With tree-lined boulevards, sweeping rows of cottages and 130 acres of parks and gardens, Port Sunlight is about as idyllic as a village can get. But such a picture-perfect setting comes with a price: anyone who is lucky enough to live in the Merseyside location must abide by a strict set of rules if they want to remain there.
The utopian village on the Wirral, which has over 900 Grade II listed homes, was the brainchild of factory owner Lord Leverhulme in the 19th century, built to provide affordable, high-quality housing for workers at the Sunlight Soap factory, Cheshire Live reports. The tenancies of the homes used to be tied to the factory, but after the homes were modernised that changed and in the late 1970s and early 1980s more became privately owned.
Now, around 600 of the houses are privately owned and 300 are looked after by the Port Sunlight Village Trust who rent them out, with only a small number of people who live in Port Sunlight working in the factory. You can read all our UK news stories here.
