A POPULAR Somerset Christmas market has been named the best-rated in the UK ahead of its return later this month.
Bath Christmas Market came top of a ranking produced by travel company Lapland Famille after it analysed Google reviews of festive markets across the country.
The market, which spreads through the city centre around Bath Abbey, scored an average 4.43 stars from 46 reviews.
Of those, 35 people awarded the market five stars.
Visitors particularly praised its stalls, with 15 of the 29 five-star reviews containing comments mentioning the stalls or variety on offer.
One reviewer described it as a "Great market, with lots of collections of stalls spread throughout the city"
Another said: "Always good to see the same stall holders each year."
This year's Bath Christmas Market runs from Thursday, November 26 until Sunday, December 13.
London Bridge Christmas Market came second in the analysis with 4.35 stars from 49 reviews.
Chelsea Winter Village was third with 4.27 stars, followed by Exeter Cathedral Christmas Market with 4.25.
Other major festive attractions in the top 10 included Winchester Cathedral Christmas Market, Manchester Christmas Markets and Birmingham Frankfurt Christmas Market.
The analysis included UK Christmas markets with their own Google Maps listing which are free to enter and returning this year.
Ratings were recorded on November 9, with markets needing at least 30 reviews to qualify for the ranking.
The results put Bath ahead despite some rival markets having significantly more reviews.
Exeter's market had 776 reviews, while Manchester's had 2,710.
At the other end of the table, Christmas in Leicester Square and Edinburgh Christmas Market were the two lowest-rated markets among those with at least 100 reviews.
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Alex Dyer, managing director at Lapland Famille, cautioned against reading too much into poorer Google ratings.
He said: "These markets might be at the bottom of the table on Google, but I'd give them the benefit of the doubt. People tend to leave a review when something's gone wrong and rarely bother when they've had a lovely evening, so a lower score doesn't mean a bad market.
"Plenty of people will have a great time at every one of them. If you're going this year, have a look at who's trading before you travel, go on a weekday if you can and set yourself a rough budget so the price of a mulled wine doesn't spoil the day."
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