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.

Depends what you enjoy but Wiltshire has Stonehenge, Avebury, Caen Locks. Market towns like Marlborough, the Savernake Forest, the Kenner &Avon canal. CentreParcs at Longleat, Pewsey Downs, loads of pretty villages with good pubs and fabulous walking (although might be sick of walking by now). You can go paddle boarding, cycling, shooting, canal boating, ballooning, Go Ape etc.

As others have said, my top 2 would be Northumberland, for castles, empty beaches, history and wilderness, and Shropshire - only investigated this a little bit but I have been inspired to return by a calendar mil gave me of Shropshire places. It looks so interesting and varied.

We have spent several weekends in North Yorkshire and the Yorkshire Dales and still havent done everything we want to. It is an amazingly rich area, but perhaps not underrated?

We live near the Wye Valley - the origin of tourism was here. I'm pretty sure a family could find plenty to do for a week: Forest of Dean, Tintern Abbey, Puzzlewood, canoeing on the Wye, Clearwell Caves, Monmouth, Hay on Wye, Ross on Wye, Symonds Yat, butterfly place and maze (name escapes me) Goodrich Castle, just some of the things that spring immediately to mind.

Shropshire and Herefordshire. Herefordshire is a bit more of an adults only place, but Shropshire works for all the family.

@reprehensibleme , do you have any must-dos for Southern Scoland? We've booked accommodation in Lanarkshire (Carluke is the nearest town) for the summer, and although I'm looking forward to visiting Glasgow for the first time I'd love to hear about less well know places.

Apologies for the thread hijack!

The Wirral - Formby, West Kirby, Hoylake, New Brighton, Hillbre Island - beautiful

Turnofthescrew, the aforementioned New Lanark, Clyde Valley tourist route is a beautiful drive. Falkirk is about 45 minutes away, for the Kelpies and Falkirk Wheel, canal basin.

Culzean is about 90 minutes away, castle and estate for a full day out - if you have children with you they do deer feeding. Also check out electric Brae - I have incredibly fond memories of Ddad explaining the phenomenon to a small nephew many years ago!

Again, with kids, the puppet theatre at Biggar is great, but obvs depends on covid restrictions - our local schools always did a visit to the puppet theatre as their annual treat.

Dawyck botanical Gardens is also about 45 minuted

I would also recommend the Scottish Owl Centre in Polkemmet Country Park (if you like owls, obviously).

• 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.*

Agree 100%. Absolutely love it round there and would choose it over the Lakes every time.

Yes to Shropshire. We go to Shrewsbury quite often and it's a gorgeous city. Ludlow is beautiful also.

As for Wales...Pembrokeshire is often overlooked but has ravishing Cardigan Bay and amazing beaches. Tenby is one of the prettiest towns anywhere and you can go on a boat trip to see puffins.

Also inland Northumberland - there are lanes leading up into the Cheviots which follow rivers, Ford and Etal are pretty villages

We stayed in Ford a couple of times years ago. It is indeed a lovely part of the country.

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

Yes. We've been to the Borders (when staying in Ford) but we've missed out D&G too. We were going to have a trip there a few years ago but DH was unwell so we cancelled. DS was showing a strong interest in going to Glasgow university earlier in the year so I was thinking we'd get plenty of opportunities to look at that part of Scotland (have only been to Lockerbie as have friends there. He is preferring a different uni now though.

Another area which is nice for a holiday is Warwickshire. Yes you've got the touristy Stratford and Warwick Castle but there are lots of other places to see.

East Sussex. You’ve got Rye, Bodiam, Great Dixter and so many other wonderful gardens nearby, lovely countryside and good walks/pubs. Also near the coast.

Loop, D&G is beautiful. Galloway forest Park for cycling and dark skies. Kirkcudbright for the artists.
Caerlaverock wildlife and wetlands centre - we were there a week before lockdown last March and saw hares boxing, egrets, thousands of geese, banks of primroses and a heron swallowing a frog!
Garlieston Bay, lovely campsite on the harbour and a walk around the bay taking in the area where they tested the WWII mulberry harbours. The beach there is full of beautiful flat rounded stones that just cry out to be painted.......
Wigtown, Book Town and stories of covenanters and witches.
The Devil's Porridge!
Logan Botanical Gardens and Port Logan, where they filmed 2000 Acres of Sky. We've been the only people on the beach there many times.
The lighthouse on the Mull. The lanes leading to it are full of wildflowers in the spring and early summer.

I would agree with North Wales and Scottish borders.

Odd how many of the places that featured in Overrated places thread are on here!

Judge, I'm convinced it's more a state of mind!

Odd that Whitby is ‘underrated’, there was an entire thread a while back about whether it was madness to attempt a trip to Whitby, given the crowds.

East Yorkshire into North Yorkshire - some lovely countryside although I avoid the coast.

Northumberland, great countryside, great beaches.

Lots of places here are pretty mainstream. North Yorks or the Lakes for example. Hotspots in the Dales or the Moors are heaving at the weekends and you can't get near Whitby.

A great and much less visited alternative is Upper Teesdale and wider County Durham. Durham Catherdral is one of the greatest churches in the world in a stunning setting. There are some great coastal walks around Seaham and its not far to a couple of great low key victorian resorts like Saltburn

In land the Durham Tees Valley is amazing before it hits industrial Teesside. Its the Eastern most reaches of the Pennines bordering North Yorks and Cumbria. You can visit the spectacular High Fosse or Force, England biggest waterfall and Cauldron Snout further up. The Pennine way traverses through. Great little Market Towns at Middleton, Bowes (with its wonderfully eclectic museum) and Barnard Castle.

For rainy days, there's Beamish which is great for kids or its an easy drive to the Captain Cook Museum in the Boro.

@Phineyj

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

Sunny Hunny. Used to like ti old beach further up by golf course.

Everyone is so friendly/Every one is horrible in N Norfolk.
I may have to visit.

That other thread was quite frustrating and what follows is aimed more at the people there than here, but that thread is full now, so apologies, reasonable people here!

If you have a positive attitude and aren't fixated on shopping, most places can be interesting. A bit of common sense goes a long way too. It's never been easier to read up on a place before you go, and if you do that, and there should be fewer nasty surprises, to state the blindingly obvious!

If you're thinking of going somewhere in the UK it probably also helps to:

1. Be prepared for all weathers.
2. Have some knowledge of and liking for history.
3. Enjoy looking at countryside or interesting buildings.

I love cities. We've had some good short breaks in various British cities in recent years, including Salisbury, Ely, Penzance, Ipswich, Bristol, Manchester, Edinburgh and Glasgow. There's always something interesting either in the city or a short train/bus/taxi ride away (we are carless). Looking forward to the time when we can do a bit more of this. I'd like to spend a bit of time in Liverpool.

Loved the other thread, just shows how people like different things.

We like Exeter for a weekend away, my dc’s (teens) love shopping there so we usually go in autumn half term for a couple nights. I know it was mentioned on the other thread as being a boring city but we like it.

Also enjoyed Devon cliffs (haven), thought I would find it chavy but the kids enjoyed having everything on site.

Also love Cornwal, Bude, padstow, st Ives and boscastle.

Oh and Glastonbury but that’s whole other thread (there was a whole other thread a while ago), Glastonbury is a bit marmite 🤣

I remember telling someone we were going to Wells-next-the-Sea in Norfolk and their response was "never mind". It's still a place I love. It has a brilliant beach, where you can walk for miles and you can find a spot well away from anyone else. The town is busy with independent shops, some nice pubs and good fish and chips.