Residents in one of England’s seaside towns enjoy some of the best quality of living, but are stuck with one persistent and soggy problem.
Plymouth topped the charts for England’s city with the happiest residents last month, according to the Totaljobs Quality of Living Index.
The city beat Bristol, Liverpool, Belfast, Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham, and even the capital London.
The port city in Devon was a standout for its healthy work-life balance, and the more variety and flexibility in residents’ lives, it was said.
Locals also are just a stone’s throw from the stunning vistas of the Dartmoor national park.
But there is one rather damp drawback to the otherwise lovely city to live.
Plymouth experiences record-breaking annual rainfall outside of the stretch of warm days every summer.
The city regularly is named amongst the wettest cities in the UK, and it can average 84mm rain every month, with 149 rainy days a year - meaning almost one in every three days could see rain.
This is all due to milder winters, higher humidity, and an often cloudy sky.
So, when the tourists aren’t down and the beaches rammed, locals are usually getting soaked to the skin.
Musician Maddia Valance, 25, moved to the city as a young child.
She described it as “just beautiful” in the summer but said it was a completely different story in the winter.
“It’s just a bit rubbish,” she told The Sun, before adding: "The rain is so much worse here than other places, it feels like it’s constantly raining.
Issy Allen, 22, has lived in Plymouth all her life and said it was a “great place to live” but admitted the winters felt endless and left residents with very little to do.
She added that some of the nightlife as a “bit sad”.
Other locals admitted that for all its benefits, Plymouth still couldn’t offer as much to do as the big cities like London and Manchester could.
But retiree Chris Ottley was more optimistic about the rain and pointed out that it made the area green and helped Dartmoor stay healthy.
The 80-year-old added: “Locals know you always need to carry a raincoat with you though, however nice it looks when you leave the house. It’s just a great, friendly place to live and you don't get that with bigger cities."
Properties in Plymouth are more affordable compared to some of the UK’s bigger cities - which are increasingly seeing house and rent prices become unaffordable for many.
But it isn't only economic factors drawing people to the rainy, but happy, city.
Amanda Nicholson, a retired store manager, now 58, moved to Plymouth from Yorkshire two decades ago and immediately fell in love with the more relaxed lifestyle.
