Mark Andrews: Time to speak up for a region which has both style and substance

There's not even a place for Hodnet, which earlier this year was voted 'England's poshest village', although I doubt if any genuinely stylish person would use a term as vulgar as 'posh'. And not one of the top 10 locations is in the West Midlands.

By pure coincidence, as you read this, it is likely I will be spending the day in supposedly the seventh most stylish place in the UK, Stamford in Lincolnshire. It's a place I visit most years, and Burghley House, the spectacular Elizabethan mansion, where I will be attending a car show, is well worth a visit. But is Stamford really significantly more attractive than anywhere in this region? I'm not totally convinced.

As is usually the case, the list is very southern-centric, with nine of the locations coming from that area. Half a dozen are towards the north of England, and there is one location each in Scotland and Wales. But in the West Midlands, which is obviously the most important area of the country, there are just three entries: Ludlow, in 13th place, Henley-in-Arden in 16th place, and Bewdley which came 17th.

I'm always highly suspicious of these surveys, particularly when they are commissioned by an online furniture retailer, or any retailer for that matter. Aside from the obvious problem of beauty being in the eye of the beholder, the methodology is invariably dubious.

For this piece of research, local panels were invited to draw up a shortlist for each county, major city or region. Their findings were then put to a larger panel of 5,000 people nationwide, who were asked to take a vote. I would be surprised if more than a handful of these people had even heard of say, Bobbington, let alone visited to form a judgement. And unless the local panel put it forward as a candidate, nobody would have had the opportunity to vote on it.

And while I'm delighted to see Bewdley, a wonderful place where I spend a great deal of time, make the top 20, I'm not actually convinced it is the most beautiful place in Worcestershire. Because I think Broadway is lovelier still. Henley-in-Arden? Well it was quite nice when I stopped for a coffee on the way back from Stratford-upon-Avon last year, but I doubt whether it is the 16th most stylish place in the UK. It felt more like somewhere you pass through, rather than a destination in its own right. And, this is the controversial one: Is Ludlow the most stylish place in Shropshire? It's a contender, no doubt. But had the people who voted in the survey been invited to visit Carding Mill Valley? Or Condover? It would take a braver person than me to rule on that.

And that's the rub. Having spent the past 28 years driving the length and breadth of this patch, from Llangollen to Lichfield, from Newtown to Newton, and from Whitchurch to Great Witley – okay, I might be stretching the alliteration here – I would like to think I have a reasonable knowledge of this small part of the UK. And certainly more than the marketing department of an online furniture retailer. But could I honestly tell you which town, city or village I considered to be the most stylish? I very much doubt it. And even after the best part of three decades traversing this area, there are still so many wonderful places I have yet to discover.

But also, we should remember that beauty is only skin deep. The main reason for Stamford's elevated position in the list is down to the fact that it has retained so many old buildings. That is something to commend, no doubt, but that is only because its awkward location meant that the Industrial Revolution largely passed it by. While the Black Country and Shropshire were the epicentre of modern civilisation, the beating heart which led the world in developing new technologies, sleepy Stamford was still half a century behind, patiently waiting for a bit of this new prosperity to trickle down in its direction.

The problem, of course, is we don't shout about it nearly enough, and too often our voices are drowned out by the noisy neighbours up the road in Brum. Well it's about time we changed that, and made ourselves heard. Because, whatever the furniture retailer says, there are plenty of stylish places in this neck of the woods. Only we have also got the substance to back up the style too.