Most people who live in the North East will tell you that there's nowhere better than their town or village.
But last weekend, Northumberland's county town Morpeth had it made official, when it was named as one of 70 of the best places to live in the UK in the Times's annual Best Places to Live Guide. The judges listed its convenience, countryside and cut-price trains to the capital as three of the main draws, but having visited on several occasions I knew there was more to it than that.
In my experience it's been a lovely place for a day trip, whether that's for perusing the independent and charity shops, wandering through the park along the river, or sampling traditional Greek food at Niko's Taberna. All of which makes for a perfect lazy weekend afternoon for those looking for an easy train trip from Newcastle.
Read more: The Sunday Times names two North East towns among the best places to live in the UK
As I wandered through the Sanderson Arcade, the music reflected the happy news with Mr Blue Sky by ELO playing from disembodied speakers. A huge bull stands over the entrance to the arcade itself, with shops like Fat Face, the Body Shop and Seasalt offering their wares inside.
But I was more interested in speaking to independents than chains that I could find in Newcastle or the Metrocentre. And since Morpeth is a historic market town, its Market Place seemed like a good place to start.
There's been a market in Morpeth since the year 1215, it once had one of Northumberland's largest meat markets. Though those days are long gone, there's still a weekly market every Wednesday and a Farmers' Market on the first Saturday of the month.
Linda Bright has been here all of her adult life and works at the E Price fruit and veg stall. I catch her in between serving customers - apparently, we're coming to the end of orange season.
She wouldn't swap the town for anywhere else, saying: "It's a great location, we have got nice people, a good variety of independent shops. We've got the coast 10 minutes away and the countryside 10 minutes the other way as well.
"We've got a lot of older people and young families too - some of the older people come in daily and have a chat every day. We know all about their families and their lives and they probably know about ours as well."
Though not there today, I also caught up with Wilmer and Elle Carcamo from Caribe Coffee, who started their business on a freezing January morning at Morpeth Market in 2019. The couple, who fell in love in the Cayman Islands before moving to Elle's hometown, appeared on Dragon's Den with their specialty coffee from Wilmer's home country of Honduras.
Though he still struggles with the weather, Wilmer loves it for the most part, and said: "People are amazing. I'm from the other side of the world and everybody is welcoming.
"You can go to a local coffee house, people say hello because they recognise you, it's a community feeling. The only thing is the weather - it's not my forte, I'm from the Caribbean so I prefer to be warm!"
And his wife and business partner is glad to be back home after years of travelling. She said: "I always seem to get pulled back here! I live in Northern Ireland, Scotland and I was in Edinburgh for uni and I always end up coming back home - I find it very easy to live here.
"From a health point of view, I run a lot and it's so nice to be able to go out of your front door and run and be surrounded by green, you don't get that in cities. And you have the benefit of being 25 minutes away from Newcastle too, so before Covid we used to go down, enjoy some salsa and Latin American evenings and then head home."
The market is right at the heart of Morpeth, connecting two of the main shopping streets: Newgate Street and Bridge Street. But you don't have to walk far from there to feel like you're away from the hustle and bustle - Carlisle Park is at most a three minute walk.
Before you get into the park itself though, you have to cross the River Wansbeck. And there's a small business on the river that's been going since the war, which is consistently popular with both locals and visitors.
Do you live in Morpeth - what's your favourite thing about it? Let us know in the comments below!
Last summer, my partner and I took one of the rowing boats out, but I didn't fancy that so much on a cold April morning. However, that hadn't put some people off.
One or two boats bobbed about, a couple slowly made their way to the bend in the river and some kids on their Easter holidays desperately tried to work out how to turn the boat before they hit the bank, not caring how many ducks got in the way. John Stewart and Tom Donnelly have rented out these boats for more than 30 years and you'll find them down here every day from April to the end of September.
John said: "It's very popular in the summer, but we still take plenty of people at this time of year. You can see wildlife when you're out in the boats, there are ducks and heron and swans - otters too but you're more likely to see them first thing in the morning."
Like Linda at the market, John was born and bred in Morpeth. He continued: "It's one of the best places in Northumberland. The one problem is now there's not enough public toilets and facilities for people coming to visit.
"But I love the boats, the people and the market. Market day is great, you get all the characters!"
After crossing the bridge in the park, I headed down to Morpeth Chantry, a Grade II listed building built in the 13th century and used as a toll house for the river crossing. Nowadays, there's no fee to cross the river and the Chantry instead is home to the town's Tourist Information Centre, and one of the county's more curious museums - dedicated to bagpipes.
And while Morpeth may not get the same volume of tourists as some spots on the coast such as Bamburgh, it's still got a steady visitor economy.
Suzanna Barlow, Manager of the Tourist Information Centre, said: "In recent years with the staycation market, people have discovered Northumberland who maybe haven't before and we've had so much TV coverage! It's generated that interested in the county and when people discover it, they realise it offers the best of both worlds.
"We have got the beautiful coastline countryside and I think when you look at Morpeth as a town to live, you've got café culture, restaurants, bars and you've got the transport links as well."
One thing Morpeth is a little short on is places to stay overnight. There are bed and breakfasts and private holiday lets, but the town centre's only hotel the Queen's Head stood empty for several years.
But that has all changed recently. It's been taken over by the team at Pleased to Meet You, and there's already a bar and tearoom there, with plans to open up 19 guest rooms upstairs.
David Bawn, Morpeth Mayor, said: "Holiday lets are a big issue in the coastal villages, but it's less of an issue here. If anything we need more holiday lets and hotel space which is why we're looking forward to Pleased to Meet You opening.
"We're in the perfect geographical location to be a gateway to Northumberland. People can stay here and go to the beaches and the castles, and then they can come back here and enjoy the nightlife."
And Alison Byard, Town Councillor for Stobhill and a Friend of the Morpeth Floral Clock, said: "We'd like more tourists in Morpeth, we're more of a day destination. Northumberland has featured so much on the telly over the summer, Antiques Roadshow was in Woodhorn, Michael Portillo was here and there's Vera as well."
I met David and Alison at the Pavilion Café in Carlisle Park, which is gearing up for its first 'big' summer after the Covid pandemic. It opened last year and is run by the town council.
If I wrote all the reasons that they both loved the town, this article would need to go in a book rather than a newspaper. However, one thing that they're both adamant should be mentioned, it's the town's community spirit and the fact that there are several active community groups.
David said: "There's every kind of club and society. The civic groups struggled during lockdown but they're flourishing again. People are realising how important meeting up is after Covid and there's been a renaissance of that, whether it's been meeting up in independent venues or going to events.
One new event that's been a big success was the inaugural Morpeth Book Festival, which around 600 people turned out to last weekend to see the likes of Ann Cleeves and Mari Hannah talk literature. Frank Rescigno, one of the festival's organisers and head of arts and culture for the Greater Morpeth Development Trust, is hoping it will become a permanent fixture in the calendar of the town that he loves.
Frank has lived in several cities across the United States and moved to Morpeth in 1989. After his retirement, he decided to stay in Northumberland rather than packing up and heading back across the Atlantic.
He said: "The quality of life that we have in Morpeth is unbeatable really, I don't know of any other place that's as amenable. People are very friendly, but that's kind of the nature of the North East."
And maybe that's the secret of what makes Morpeth such a great place to live - the people. For all the talk of what's on offer in Morpeth in terms of amenities, the community and how friendly the people are is a running theme.
I've certainly felt that whenever I've visited the town. Though I can't speak for what it's like to live here myself, I can happily recommend it as a day-trip, or even an overnight stay. And who knows, you might just fall in love with it enough to move there!
