From Scotland down to Cornwall, these are the prettiest towns - and not so nice - in Britain

Britain is full of charming towns from north to south that offer a quieter, less hectic quality of life than our big cities. Some are scattered along the coast, while others sit within commutable areas of cities like London and Edinburgh.

But it's fair to say that the idea of towns being pretty is not a term that can be applied to them all. And to be the judge of this, the Telegraph enlisted the help of travel experts to rank towns across the country to find out which is the prettiest - and which is certainly less than pretty.

This is based on factors including the aesthetic of shopfronts, architecture, the amount of traffic, the amount of litter, viewpoints available, and the amount of greenery.

From up in Scotland in areas like St Andrews and West Lothian, to down in Cornwall and Devon - here are the five prettiest towns in Britain, and a couple that ranked extremely low on the list.

Top 5 prettiest towns in the UK (with scores out of 50)

• Lewes, East Sussex (46/50)
• Queensferry, West Lothian (45/50)
• St David's, Pembrokeshire (44/50)
• St Andrews, Fife (44/50)
• Ilkley, West Yorkshire (44/50)

Out of 1,250 towns across Britain, Lewes in East Sussex came out on top in the study. The town ranked 9/10 for its shopfronts, 10/10 for its architecture, and 10//10 for its views too.

Lewes is well known for its castle, but it is also full of half-timbered medieval streets that are full of independent shops.

The medieval castle still dominates the town and there is also a park in the centre of the town - Southover Granfg Gardens - which is set around a 16th-century manor house. The town has 17 pubs that make for a splendid pub crawl and, undoubtedly, the best viewpoint is from the top of Lewes Castle's Norman fortress which offers panoramic views of the whole town.

Ranking just behind with a score of 45/50 was Queensferry in West Lothian just west of Edinburgh. The town is commonly known as South Queensferry. The town boasts three stunning and architecturally significant bridges that were built in three successive centuries that span the Forth. One of these - the Forth Bridge - is a Unesco World Heritage Site.

There's also a historic high street here full of pubs, cafes, and restaurants.

Top 5 ugliest towns in Britain

• Slough, Berkshire (12/50)
• Merthyr Tydfil, Wales (15/50)
• Telford, Shropshire (17/50)
• Cumbernauld, Dunbartonshire (20/50)
• Lowestoft, Suffolk (23/50)

Down at the bottom of this list of ranked UK towns is Slough. Many people may know it from the UK version of The Office, others may know is as a town that sites around 2 miles west of London.

Slough has a high street that is rated one of the most unhealthy in the UK, and the town also has a lack of leisure facilities. Although a £110 million makeover is planned for the coming years, it is still a town largely made up of pound shops in 20th-century shopfronts.

That being said, within a ten-minute drive from Slough there are the desirable suburbs around the famed Eton College and also The Langley - a luxury hotel that war formerly the home of the third Duke of Marlborough.