Westbury nestles on the hillside underneath one of Wiltshire's most famous landmarks, the Westbury White Horse.

Originally a weaving and cloth making town, Georgian homes surround the market square in the centre and there are many fine Victorian buildings in the town.

New housing developments at Westbury Leigh are attracting businesses to the area and initiatives like free parking mean more people now visit the town.

Westbury was at one time the cheapest town to live in west Wiltshire, but prices have risen.

There are lots of new developments in and around Westbury featuring large modern homes, which may explain why the average house prices in the town have been rising steadily for the last five years.

However, the average house price this year is only £634 more than last year, putting Westbury prices below average and making the town more accessible for first-time buyers.

Schools in the area are particularly strong. Matravers is an 11-18 school with specialist arts college status. Currently there are approximately 1,000 students on roll but over the next five years numbers will rise to 1,300 plus.

New shops are coming to the area and the High Street is a bustling place with both new and old businesses.

Claire Adams lives in Leigh Park and has been in the Westbury area for 25 years.

She said: "Westbury is child-friendly, there are lots of sports clubs such as football, rugby, netball, golf, cricket, tennis - plus loads run by Leighton Sports at the sports centre.

"There is a nine hole golf course at LaFarge for members or men, ladies and juniors can pay and play. Westbury has a sailing club and is a popular fishing area.

"There is also a swimming pool in the centre of town, a soft play centre, park, organisations like scouts, brownies, guides, cadets and plenty of woods and walks.

"There are several pre-schools, primary schools and one secondary school that specialises in the arts, music, dance and drama.

"While we don't have a huge selection of shops, we have a great traditional butchers, a hardware store where you can generally find anything, a menswear shop which surprises you when you go in - they sell everything for men of any shape or size- together with a selection of other small local shops.

"In terms of restaurants, there's a good Chinese (the Champion), good Indian (a Tale of Spice III), great bistro (Deans - a tea room during the day), a la carte restaurant (the Garden House Hotel) and other eating places - White Rabbit, Cedars Hotel, and an Italian on Leigh Park estate, with a Thai restaurant opening very soon.

"There are lots of pubs and a nightclub called Club Ice on the West Wilts Trading Estate."

Claire also likes the fact that there is a mainline train station and at the new housing project in Leigh Park there is a residents' association who produce a regular newsletter and try and get residents involved in neighbourhood issues.