What’s the furthest north in the UK you’ve been? Where do you think the north starts?

[BarrelOfOtters]

Prompted by a friend who has never been north of Birmingham and thinks of that as North.

orkney for me.

haha! I think of the north as starting at the end of the midlands… so cheshire, yorkshire, lancashire, merseyside and beyond

My DH is from Derby and doesn't consider himself Northern. He says he's from the midlands. I think 'the Borth' is above the Midlands. and Scotland is Scotland.

Furthest north I've been is Wick. The North start at Stirling for me but I live near Glasgow 🙂

Inverness.

Stoke-on-Trent is North, but Derby and Nottingham are not. No rational explanation, it's just the way it sits in my brain 😊

Muckle Flugga. Couldn’t have gone much further!

I think of the north being from around the Lake District up.

Shetland

And furthest North I’ve been is Edinburgh

Mallaig near Fort William.

isle of Skye

not sure where the north begins?
Stoke/Manchester?

I'm Scottish and think of Inverness area and upwards as being the north.

Not sure where the line lies for England. To me it all feels like "down south". I think there's maybe more of a cultural divide between north and south in England though I'm not sure quite where it is.

In my England regions I have...

South East... London etc
South West... Devon, Cornwall, Bristol etc
Midlands... Nottingham, birmingham sort of area, Manchester
Yorkshire
North... Northumberland, Cumbria, Newcastle

Watford gap is south of Birmingham so not north. North of England is from stoke upwards. Nottingham just misses out.

We weren’t given a “midlands” option though. It’s the north south divide.

of course the midlands offers the very best of both worlds 😘 but if you had to choose where the midlands fits culturally, north or south, it ain’t the the south.

I’m from the south coast. Furthest north I been is Skegness. No idea where the north actually starts but the other side of London is North to me.

I think it all depends on whether people from places in West or East Mids consider themselves from the North or not. The ones I know from Derby and Nottingham don't.

That said, they clearly have a different type of accent than everyone Northants down.

I still say the line should be the top of East and West Mids. West Mids certainty as is way too far South geographically. Top of East Mids debatable.

"From the Southern perspective, Northern England is sometimes defined jokingly as the area north of the Watford Gap between Northampton and Leicester[a] – a definition which would include much of the Midlands.[7][9] Various cities and towns have been described as or promoted themselves as the "gateway to the North", including Crewe,[10] Stoke-on-Trent,[11] and Sheffield.[12]"

Not quite official but options and maps here:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_England

Interesting that people from far north think it starts with the river Tees. I wouldn't say that myself but I definitely wouldn't include the midlands. Crewe feels about right to me, when I'm taking the train home up that's when I feel I'm back in the north.

(Apologies if this posts twice)

I've lived in Cumbria, that's probably officially "the North" by any measure (if we'retalking England specifically). I now live along the Sefton coast and feel like an adopted Northerner, as I'm not from the UK. I do love the North especially. Something fierce and wild about it - High Cup Nick, the Moors, Sycamore Gap... lovely part of the world.

Inverness is the furthest north I've been.

I think North is anything after the Firth of Forth.

Anything in England is South! London is the Far South...

What does Chat GPT say? 😂

Ben Nevis is the furthest I've been.

The north starts just above Nottingham for me, draw a line across. The Midlands is just below and the South below that.

Elgin

I see Sheffield/Chester as northern England. I live in a part of Derbyshire that is further north than Sheffield but I don't see Derby itself as north

Furthest north I've been is Skye.

"The exact boundary of North England can vary depending on who you ask, but it's generally considered to start somewhere around the northern Midlands, with cities like Manchester and Sheffield often being considered part of North England. However, the specific definition can be subjective, and regional boundaries can change over time"

Thanks for that, Chat GPT

Broughty Ferry is the furthest north I’ve been in the UK.

I think the north begins just south of Sheffield. Anything in Lincolnshire is midlands though so the line kind of curves.

Dunnet Head (Caithness), which I believe is the most northerly point on the mainland.

Have been to Orkney too but not Shetland.

I think the North starts at Inverness, but I grew up in the North Highlands. Everything is South to me.