When Liverpool and Manchester’s high-earners seek country residences they usually look south to the county of Cheshire. So there’s a curious diversity to the county, as earthy industrial towns can be set a few miles from gentrified rural villages with posh restaurants and boutiques. In the west, almost on the border with Wales is Chester, …
A place of contrasts, Derbyshire counts as the East Midlands, even if its northernmost towns are at the same latitude as cities like Manchester and Liverpool. Rousing natural beauty is almost commonplace in this county, and much of it falls within the Peak District National Park. If you’re seduced by the opulence of stately homes, …
If you prefer countryside to be as remote and unspoiled as possible you’ll love Lincolnshire. In the south the landscapes are flat, with wide open skies and polder farms growing flowers and vegetables. The flatness is interrupted in the west by the Vales and in the centre by the Lincolnshire Wolds, rolling chalk and sandstone …
Travelling from the south to the north of Staffordshire you get the sense that you’re leaving the Midlands and arriving in the North of England. The landscapes change from dairy pastures to the untamed sandstone moors of the Peak District. Staffordshire’s two cities, Stoke and Lichfield couldn’t be more different: Stoke is earthy and industrial, …
As England’s largest county, North Yorkshire has a dizzying array of towns and natural environments, from barely-charted cave systems to sweeping sandy beaches, and from stately spa towns to remote upland hamlets. To say there’s something for everyone in North Yorkshire doesn’t begin to sum it up. Still, anybody coming to this neck of the …
A metropolitan county in the far northeast of England, Tyne and Wear is named for the rivers that run through its two main cities, Newcastle and Sunderland. Coal mining and ship-building were ways of life in this region for centuries, but in recent decades Newcastle and Sunderland have found new identities for high-tech manufacturing, research …
In the East Midlands, Nottinghamshire has one of England’s most-visited cities and a multitude of towns and villages where history and legend are sometimes hard to distinguish. In the west of the county agricultural and industrial landscapes blend together, in a region where the novelist D.H. Lawrence grew up and based many of his most …
One of the Home Counties, Hertfordshire borders London to the north and its recent history is anchored in its proximity to the capital. “New Towns” like Stevenage and pioneering Garden Cities like Welwyn and Letchworth popped up in the 20th century, all to give people the joint advantages of the city and countryside. But what …
In England’s west country, Devon is a holiday favourite with sensational contrasts and variety. In the south are the gentle resorts of the English Riviera, the fossil-riddled cliffs of the Jurassic Coast and long estuaries with beautiful waterside towns. Inland are the ancient wildernesses of Dartmoor and Exmoor, places of legend and folklore, where wild …
Known to many as the “Stockbroker Belt” for its many high-income residents, Surrey has been a fancy sort of place for much longer. After the Battle of Hastings in 1066 William the Conqueror gifted large tracts of what is now Surrey to his closest companions. In Runnymede the Magna Carta was sealed in 1215, while …