Village with a work ethic ... and low rates of pay

Good grief! Is it really?" asked Edward Roberts, clerk of Cerrigydrudion community council, when he heard that Uwchaled was the hardest-working place in England and Wales.

"Well, I am not really surprised, as I do not know of anyone who is not working," he added.

People in Uwchaled work an average week of 53.14 hours - almost 20 hours more than residents of Keele, Staffordshire, with a 33.05-hour average.

Uwchaled is at the farthest end of the Conwy valley. It is about 10 miles from the popular tourist area of Betws-y-Coed, in the Snowdonia national park.

With a population of 1,490, the greatest number (38%) are employed in agri culture. The other significant industries are distribution and catering (14.1%) and other services (15.5%).

Unemployment figures in January 2003 suggested there were just 19 people without a job - 12 men and seven women.

"It is predominantly agriculture but there are quite a lot of builders in this part of the world," said Mr Roberts. "Quite often they will do a six-day week, or at least five-and-a-half days. There's a strong work ethic in this part of Wales."

But Ken Simms, chief executive of the area's enterprise agency, said people worked long hours because wages were poor. "Conwy has a very low GDP historically, and we are working with the economic development team to regenerate the economy."