Another week, another story about St Albans being a fabulous place to live.

In a change from the usual prettiest/most expensive rankings, St Albans has this week been named among the UK's most family-friendly cities.

It's not the first time Snorbs has scored high on a list like this – indeed, being a lovely place to raise a family is one of the things it's best-known for.

With loads of top quality schools and better house price VFM than posher parts of London, families can't get enough of our upmarket suburban enclave.

It was a big hit in the safety, pram accessibility and child-friendly restaurant stakes, with St Albans scored uniformly high in this latest countdown; in fact the only fly in the (organic, artisan) ointment was childcare fees.

Not surprisingly given this info, Halloween is big deal in St Albans. Trick or treaters won't have to go far to find a lit pumpkin in our neck of the woods, with many homes having been suitably spookified for a solid week or so already.

We hit Wilko and One Below hard to stock up on spooky tat, and our porch is packed with pumpkins.

Trick or treating was a no-go last year due to Covid, so my kids are especially keen to get out there on Sunday and load up on E-numbers.

Some may slate it for being an Americanised tat-fest... and they would be right. But my son says it's his favourite day of the year, and after a rubbish run of cancelled events and enforced home learning, is there really any harm in it?

Whether you’ll be watching TV in the dark to discourage callers or letting your pumpkin light shine bright – happy Halloween!