South-east of Nottingham, the Rushcliffe boundary splits from the City of Nottingham boundary near the Holme Pierrepont Watersports Centre and then follows the River Trent to near RAF Syerston, which is the most northern part of the district, although Syerston the village itself is in the Newark and Sherwood district. It meets the River Devon near Cotham, then follows this river to the east southwards to where it meets the Leicestershire boundary. To the south, the Leicestershire/Rushcliffe boundary goes across the runways of the former RAF Langar with most of the airfield in Rushcliffe. Rushcliffe is split between an urbanised north-west, containing suburbs of Greater Nottingham that have resisted incorporation into the city, and the south and east which is predominantly rural, and stretching to the Leicestershire border. Many of these villages lie in the Vale of Belvoir. The Grantham Canal threads from nearby Grantham through Rushcliffe to the River Trent. Villages in the Vale of Belvoir include Redmile, Hickling, Harby, Stathern and Langar. Some of these villages cross the boundary, which is sometimes unclear i.e. Hickling is in Rushcliffe Borough Council, but has a Melton Mowbray address and postcode. East Leake, south of Rushcliffe, also has a Leicestershire postcode, crossing the boundary. Geographically, the River Soar marks the divide between the two counties. The borough which has seen numerous placings as 'best place to live in the United Kingdom' currently holds 7th place by the Halifax quality of life survey, which examines factors such as weather, crime rates and life expectancy. The borough also is home to numerous villages along the A60 corridor, heading to Loughborough three of these are, Bradmore, Bunny and Wysall.
Demographics
In 2001, there were around 43,600 households in the district, with about 106,000 people. 44% or nearly half of Rushcliffe's population lives in West Bridgford. The average house price is the highest in Nottinghamshire and in the top three in the East Midlands. It is one of the most affluent areas of the East Midlands, and consistently in the top ten of the nicest places to live in the UK.
Education
The district gets the bestGCSE results within Nottinghamshire and throughout the East Midlands.. Rushcliffe school and West Bridgford school have ranked regularly in the top 100 comprehensive schools in the UK for GCSE results. In 2014 West Bridgford was ranked at 63rd of all comprehensives in the UK with 83% achieving '5+ A*-C GCSEs including English and maths GCSEs' and Rushcliffe 81st in the UK with 82% achieving 5 A*-C in 2014. The Becket School, West Bridgford School and Rushcliffe School get A level results for 'Average point score per A level student ' in the top 10% of all schools in the UK, comprehensive or selective, better than many English grammar schools. These scores are in the top 2% for all UK comprehensives. Sutton Bonington is in the south of the district, which has the Sutton Bonington Campus of the University of Nottingham.
Larger villages and towns
Bingham: Medium-sized market town on the A52. Has a market every Thursday.
Radcliffe on Trent: Village on the A52 within Greater Nottingham.
Cotgrave: Once a small village part of Greater Nottingham, but grew to be a town due to the presence of the Cotgrave Colliery.
East Leake: A large village with four pubs, old village centre including historic St. Mary's Church, both primary and secondary schools, and home of British Gypsum plasterboard manufacturing works.
Keyworth: A large village with several pubs, old village centre and secondary school on the edge within Greater Nottingham.
Ruddington: Once the largest village in England, it has a shopping area, several housing estates, a golf course, and is home of Rushcliffe Country Park within Greater Nottingham.
Tollerton: A village with a notable pub, shops, historic church, old village centre and Primary School part of Greater Nottingham.
