Tell me about underrated holiday destinations in the uk

[LEMtheoriginal]

On the back of the overrated places thread, id like to know about places people pleasantly suprised by, or just places you love generally.

I only holiday in the uk we usually camp.

I love north devon. Ilfracombe is stunning. People said it was "chavvy" , but i love it there. Love seeing Verity.

One of the best holidays we had was in Shropshire. We stayed in a holiday cottage in Much Wenlock and found that there were so many interesting places to visit and loads to do in Shropshire. Even in August there was very little traffic on the roads. I'd visit again in a heartbeat.

North Wales in general- Llanbedrog/ Pwllheli/ Criccieth area is lovely

We love Hunstanton in North Norfolk to bits. The coast is so beautiful, everyone is so friendly, and I love watching the kite skiers.

Everyone laughed when we said we were going to Morecombe. The town isnt great but the beach is honestly stunning. We had a lovely few days there.

Shropshire. We were there twice for a long weekend and are booked to go this year for our Summer holiday.

So much to do, I really love it there. And while prices have definitely increased they are still below Cotswolds or Devon/Cornwall or Norfolk.

I've not been there but I think there are places in Suffolk and Essex which are underrated. I was watching a Michael Portillo (Great British Railway) journey the other day and it looked quite beautiful.

That said, the week before he was in my neck of the woods and they made it look much nicer than it actually is :)

Another area which isn't touristy but there's a surprising amount to do is around the Hampshire/Surrey borders. There are some pretty towns, you've places like Guildford and Winchester, Jane Austen's house and the Surrey Hills for walks or bike rides. And there are a few National Trust places.

Another place is Kent - it's very pretty and as well as the obvious places like Canterbury or the White Cliffs there are castles and vineyards and heritage railways. It's totally underrated as a county - everyone rushes through on their way to France/only gets as far as London, but definitely work a trip in its own right.

I love Ilfracombe too OP. It is a bit rough there and it's got a nickname of something like little Liverpool as the pubs are full of scousers.

But it's a really charming town and the coast is lovely.
And probably one of the only affordable towns in Devon!!

Agree with Shropshire and Herefordshire. There's a campsite on the banks of the Wye we love. There's plenty to do in the area, NT (particularly Brockhampton, although that's actually in Worcestershire - a beautiful 'secret' valley with a medieval Manor, a place to live and die in), Hay for the bookshops, Hereford and the cathedral, Ludlow. But it's the landscape and the walking, and the times we've found a quiet place by a river and just spent the day reading, drawing, drinking tea and watching kingfishers.

Yorkshire Wolds, pretty villages and a deserted medieval village.

The coast north of Newcastle, from Tynemouth to Berwick although sadly this is becoming more popular. Also inland Northumberland - there are lanes leading up into the Cheviots which follow rivers, Ford and Etal are pretty villages.

Eden Valley in Cumbria - much quieter than the Lakes.

Dumfries and Galloway - fantastic coastline - Portpatrick is like a Cornish fishing village. You can see Ireland, Isle of Man and the Lake District from the Rhins on a clear day.

Scottish Borders - more castles than you can poke a stick at and miles of glorious, empty countryside.

Cheshire - quintessential English countryside, pretty villages, nice pubs, canal paths.

@looptheloopinahulahoop i am a kentish girl and couldn't agree more.

We went to north wales a few years back. I would have happily not come home despite the fact it rained every day 🤣

We have two bastard dogs so we tend to base our holidays around places we can take them and like a wild coastline, prefer pebbles to sand.

So happy to hear that Shropshire is good. Have a trip planned there for the first time in a couple of weeks.

I am planning to holiday in Manchester this summer 😂

I love north Devon too.

Bits of Derbyshire are beautiful. Ditto Lancashire.

If you like the back to basics type camping there are some really nice sites in climping. There are also sites catering for the upmarket style camping and camper vans but if you like the basic then you can camp on a working farm by the river and beach which ore COVID was pretty cheap. Don’t know how much prices have increased through COVID though.

Depends what you’re after, but Southsea has a crazy amount of stuff to do: museums, beach, castle, parks and splash parks, aquarium and pier all walkable - and the hovercraft to the Isle of Wight.
Longer walk (or about 10 minutes on the bus) and you’ve got all the Portsmouth Dockyard museums and shopping/restaurants at Gunwharf Quays.
It’s by far the easiest holiday destination we’ve found for car-free with primary age children, because there’s so much to do whatever the weather’s like.

East coast of Scotland.

Stunning scenery, amazing beaches and lots of amazing walks.

Definitely for either outdoorsy type or people who want to get away from it all.

I wouldn’t call north Wales underrated!

Cumbria outside the lakes
Northumberland (bamburgh etc)

Definitely Scottish Borders! I have a relative up that way and so I have been going every year for about 20 years now and still finding new things to do and see. The scenery is absolutely stunning and of course you can get to Edinburgh easily as well.

For me, the best underrated destinations are within about 90 minutes of my house, but then I hate travelling with heaps of luggage/kids in tow. The blissful convenience of a really easy journey makes the whole holiday experience better.
If we’ve travelled for hours to get there, the destination has to be so much better to make it worth the effort.

Isle of colonsay if you like peace and outdoors. Stunning little island with lovely people, and often better weather than the mainland. Great for cycling walking and beaches. Often you will be alone on the beach apart from the occasional cow or sheep. Not great if you want lots of attractions or places to eat out (one hotel, one cafe, one shop, one bookshop one gallery etc) but we love it.

Yorkshire
All the charm of the Lake District, fewer crowds and cheaper accommodation. We love the N.York Moors, Nidderdale and the coast between Whitby and Scarborough in particular.

YY to N. Wales. Abersoch, Aberdaron, Criccieth. If the weather's good there's nowhere better. Like Devon but cheaper .

Fantastic response @reprehensibleme

Really lovely places and suggestions.
Have you been to all of these yourself? Hope you and your family are well.

We went to West Yorkshire a few years ago and loved it.

We stayed a few miles from Keighley in a beautiful barn conversion/cottage with a hot tub. It was absolute perfect as felt like the middle of nowhere but was easy to get to shops etc and Keighley station from if I didn't feel like driving on days out. Also on the radar enough for shopping/takeaway deliveries, but no mobile phone reception.

We spent the whole week out and about...Haworth Paraonage, Wensleydale, York, Bettys at Harrogate, Hebden Bridge. Had Sunday roast on a canal boat, visited the Media Museum in Bradford.

Then 13yo DD enjoyed it but feels the box has been ticked. She's 17 now and I've already booked to go back on my own for 2 weeks next year.

Popsicle, yes, we've been to them all (and many more!) Live in Southern Scotland and am always amazed at the numbers of people who zoom through the area on their way up to Edinburgh and the Highlands without stopping to check out the beautiful borders and D&G.

There is so much incredible, quirky, historical stuff in the UK, and not necessarily in high rated tourist spots or expensive to access - some of the provincial public art galleries have beautiful paintings, the public spaces, galleries, parks etc are well worth checking out. Over the last few years we've had a look at Saltaire, Port Sunlight, New Lanark - all fascinating.

We once had a long weekend in Hartlepool of all places (we have family in the area) and it was a stonking weekend - history, beaches, landscape - fantastic!

Oh I was in Hunstanton recently @Phineyj !

Just for a day but it was lovely and really fun. We also visited Heacham briefly.

Seems a lovely area with lots to visit.