PROPERTY experts have dubbed St Ives the second best place in the UK to live - in terms of bagging yourself a bargain home. The town featured on Five s Property List programme last week. Presented by Melissa Porter and Ian Blandford, the six-part show tr

PROPERTY experts have dubbed St Ives the second best place in the UK to live - in terms of bagging yourself a bargain home.

The town featured on Five's Property List programme last week.

Presented by Melissa Porter and Ian Blandford, the six-part show travels the length and breadth of the country in search of Britain's best places to live.

In last week's episode the focus was on getting more for your money and St Ives was ranked second.

Along with its riverside location, attractive period properties, low crime, high employment and a thriving market, the town was also praised for having good transport links to Cambridge and London.

The findings were based on research complied by Savills of London who found the average house price in St Ives in 2007 was about £197,500 - 13 per cent lower than the rest of the East of England.

Lucian Cook, Director of Residential Research for Savills, said: "St Ives was the best example of an affordable but attractive market town with a good range of housing stock and good access to amenities.

"It has not been on the the radar for a lot of buyers, yet it offers a high standard of living, scoring particularly highly on employment, health and quality of living."

Jo Williams, manager of the St Ives branch of Thomas Morris estate agents, said: "People who come to St Ives to look for a home are often pleasantly surprised by what they can get for their money in such a nice area."

Coming out on top was Milton Keynes, which is said to offer the best opportunity for investors. Other places highlighted as good value for money was Denbigh in Wales, Grantham and Stafford.

- Top 10 places to live in the UK in terms of value for money, according to Savills

1) Milton Keynes

2) St Ives, Cambridgeshire

3) Bradley Stoke

4) Stafford

5) Bexley

6) Grantham

7) Denbigh

8) Leyland

9) Chester-le-Street

10) Erskine