'I’m overjoyed I came to live here': We visit Shropshire town named UK's best to be single parent
After Bishop's Castle was named the best place in the UK to live as a single parent, we visited the rural market town to gauge resident's views.
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The town was ranked highly by family law specialists, Richard Nelson LLP, for its affordability and environment to raise a family. The firm looked at seven key factors, including average house price, salary, council tax rate, the proportion of Ofsted rated ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ schools and nurseries, the cost of electricity, crime rate, and amount of public green space.
There's certainly a lot of greenery in Bishop's Castle - surrounded by the Shropshire Hills. Data for each factor was collected for The Times' best Places to Live guide, then ranked to establish which were best for single parents.
Debora Alma owns town centre book shop, the Poetry Pharmacy, and was a single parent living in Ludlow before moving to Bishop's Castle. The business owner believes the town a fantastic environment to raise children.
She said: "I was a single parent when I was bringing my children up in Ludlow and it’s got a similar feel to that. It was a really good place to be a single parent.
"The community is so strong and everybody is so supportive of everybody else. Everyone knows each other and it’s a proper community, so I agree with it [the study] and think it’s great."
On affordability and owning a business, Debora added: "You have to think about it relative to if you are living in the city. Prices around the whole country mean that people are struggling.
