The 400 residents of Hinton St George may be expecting a large flock of elderly people looking to move to the sleepy village, after it was declared as having the highest life expectancy in the UK.

The survey, conducted by Towers Watson, found that on average men in the village live to 88.7 years old, and women to the age of 91.6.

Conversely, the worst place for life expectancy was found to be Bootle, Merseyside, which has a male life expectancy of 84.9 and female 85 (which we don't think is too bad!).

The study was based on mortality rates among 1.5 million retired people in 51 final-salary pension schemes.

The top 15 locations in the UK are mostly Southern seaside towns, such as Aldeburgh in Suffolk, Frinton-on-Sea in Essex, Seaview in the Isle of Wight and Ferndown in Dorset.

The worst 15 - apart from Bootle and Salford - are in Scotland and Northern Ireland, including Castlederg, Strabane, Belfast, Saltcoats, Londonderry and Prestonpans.

Unfortunately, however, Matthew Fletcher, a senior consultant at Towers Watson, explains: "Where people live can be a powerful predictor of how long they will live.

"Of course, this does not mean that a man could extend his life by four years simply by moving from Merseyside to Somerset.