Are the Cotswolds overrated and what are your UK hidden gems?

[beardedirislover]

Is it me or are the Cotwolds a bit overrated.

Theyre too twe, too stylised, too much black estate fencing that's perfectly painted. It's like disney version of countryside.

Where are your hidden gems in the UK not the normal tourist hotspots?

I can tell you the hidden Cotswolds spot for incest if you want! Factually proven as lots of SS involvement.

100%.

We have a second home there and there’s widespread recognition that it’s people like us who rent to holiday makers who keep the smaller businesses going. Without holiday makers there wouldn’t be any customers for the businesses.

There was a motion a while ago to do something about second home owners, in the area we’re in, from a vocal minority of people who had retired there (so not locals) which was roundly shot down by the actual locals. 😂

We’ve been going every year, 2-4 times a year, for at least 10+ years. Wouldn’t go anywhere else given the dog walks and excellent coffee shops and restaurants.

Stroud very definitely is the Cotswolds.

I live near Oxford and adore the Cotswolds. They feel almost otherwordly in places, they're so beautiful. I don't really go to the touristy parts, which makes a big difference. I love the way some of the cottages look like they're growing out of the ground and leaning into each other.

100%. Norfolk folk so friendly.

Went to Cornwall during Covid and I thought one traffic jam was going to get physical one day.

I love Malvern. Also Northumberland is glorious. And Aberdeenshire was a revelation. Suffolk is also lovely, and Devon.

Cornwall is beautiful, but I'm sure the locals would rather everyone just went away.

But actually, you can find gems almost everywhere, especially churches and lovely countryside. We live in a wonderful country.

I've only been to the Cotswolds once and I didn't get it - the villages are very chocolate box and pretty but the landscape is totally meh. Just sort of semi rolling fields like you'd get anywhere. Any countryside in Yorkshire/Cumbria. (where I live) - even that which isn't supposed to be "special" - beats it hands down.

I get overwhelmed with finding new places to go. Sometimes I go on YouTube and type in "4k drives UK" or something like that. And discover some nice places 💐

It’s a large and diverse area. The landscape around the eastern/Oxfordshire portion is nothing special. But the five valleys around Stroud are stunning. The setting of all the honey coloured stone buildings within the valleys is very special.

Forest of Dean

Ok I didn't mean for this to be a slating match of the Cotswolds. Sorry Cotswolds dwellers you do have a gorgeous part of England and we are lucky to have it!

I also LOVE the lincolnshire wolds. Salmonby, Fulletby walk I did once was truly England at its best.

My loves (and having spoken with others IRL)

Oundle, Stamford Rutland Area - gorgeous but I grew up here so got the t shirt on this one.

Derbyshire - Bakewell

Lincolnshire - Wolds

Norfolk Suffolk - Really gorgeous, lavenham, framlingham, burnham market, holt.

Herefordshire - the whole county is wow

Devon - East Devon and North Devon around minehead are lovely!

Hampshire - Stockbridge is LUSH

Sussex - billingshurst, Arundel - lovely.

Essex - North essex is stun!

Northant - North East, North and also west northants basically feels like the cotswolds (without the AONB tag).

Any others? I don't know the north super well but everyone like Malton area in Yorkshire!

Surely each county has amazing parts that if you travel on motorways you just miss?

I live in Kent which is much maligned, but I can think of loads of incredibly picturesque places that aren’t ridiculously touristy. I’m sure that’s the case everywhere.

One thing we’ve done as a family is to use a book called The Extra Mile when we travel. Instead of motorway services it takes you five mins off the motorway for a break, and if you join the motorway a junction later you see loads. Takes longer but you genuinely get to see the character of counties when you otherwise wouldn’t.

TOTALLY over rated. Northern Irish and Scottish countryside every single time. With the added bonus that one is less likely to run in to JD Vance (who, despite being “Scots Irish” whatever the fuck that means - it’s Ulster Scots, you cretin) chose to holiday in the Cotswolds when in the U.K.

I particularly like this bits just outside the Lake District that are equally charming but have a 10th of the visitors (love the lakes but in season the roads can turn into a car park).

Northumberland - Alnwick is magical complete with castle they filmed Harry Potter in, also Bamburgh and the Holy Island (Lindisfarne) - the last time we went to Lindisfarne there were seals lining the drive in.

Yorkshire Coast - Whitby also extremley magical, Bram Stoker wrote Dracula there. Scarborough is underrated in my opinion, Anne Bronte's grave is there, it has an old history. Also beaches at Sandsend. Also Haworth, where the bronte's lived.

Peak District - Hathersage, Bakewell, Chatsworth all incredible.

Rye near camber sands. Gorgeous little town with amazing walks down by the harbour and beyond

The area west of Salisbury has plenty of little villages and beautiful countryside without the crowds. That whole stretch around Cranborne Chase and down to the coast has some lovely places to stay.

We’re off to Leeds and Ripon in a couple of months’s time (DD at Uni, so we’ll probably be shifting her stuff).

We had planned to visit Keighley/Haworth but presumably this will be rammed after Wuthering Heights? I’ve been told to spend some time in Nidderdale (we’ll head to a stately home/town if the weather is vile, but we’re happy to put on some boots for a moderate hike -no scrambling please)?

Rutland has all the beauty of the Cotswolds but without all the tourists.

Went to the Cotswolds a couple of years ago for the first time, did the usual villages, Bourton on the Water etc, have to say I was underwhelmed, can’t deny they are pretty villages but I just expected more after all the hype. Found that true of quite a few places to be honest, they are so hyped up. Northumberland certainly has some great spots as does North Yorkshire, but we are all different, what one find’s stunning another finds dull

Literally agree with this so much! I dont get why no one comes here?

Kilve Beach in Somerset is on another part of the Jurassic Coast like Lyme Regis. It is gorgeous and when we visited there was nobody else on the entire strand.

I live in North Yorkshire. Hardly undiscovered but have recently had mini breaks in Grassington which blew me away. I really like somewhere I can walk from the door all day to different villages and it was so beautiful. Malham etc. is great. It is touristy but I think if you are walking in the hills you get a bit of wilderness and then coming back to a village feels nice. I also go to The Lakes to hike with my girlfriends every July on the first weekend of the summer holidays. We stay in Grasmere, so very touristy but do big hikes both Sat and Sun. We always say how amazing it is that once you are out in the fells it doesn't feel busy. The opposite. Both places have touristy villages but the big difference is that really you are going for the hills/fells/walking and then a busy village pub feels nice to return to. I visited the Cotswolds and I think it was beautiful but just full of people taking photos. I didn't get the feeling people go there to hike and be in nature but go to shops and restuarants and fancy hotels.

Pembrokeshire and the Wye Valley are my favourite areas of thr UK that I have visited

I have a soft spot for the isle of Man too

Sea view on the Isle of Wight and Dungeness if you want somewhere a bit more “unusual”- wonderful places!

We like West Dorset and East Devon - we've had several family holidays in Dorset and I used to go to East Devon as a child. They are more gentle rolling hills and small towns - only Lyme Regis is really overwhelming and we used to go to the far end of the beach at the end of the day.