A recent and prominent Halifax Quality of Life Survey has placed Hart in the top spot based on residents’ health and life expectancy, employment, a low crime rate, relatively good weather, and factors such as good broadband internet access. Excellent news!
The survey is based on information from the 405 local authority districts in the United Kingdom.
Further details are in the official press release.
In this context, The Guardian mentioned Fleet Pond as a noteworthy attraction (my emphasis in bold):
Toppling Elmbridge in Surrey to snatch the Quality of Life title, the study found that 95% of Hart’s residents are in good health, and tend to enjoy incomes at 40% above the UK average. Its levels of crime are the lowest in Hampshire and its attractions include more than 1,000 listed buildings, and Fleet Pond – at 52 acres Hampshire’s largest freshwater lake. It was Fleet Pond that laid the first foundation stones for Fleet, Hart’s administrative capital. The birth of the railways, along with the Victorian gentry’s penchant to skate on its frozen lake in winter, transformed the area.
See here for some interesting background on the story behind the role of the railways and the development of Fleet as a town.