The 7 traditional Home Counties, which directly surround London and are known for being affluent commuter areas, are Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent, Surrey, and Sussex. These counties constitute the primary ring around the capital, though sometimes Bedfordshire, Hampshire, or others are included in broader definitions.
Things taken into consideration in the report's rankings included each location's history and culture, natural wonders, luxuries and peace and quiet. The best home county was Kent, followed by East Sussex and Surrey respectively.
This comprises Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland as individual regions, and England divided into 9 separate regions. These are London, North East, North West, Yorkshire, East Midlands, West Midlands, South East, East of England and South West.
Explore Your Family Heritage from the Home Counties in England
Which is the smallest UK county?
The smallest county in the UK, by area for historic counties, is Rutland in England, measuring about 147 square miles (382 sq km) and known for its rural charm, attractive villages, and Rutland Water. However, if considering ceremonial counties, the City of London (the "Square Mile") is technically the smallest at just 1.15 sq miles (3 sq km).
Greater London was established in 1965 as an administrative unit covering the London metropolis. It was not defined as a county but had a two-tier structure, with the lower tier being the London boroughs.
A Legal and Historical Agreement That Defines Everything
Because of this long-standing agreement — and because the nations under the British Crown are unified under a single sovereign framework — they cannot compete at the Olympics under their individual country names.
While several counties have ancient roots, Kent is widely considered England's oldest county, retaining its name and identity from the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Kent, established by the Jutes in the 5th century, long before unified England or the Norman-era use of "county". Other early contenders include Hampshire and Wessex, which also formed early administrative areas from Anglo-Saxon kingdoms.
The 'United Kingdom' refers to a political union between England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. Although the UK is a fully independent sovereign state, the four nations that make it up are also countries in their own right and have a certain extent of autonomy.
Shire (/ʃaɪər/) is a traditional term for an administrative division of land in Great Britain and some other English-speaking countries. It is generally synonymous with county (such as Cheshire and Worcestershire). English counties are among the oldest extant national divisions in the world.
London's most famous nickname is "The Big Smoke," referring to its historical air pollution from coal, but other nicknames include "The Square Mile" (for its financial district) and "The Great Wen," a disparaging term from the 1820s. It's also called "The Metropolis" and, due to Russian oligarchs, "Londongrad" or "Moscow on the Thames".
The term "Great Britain" can also refer to the political territory of England, Scotland and Wales, which includes their offshore islands. This territory, together with Northern Ireland, constitutes the United Kingdom.
Surrey is also known as a considerably wealthy county, holding the highest GDP per capita in the UK. The area is a great location for both families and individuals to live in, with a whole host of different amenities and an excellent network of busses and trains running throughout.
Fordwich /ˈfɔːrdwɪtʃ/ is a market town and a civil parish in east Kent, England, on the River Stour, northeast of Canterbury. It is the smallest community by population in Britain with a town council.
Rutland, unitary authority and historic county in the East Midlands of England. Rutland, wedged between Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire, and Northamptonshire, is the smallest historic county in England. Oakham is the administrative centre.
The oldest city in the UK is widely considered to be Colchester, in Essex, recognized as Britain's oldest recorded town and former Roman capital, officially gaining city status in 2022, though with continuous occupation and Roman origins dating back centuries before that. Its claim stems from being the first Roman colony, Camulodunum, mentioned in ancient texts (around 43 AD) and as a significant Iron Age center.
