England - South West

Seaside classics, Cornwall and Devon are among Britain`s favourite holiday destinations, offering beautiful beaches, exquisite villages, and the great National Parks of Dartmoor and Exmoor.  The heritage sites of Bristol and Bath provide reams of history ancient and modern, arts festivals, cosmopolitan living, and an excellent range of fine shopping.  Visit too the cathedral cities of Salisbury, Gloucester, Tewkesbury, Wells, Truro, and Exeter.  Plymouth, with its maritime history, is also well worth a visit. And beyond, to the west and south, lie the magnificent Isles of Scilly and Channel Islands.

CORNWALL
Cornwall, at the south-western extremity of England offers you some of the most spectacular scenery in the country.  Visitors come back again and again to enjoy the rugged coastline, the mild climate, and the county`s unique history.  Don`t miss the celebrated Eden Project – a fascinating insight into the worlds of plants and people.  St Ives, for long a destination for artists, now has its own Tate St Ives, which includes the remarkable Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Garden.  Newquay has some of Britain`s best surfing.  Head to just beyond Penzance to enjoy the outdoor Minack Theatre – possibly the only place where you might see dolphins dancing behind Hamlet`s right shoulder!  Cornwall is also a foodie`s heaven, with some celebrity dining at Rick Stein`s Seafood Restaurant in Padstow and Jamie Oliver`s Fifteen Cornwall at nearby Watergate Bay.

ISLES OF SCILLY   
Reached by boat, plane, or helicopter, and just  28 miles south-west of Land`s End, the Isles of Scilly archipelago, inhabited since the Stone Age, is officially designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.  Of the 100 and more islands, only six, Tresco, Bryher, St Mary`s, St Martin`s, St Agnes, and Gruh,  are inhabited – Gruh having a population  of three at the last count.  Some have spectacular white beaches while others offer more rugged scenery.  Scilly is great for coastal walks, and is particularly popular with birdwatchers – especially in October – hoping to catch a glimpse of the Atlantic vagrants that make their first footfall here.  Watch `gig` racing in rowing boats between the islands, or teams from reputedly the smallest football league in the world (2!).  There is plenty of foodie shopping, notably at Holgates Green in season, excellent seafood, and some Michelin-starred restaurants.  Visit too St Martin`s Vineyard, where the winemakers take full advantage of the warm climate.   A relaxed holiday here can be unforgettable. 

DEVON
One of Englands largest counties, lying between the Bristol and English Channels, Devon has innumerable pretty seaside villages and towns, rolling hills, a spectacularly rugged coastline, some of the longest beaches in England (at Westward Ho! and Woolacombe Sand), and the two great tracts of open moorland -  Exmoor and Dartmoor.  Visit Clovelly in the north, where quaint cottages line the steep cobbled street tumbling down to the harbour; the busy commercial centre of  Barnstaple and its daily pannier market, brimming with local produce;  the fine old town of Bideford, climbing high above the Torridge and its remarkable 13th century Long Bridge – all its arches different-sized.  Sail from Ilfracombe to Lundy Island and explore its Marine Nature Reserve.  In the south, the county capital and  university city of Exeter commands attention with its splendid cathedral, narrow old streets, galleries, and boutique shopping.  So too does Plymouth – another university town, with a fine harbour area and a fascinating maritime history.  And, of course, palm-lined Torquay, on the `English Rivier`, has beckoned many a visitor. 

BRISTOL & AVON
The County of Avon actually no longer officially exists, having been split into four parts in 1996:  Bristol, South Gloucestershire, North Somerset, and Bath & North East Somerset.   A special mention must be given to Bristol – one of the UK’s most vibrant, modern, and cosmopolitan cities.  It sports a fantastic harbourside with fine restaurants and museums, and, of course, Brunel`s magnificent Clifton Suspension Bridge, strung 245 feet above the Avon.  For big shopping names head out of town to The Mall at Cribbs Causeway with its 135 top-name stores.  Discover the elegant shops in Bristol`s Whiteladies Road, West End, and Clifton village, these offering designer clothes, arts and crafts, and antiques. In the heart of the city, look for Park Street, Christmas Steps, and Colston Street for the best shopping.  And Bristol’s Eastside is full of specialist food stores, fabrics, and crafts showing lively Caribbean and Asian influences.   The city`s cathedral was begun in the 12th century, and completed in the 19th.   The City Art Gallery and Museum houses a fine collection of British and European art as well as interesting displays of ceramics, ivory carvings, and embroidery.

GLOUCESTERSHIRE
Visitors to the county have, for generations, been particularly enchanted by the Cotswolds – shared with Oxfordshire.  Honey-coloured limestone towns and  villages such as Chipping Camden, Stow-on-the-Wold, and Bourton-on-Water date back to the wealth of the medieval wool trade.   Down in the Severn Valley lie the handsome cathedral cities of Gloucester and Tewkesbury and heritage sites such as  Berkeley Castle, with its magnificent Norman keep, dungeon, and great hall.  The county is also home to the Prince of Wales and the Princess Royal, at Highgrove and Gatcombe Park respectively.   The regency spa town of Cheltenham offers two notable National Trust sites: the Gustav Holst Birthplace Museum and the Pittville Pump Room.  The numerous farmers` markets in the area are great places to buy high-class local specialities -  and an abundance of events throughout the year provide generously for those interested in the arts and crafts.

DORSET 
Dorset – otherwise known as Thomas Hardy Country offers a unique and varied landscape of coast forest and heath.   Enjoy some of the great locally produced food -  especially at some of Britain’s top hotels.   Discover some of the market towns - Lyndhurst, Shaftesbury, and Bridport.  Visit Lyme Regis on the  ”Jurassic Coast” where some of the French Lieutenants Woman was filmed.  Dorchester, the county town, is the setting for Thomas Hardy’s novels and 700 volumes of his manuscripts can be seen at the County Museum.  Sandbanks is a must visit for those who want to see what all the fuss is about.  In more recent years the sales pitch is “Britain’s Monte Carlo” and “English Paradise”.  That aside it has some stunning scenery an award-winning beaches as does , Studland, and Bournemouth.  The magnificent natural feature of Chesil beach – 16 miles long – features Ian McEwans recent novel of the same name.  Poole boasts Europe’s largest natural harbour as well as the fourth most expensive real estate in the world. 

BATH & SOMERSET
Somerset boasts the ancient city of Bath - one of Britain`s most exquisite locations and  a World Heritage Site.   The Roman Baths, fed by three hot springs originating in the nearby Mendips, lie below the present street level, and comprise the Sacred Spring, the Roman Temple, the Roman Bath House, and the Museum.  The city was greatly expanded in Georgian times as a pleasure resort and spa for its growing numbers of fashionable visitors including the Royal Crescent and Assembly Rooms, The Pump Room, and the shop-lined Pulteney Bridge.  Bath is home to the Victorian Art Gallery, the Museum of East Asian Art, the Bath Postal Museum, the Herschel Museum of Astronomy, and the Jane Austen Centre – the novelist living in Bath in the early 1800s.      Music-lovers will be familiar with the Bath International Music Festival, held in late spring or early summer and much associated in the past with the name of Yehudi Menuhin. The city is a great place for shopping, and ranks as one of the main centres for the antiques trade outside London. The Kennet and Avon connects Bath with the Thames and the capital, and is extremely popular for small boats.  Another cathedral city – Britain`s smallest – is Wells, lying close by in the Mendip Hills.  The cathedral, dating mainly from the 12th and 13th centuries, displays the most extensive array of medieval sculpture to survive in Britain.  Among the other attractive urban centres are Yeovil, Shepton Mallet, Taunton, Glastonbury, and – along the beautiful coast – Weston-super-Mare, Burnham, Minehead, and Porlock.   Visit too the fine houses of Claverton Manor, Cothelstone Manor, Dunster Castle, Montacute House, and Prior Park.   In Cheddar Gorge you can see cheese being made.  The Gorge itself is a dramatic bit of landscape;  and Exmoor, the Quantock Hills, and the Mendips offer some grand scenery and fine views.   

WILTSHIRE
Encompassing parts of the Cotswolds, the White Horse Hills, the Vale of Pewsey, and Salisbury Plain,  much of Wiltshire has been declared an ‘Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty’  -  yet it remains largely off the tourist beat.  Little more than an hour from London by road, it boasts spectacular attractions like Salisbury Cathedral (the spire being the tallest in England), the World Heritage Site of Stonehenge, and the little village of  Avebury with its magnificent neolithic stone circle and Alexander Keiller Museum (Keiller having financed the original excavations with his marmalade fortune).  Wiltshire is also home to the Cotswold Water Park with its 140-plus lakes, and the magnificent Elizabethan Longleat House (the first British stately home to be opened to the public on a commercial basis – in 1949), with its Capability Brown parkland and celebrated Wildlife Park.  The beautiful National Trust village of Lacock is home to the Early Music Summer School and was one of the settings for the film `Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone`.  For boutique shopping, art, and galleries visit Bradford-on-Avon and the stylish and affluent county town of Marlborough.  Fine restaurants abound in the county – such as the Park near Chippenham, the Rose and Crown near Malmesbury, the Conservatory in Salisbury, and the Bybrook at Castle Combe.

THE CHANNEL ISLANDS
The Islands of Jesey and Guernsey are British Crown Dependencies, but have independent-minded local administrations and their own fiscal status (to the benefit of thousands of off-shore annuitants and investors) – and, of course, proximity to the French mainland.  Easily accessible by sea and air, they provide wonderful destinations for coast walkers, amateur sailors, birdwatchers, and family beach-lovers.  Local seafood and some elements of French cuisine are special delights in some of Britain`s finest restaurants – many of these in the two principal towns of St Helier in Jersey and St Peter Port in Guernsey.  Jersey also offers the remarkable Durrell Zoo, the moving Jersey War Tunnels, a fine Maritime Museum, and the magnificent Mount Orgueil Castle, high above the little port of Gorey St Martin.  In Guernsey, one of the principal visitor attractions is Hauteville House in St Peter Port, home to the exiled French novelist Victor Hugo for 14 years in the mid-19th century, and the place where he wrote `Les Miserables`.  Like Jersey, the island has potent reminders of the 1940-45 German occupation in the form of the extensive (7,000 square metres) German Military Underground Hospital.  St Peter Port itself is a pretty little place, built on hills behind the extensive harbour and looking east across the water to the quiet little feudal fiefdom of  Sark.  Also within easy reach are the small neighbouring islands of Alderney and Herm.