I visited the Staffordshire town named one of the best places to live in the UK by the Sunday Times and discovered a wonderful community

I've been lucky enough to travel all over this country, from driving over the Highlands in Scotland to along the Jurassic Coast in Dorset, around the East Anglian coast and on long drives to and from Devon.

However, there's a town only 25 miles from my home in Wolverhampton that I've never been to and never taken the time previously to do so in Eccleshall in Staffordshire.

It's a name I would see as I was leaving the M6 at junction 14 on my way to Stafford, or through emails sent my way regarding food festivals, flower arrangements and other civic matters, but I'd never made the effort to go there before.

However, the town has been named as one of the top places in the UK to live by the Sunday Times, something which was decided and announced after expert judges visited and assessed factors from schools to transport, broadband speeds and mobile signal to culture, as well as access to green spaces and the health of the high street.

For Eccleshall, the judges said: "The sweet scent of woodsmoke hangs over the coaching inns and the Grade II listed, quaintly arched high street shopfronts in this Staffordshire town.

"Eccleshall carries on much as it has done for the past 600 years. Officially a town but a village in look, feel and community spirit, it feels safe, looks pretty and has history.

"There’s also a cricket club, a busy and competitive football club, a primary school and a year-round programme of community events that keeps locals busy."

With that high praise, it seemed a good time to venture into the Staffordshire countryside and finally visit the town to see whether the hype matched the reality.

Set amid leafy green countryside, the vivid Eccleshall sign, which is adorned with a horse-drawn carriage and a church, sits on the busy A5013 road as a welcoming beacon.