BEAUTIFUL countryside, living close to family and friends, and a strong sense of community are the things that make people across Cumbria and north Lancashire happy, according to building society The Cumberland.

A customer survey showed 49 per cent of people ranked the closeness of loved ones most highly; followed by rural scenery for 28 per cent of people; and community spirit for 23 per cent.

Alex Windle, The Cumberland’s marketing director, said: "As part of our #GrinUpNorth campaign, we want to shine a light on the North West to highlight that there are plenty of reasons to ‘grin up north’. To prove that it is anything but grim, we felt our customers were best placed to tell us exactly what they love about their local area – with the people and surrounding scenery coming out on top."

The North West-based building society has been ranked as having the happiest bank account customers in the UK by Fairer Finance for a second time.

The Cumberland also surveyed its customers on what they like most about it, with customer service coming out on top for 52 per cent of people.

Among them are Ulverston couple Rhianne and Daniel Foster, who opened Cumberland savings accounts for their sons Flynn, 20 months, and Dylan, 12 weeks, after shopping around.

"The customer service was also absolutely brilliant," said Rhianne, "and the branch was really child-friendly, which was important to us."