British Hallmark man?

[danascully96]

I have a feeling this post will inspire lots of jokes at my expense 😅

I’m American. Currently, I’m working in Edinburgh but will have lots of opportunity to travel this summer as my job will largely be remote.

If you were traveling in a foreign country, as I am, and looking for romance, what British cities might you recommend? I’m looking for a bookish, honest man who looks like a young Colin Firth. Is that too much to ask?

If it is, please just tell me what cities are best for dating instead 😙

So you want predictable, sentimental, and a really bad script? And the slightly chinless, constipated look of a young Colin Firth?

Are you visiting the UK just briefly, so you want a holiday romance, or based indefinitely in Edinburgh, so looking for a laird of your own?

I’m visiting the UK briefly. I’ll only be in Edinburgh only for 3 months. Who knows, maybe I’ll start a long-distance relationship? In my fantasies, this is a possibility 🤣

By specifying Colin Firth, I’m really just saying I’m not into the sporty, sharp look that’s popular.

I’m obviously open to more looks, I just like a wavy/curly head of hair usually!

Maybe I’ll be like Jane Austen and never find my Mr. Darcy 🥲

Go to Chatsworth House & wait by the lake . . . 😊

Honestly, I might book a visit! I hadn’t even thought of visiting “Pemberley,” but that’s a fab idea. Even if I don’t meet Mr. Darcy there, I will at least get to see the buildings and towns in real life 🤣

Weirdly enough, I did meet a (handsome, and curly, dark-haired) man while hiking today, so that was… timely and serendipitous. 🍀

Well, if no one else responds, I appreciate the advice thus far (to a very silly question)!

London would probably be the next best thing (after Chatsworth) if it doesn’t work out with this random hiker friend I met today. Thanks! 😜

OP, Chatsworth house is in NE Derbyshire.
I'm from NE Derbyshire.
I'm also a Lesbian. Go figure...

You could try Oxford. You never know, maybe you'll spot a studious lecturer riding his bike to the college he works at.

Let me know when you find him, there'll be a line up!

Try Oxford, Cambridge, Home counties type places

How'd your project go, OP? Any luck? Asking for a friend obv 😋

@songaboutjam Not a bad idea, not a bad idea. "Oh you seem to have dropped your books riding that bike Sir Lloyde-Grantham 🥺 Let me help."

😁

Although Chatsworth is Pemberley the lake is at Lyme Park, which means Mr Darcy had a very long walk in soggy breeches and squelchy boots

@cassiatwenty No luck so far! The man I met while hiking was from Paris and only 23 (I’m 28).

I’ve joined Hinge, but I already want to delete it 😂 Online dating is unbearably crude and unromantic. I want to meet my beau in a bookstore, not through an app! I know I’m being ridiculously persnickety in my desire to have a swoonworthy meet-cute story to tell my grandkids someday 📚 This is why I’ll end up alone 🥲

That said, my summer’s just started. Of the British places I’ve visited, I’ve only knocked off St. Andrews and London, so I have many more weekends to float wistfully around UK towns until I find my Mr. Darcy 🌬️💕💕💕

Who knows, maybe I’ll meet him during one of my weekends in Istanbul or Zurich, as Brits do travel outside the UK. I’m solo-traveling, which makes my situation ripe for two strange travelers in a hostel to find love 😉 (or lice) 😜

@allthelittleangelsriseupriseup I’m also a fan of Gentleman Jack 🌈 Mr. Darcys can come in more than one form! 🎩

Yes. I find that whole episode in the BBC adaptation quite unerotic, and quite apart from not finding Colin Firth as devastating as others appear to, I always imagine Darcy smelling strongly of pond water and algal bloom.

For those suggesting Oxford, this time of year (Trinity term coming to a close) is more likely to find you American tourists in OXFORD hoodies and foreign conference attendees. And my male tutors and lecturers included a fair contingent of the ancient, the book history nerd in socks and sandals etc.

@danascully96 Oh yes, I feel you, I feel you. Online dating can get a tad crude and definitely not that romantic. Yet you must persist in your goals to meet your British Bae. Remember, resilience and persistance are big parts of Stoicism.

Did you look into Oxford Summer University for Adults? Could this work for you?

www.conted.ox.ac.uk/about/summer-schools

There are also many Brits working in Geneva and Zürich. Many of them have their families but perhaps there are some single gentlemen.

And I hope if it comes down to finding love or lice you emerge victorious and find love and leave lice behind. Go get 'em 😁 You got this!! 😎😊

Also The School of Life by Alain de Botton (not a fan personally but horses for courses and all that) may offer some Bibliotherapy/Literary courses on-sit (not online) thay might be of interest if they still do this 😕

Hay-on-Wye has no end of bookstores....

I'd avoid Cornwall - it's a white van man theme park and very low on bookshops.

If we could become lesbian as a result of a dearth of attractive, charming men, most women would be lesbian 😂

Oh no! I'm heading for the West Country in a couple of months time for a family get-together. Whatever are my DSis & I going to do if there are no bookshops to browse? Please don't tell me there are no yarn shops either . . . .

Adding to this, I believe Lyme Park House (Stockport, Cheshire) was used as Pemberley in the 1995 BBC TV adaptation whereas Chatsworth House (Bakewell, Derbyshire) was Pemberley in the 2005 film.

Check which one you want to visit! 🎩

I'm such a big fan of Edinburgh, and Jane Austen, and recommend staying on one place to maximise your chances of getting to know someone better in real life.

How about www.nts.org.uk/visit/places/georgian-house

Last time I was in Edinburgh, there was a ball in full regency costume held there, starting with some dance lessons so that we all knew something of what we were undertaking.

Dance (and hiking in groups) are great ways to get to know people. Have you tried Meetup.com? I know my advice is old fashioned, but getting to know lots of people and let romance blossom if it wants to, makes for a much pleasanter life than the horrible dating process

All the best.

It's pretty low on yarn shops too, there are a few though so you might get lucky on the knitting front!

Many thanks!

Chatsworth is gorgeous in its own right, although as a PP noted, not owned by Colin Firth's Darcy, But how about London and the tea room/cafeteria in the British Library? (Of course it does have a high ratio of American academics doing summer research, but there are Brits too.)

OP I think if we British women knew the answer to your question, we’d all be going there 😉

Brilliant!! 🥰