WILTSHIRE has come 12th in a poll of the counties with the highest quality of life in England.

The counties were judged in a range of categories including sunshine hours, sports and arts, tranquillity and education in the survey, carried out by Country Life magazine.

Wiltshire came away with 54 points out of a possible 100, 18 points behind the winning county of Devon.

Wiltshire County Council leader Peter Chalke said: "I think Wiltshire is a wonderful place because I was born and brought up in the county and I would love to have seen us placed a bit higher."

The magazine collated its information from a variety of sources including Government departments, countryside organisations and the met office, and counties were rated on everything from the number of birds in the trees to the number of good pubs.

Coun Chalke said he was not sure about the methodology behind the report, stating the number of good pubs, a category in which the county scored just two out of five points, as an example of where he thought it went wrong.

Wiltshire also scored low when it came to education but scored better for its tranquillity and its sunshine hours.

Wiltshire is home to some of the most picturesque towns and villages in the country, often attracting filmmakers to the county.

Lacock and Castle Combe have both been used to film scenes for the hugely popular Harry Potter films and Longleat, Lord Bath's country home near Warminster, is the perfect venue to shoot historical dramas.

The landscape points in the survey were awarded for any areas of outstanding natural beauty, heritage cost or a national park and Wiltshire scored only four out of ten, a point hotly disputed by west Wiltshire MP Andrew Murrison.

Dr Murrison said: "Quality of life in Wiltshire is very high and I think we are all extremely lucky to be living in such a beautiful county.

"I am surprised the survey hasn't underscored that point more than it has.

"I am particularly surprised by the adverse comparison between Wiltshire and Hampshire when anyone familiar with that county will know how it has suffered from over-development. In Wiltshire we have hitherto maintained most of the county's character."