The Dukes of Northumberland have known it for 700 years, but it is now official -the small Northumberland town of Alnwick is the best place to live in Britain. In a survey measuring quality of life, Country Life magazine chose Alnwick -home to the Dukes of Northumberland since 1309 -ahead of second-placed Midhurst in West Sussex and Cornwall's Fowey, which tied with Gloucestershire's Tetbury in third place. "It's just a beautiful place to live in," the 12th Duke of Northumberland said when asked what made the market town, population 8,000, so special. "There's fantastic scenery, good beaches, great fishing and the traffic is not as bad as London." The imposing presence of Alnwick castle -used as Hogwarts wizardry school in the Harry Potter films -also helped secure the town's victory. Despite the northeast's inclement climate ?"the town scored no marks for that," said Country Life editor Clive Aslet -Alnwick also beat its southern rivals in its low crime rates, provision of affordable housing and a variety of local shops. "We've got one of the best second-hand bookshops in the country," said the Duke. The survey did not measure economic prosperity. According to Aslet, a mix of beauty and communal spirit was considered more important than income. "It's about quality of life and if you want that, then a high income doesn't matter," he said. Alnwick is also just a 30-minute drive from Newcastle. "If I drive half-an-hour from my London office I'm still stuck in the Edgware Road," said Aslet.

诺森伯兰公爵们在700年前就知道了这件事情，不过它现在得到了正式认可——诺森伯兰郡的阿尼克小镇是英国最适宜居住的地方。《田园生活》杂志举办了一次关于生活质量的调查，将1309年以来历任诺森伯兰公爵的家乡阿尼克选为英国的最佳居住地点，西萨塞克斯的米德赫斯特名列第二，并列第三的是康沃尔郡的福伊和格洛斯特郡的泰特伯里。在被问及是什么使这个8000人的集镇如此不同凡响时，第12代诺森伯兰公爵说：“它就是一处美丽的居所。这里有绝佳的风景、美丽的海滩和上好的钓鱼场所，交通也不像伦敦那样糟糕。”壮丽的阿尼克城堡——哈利·波特电影中的霍格维茨魔法学校就是它——也为它的获胜助了一臂之力。尽管阿尼克小镇所处的东北部气候恶劣——《田园生活》的编辑克里夫·埃斯莱特说：“它在这上面得了零分。”——它还是凭借低犯罪率、相宜的房价以及种类齐全的商铺击败了南方的对手。公爵说：“全国最好的二手书店有一个就在这里。”调查没有涉及经济的繁荣程度。根据埃斯莱特的说法，他们认为美景与公众信念的结合比收入水平更加重要。他说：“调查着眼于生活质量以及你个人的期望，因此高收入水平不算什么优势。”阿尼克离纽卡斯尔也只有半小时的车程。埃斯莱特说：“要是我开车从伦敦的办公室出发，半小时后我还堵在埃奇韦尔路上。”

Remarks：尽管有这样的结果，相信这个小镇还是可以保有先前的宁静——毕竟，对很多人来说，繁华与热闹的生活才是“有质量的生活”。