The Suffolk market town of Woodbridge recently topped an annual survey to be named Britain’s “happiest place to live” by property website Rightmove. Situated along a bank of the River Deben, Woodbridge is a 10-minute drive from the Anglo Saxon site of Sutton Hoo and around eight miles from the coast. A sense of community spirit, the friendliness of residents and access to essential services were among its qualities praised by respondents to Rightmove’s “Happy at Home” index.

Cynics and curmudgeons may already be flocking to Woodbridge in the hope of finding its inhabitants to be just as miserable as they are. They’ll be disappointed, as I discovered during my visit last week.

I began my day at Wild Strawberry Café on the main square. It was filled with busy chatter over coffee and pastries. Here, theories percolated over what makes Woodbridge so content. One suggestion was that, sandwiched between the A12 and the River Deben, it has limited space to expand, meaning it has retained a sense of community. Time and again, though, it seemed to be its people – public-spirited, neighbourly, proud of their town – that make the difference.

Woodbridge feels self-sufficient, yet there’s also little countryside between here and Suffolk’s County Town, Ipswich (15 minutes by rail). Indeed, the smaller town feels like it’s Ipswich’s most gentrified suburb, home to its best shops, cafés and restaurants.

Long-time Woodbridge residents co-exist happily with an ever-replenishing cohort of youngish people.

Among the first wave of London escapees was Sam Denny Hodson. She created New Street Market, a café and shop on Woodbridge’s New Street. It is set in the former stables of the Bull Inn and hosts pop-ups in its Canteen, including prix-fixe lunches from chef Robbie Grantham-Wise. Pop-up graduate Maria Elia now runs a popular supper club in her converted barn just outside Woodbridge, in the village of Clopton.

Another point of local pride is that, except for the Co-op, there are no large supermarkets within Woodbridge’s borders – but there is a smattering of independent shops and businesses. The market that sets up by the 16th century Shire Hall every Thursday morning sells fresh bread (from the Hullabaloo bakery in nearby Grundisburgh), flowers, fruit and veg, locally made cheeses and refills of spices, herbs and other household essentials from the “Cupboard Love” van.

Other shops include Vanil, selling Scandinavian homewares, while opposite there’s a new branch of the Orford village baker and chocolatier, Pump Street Bakery.

Essen deli, on the main square, was opened a month ago by the landlady of The Dog at Grundisburgh. Others have survived for years, including The Galley Creamery & Deli, whose owner, Ugur Vata, sells homemade ice cream.

Otherwise, Woodbridge’s main shopping street – the pedestrianised Thoroughfare – has a mix of chain and indy stores, including Woodbridge Books.

The Thoroughfare also has a couple of cafés – Maeve’s Tea Room and Honey & Harvey. When the evening arrives, JJ’s Speakeasy serves wine and tapas, while Woodbridge Cumberland Fish Bar and Siggy’s Bar – just across Quay St – are a fish and chip shop and a bar next door.

Then there’s the river, which forms an almost separate district down by the railway station, an area full of boats, birds and glorious, watery views. For Woodbridge entrepreneur Stuart Saunders, the Deben makes the town special. On a sunny morning, gazing out from the windows of Tide Mill – one of only two working tide mills in the UK – it’s hard to disagree. Here, pop into Long Shed, where a replica of the burial ship from Sutton Hoo is being built.

Woodbridge Museum, next door, has finds relating to other Anglo-Saxon sites and displays recalling the Tudor mover and shaker Thomas Seckford, whose former house is now Woodbridge School.

During my visit, I begin to agree that Woodbridge has everything you’d want from a small town, including a cinema, which opened in 1915. Stuart Saunders is its custodian, and he combines the lure of silver screen with The Riverside Restaurant, which serves delicious and moderately priced lunch and dinner menus, and offers a “Movie & Meal” deal.

Immediately opposite, The Anchor is a terrific pub run by Vernon Blackmore, who used to oversee the quirky Captain’s Table just up the street. Culinary folk might also want to try the menu at The Unruly Pig, just outside town, which has a well-deserved reputation for high-end gastropub fare. I could go on, but you will just have to visit.