times Best Places to Live guide.
Seven other locations were featured in the list, which was released online on Friday.
Judges said the East Lothian town was renowned for its "spiritual aura", and said it is an "elegant seaside resort" which has been "luring jaded urbanites from Edinburgh and beyond for decades".
READ MORE: Scotland's Insider Guide: North Berwick
While it ranked top in Scotland, North Berwick swooped in at a cool eighth in the overall UK ranking, with Stroud in the Southwest of England placing top, followed by Woodbridge in the East of England and Teddington in London.
Joining North Berwick in the top eight were areas from across Scotland.
In ranked order, the complete list is:
- North Berwick, East Lothian (Winner)
- Bearsden, East Dunbartonshire
- Broughty Ferry, Tayside
- Dennistoun, Glasgow
- Dunkeld, Perth and Kinross
- Isle of Eigg
- Melrose, the Borders
- Portobello, Edinburgh
Helen Davies, The Times and Sunday Times Property Editor, said: “This guide has never been so important. The pandemic has taught us just how much we rely on our homes, our communities and our surroundings.
"With working from home now common, it’s no surprise that many of us are reassessing our priorities and thinking hard about where we really want to live.
READ MORE: Five things you need to know about Dennistoun
“Our focus for this year has been community, countryside and convenience. It hasn’t been a year for big cities or small villages. Instead it is small towns that have shone: big enough to have everything you need within walking distance and small enough for everyone to feel connected.
“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.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here