Places you didn't realise were so wonderful

Warwickshire, I used to drive up to Scotland for holidays completely oblivious to the lovely country I was missing!

HannahLoisLuke

Callistemon21

I was surprised to see Lincolnshire in a different light yesterday. Years ago I visited Cleethorpes for a jazz festival and was very underwhelmed.
A few years ago we travelled through Lincolnshire en route from Hull and were just as unimpressed but didn't linger.

However, we were surprised that we really liked Hull!
Well worth a visit.

I agree about Hull. About fifty years ago my ex was studying architecture at the university and we spent a weekend there as guests of his tutor and wife. It was so green and lovely. Long leafy avenues with beautiful old villas. The docks were mostly filled in and used as leisure spaces. Of course there were/are also run down areas but on the whole I was really impressed. Hope it’s still as good.

We went when it was the City of Culture in 2017, HannahLoisLuke.
In fact, we could have spent longer there.

Northumberland is our go to place at least twice a year. But it has become so busy as a result of TV and Covid. I don’t want it to be spoilt!

Cuckmere Haven and the South Downs are absolutely magical

Callistemon21

I was surprised to see Lincolnshire in a different light yesterday. Years ago I visited Cleethorpes for a jazz festival and was very underwhelmed.
A few years ago we travelled through Lincolnshire en route from Hull and were just as unimpressed but didn't linger.

However, we were surprised that we really liked Hull!
Well worth a visit.

I agree about Hull. About fifty years ago my ex was studying architecture at the university and we spent a weekend there as guests of his tutor and wife. It was so green and lovely. Long leafy avenues with beautiful old villas. The docks were mostly filled in and used as leisure spaces. Of course there were/are also run down areas but on the whole I was really impressed. Hope it’s still as good.

We’ve recently been on holiday south of Dudley.
Lovely.
We live in a fabulous country. We have everything - maybe not quite as high or quite as big as some countries but certainly beautiful.
However as we left Black hut in a howling gale (winds of 70miles an hour) when we were doing the coast to coast walk I would have welcomed Benidorm!!

I asked my son, when he was aged about 15 standing side by side on a beach on Cap Cod staring out to sea, where was the best place he'd ever been, he replied "Camden" grubby part of London

We bought a touring caravan a few years ago and have discovered parts of the country that we would never have dreamed of visiting before and a lot of them were surprisingly lovely. Sutton on sea near Mablethorpe in Lincolnshire is a lovely seaside town stuck in the 1930s ?. Thorpeness near sizewell in Suffolk, yes near the nuclear power station (being decommissioned) but lovely clean and quiet . SherwoodForest not just the Robin Hood trail but the whole area is so pretty. I could go on and on. But I don’t want to recommend too many places in case you all flock there and the places change ?

We moved from Lancashire to Lincolnshire 45 years ago. At the time we loved it, but it has depreciated a lot in the last few years.
We first visited Northumberland in 1984, and were delighted with the scenery, having always thought it to be a heavily industrial area.
Love Devon and Cornwall, but always get the feeling that we`re only welcome as holidaymakers, that we wouldn`t be quite so welcome if we moved there.
And I LOVE Scotland, particularly the west coast, and very particularly, the Kintyre peninsula, especially the hamlet/village of Muasdale, beautiful!

Kate1949

Callistemon The Peak District is gorgeous.

Indeed, when we lived in Stoke and Newcastle, we spent every bit of spare time walking the Dales. I always felt 'at home' there- limestone country, like my Jura Mountains.

Ps he's been since and appreciated it much more

Kate1949

I agree that we don't notice lovely scenery when we're younger. I can remember being on a bus in Lake Garda when a group of school children got on. They were chatting away. I couldn't understand why they weren't staring out of the window.

I asked DS what was the most memorable thing about Salzburg when he'd been on a school trip.
He said it was a wonderful car showroom full of sports cars!

I agree that we don't notice lovely scenery when we're younger. I can remember being on a bus in Lake Garda when a group of school children got on. They were chatting away. I couldn't understand why they weren't staring out of the window.

Shropshire!
Having spent years just driving through Shropshire enroute to North Wales.
We now visit quite often to spend the day out and about in different parts of Shropshire.

One of my best spring/summer haunts is Much Wenlock.
A lovely little area both for the little food market and also for a bit of peace and quiet in the lovely Much Wenlock Priory.
Beautiful views and walks over Wenlock edge and the Wrekin.

Looking forward to warmer weather and lovely days out and about exploring Shropshire.

Trouble is Kent where I have lived most of my life is too crowded, traffic is awful, two busy motorways down to Dover, thousands of lorries, often stationery blocking the roads, high speed train links, tunnels and the Dartford bridge all cause jams almost daily, I could go on.
Having said that there are beautiful corners, historic towns, lovely old villages, wonderful walks in the countryside and along the coast, even if southern water seem to think dumping raw sewage in the sea is ok.

Kent, where I grew up, is so underrated. There are lovely coastal areas and lots of gorgeous villages as well as some very beautiful and interesting stately homes and castles.

I think TerriBull makes a valid comment that our appreciation of our beautiful country usually grows with the years. Maybe when we are younger we don't fully appreciate the beauty around us, though to be fair lots of young poets and artists managed to.
I had to check on the map to see how far up Lincolnshire is. I would have placed it further south. Ooops!

and so much history <3

Peasblossom

Ah, “As pretty as the Cotswolds and not as crowded “

Tourist ad for Lincolnshire.

For me it’s been Leicestershire. I thought it was industrial ??

I could not live in Lincolnshire, just too flat for me.

Yes, Leicestershire- rolling hills, the granit and slate of Swithland, and the golden mellow stone cottages and rooves in the East of the County (Collyweston slate- graduated and more like stone than slate) and Rutland. In the 34 years I lived there I must have walked every inch and loved it.

Anywhere in West Wales, though we do love the Conwy valley.

I was lucky as Mum and Dad took me on many British camping holidays as a child. So many folk know little about their country as the always head for sunnier climes. Our countryside, towns and villages are wonderful as well as the seaside.

My husband said a while back, if he had discovered earlier in life how beautiful the beaches of Wales are, he wouldn't have spent so many hours on the road driving further (from us) to Cornwall, not that their beaches aren't lovely too, but Wales is less crowded and really spectacular.

Britain is a bit wasted on many of us when we are young, I do remember my mother waxing lyrical about the beauty of the The Lake District when I was at an age where all I wanted was intense heat, with me replying "yeah! yeah! but it's wet" until I saw it for the first time, stunning it was but I was older by then. Great swathes of Britain are beautiful it just takes a while to realise that.

I've fallen in love with many places in Britain since we've been taking more holidays at home, in particular the South Hams area of Devon around Salcombe views to die for, Yorkshire Dales to name but two but so many more.

I agree that it's best to keep quiet about these lovely places. Let them all head for London and stay away!

My late friend and I had visited many parts of the country from top to bottom and a few times were taken by " feeder " coach to Sandbach to pick up our relevant coaches to wherever we were going.

On travelling through Sandbach ( on the doorstep really ) we'd promised ourselves that at some point we'd holiday there. We did and weren't disappointed as it was a lovely place and we stayed at an " old " place/ hotel called the Wheatsheaf. I say old because part of the building was like what was left from Elizabethan times.

Beautiful countryside, lots to do, a market square and trips to the finer parts of Cheshire. We hadn't realised how lovely it really was and travelled to most parts of it. Plenty of history in all the surrounding areas---Middlewich/ Nantwich etc.

Born and brought up in Lincolnshire, as were many of my family before me. Lived away for many years, travelled widely, happy to come home. From fenlands to wolds and in between , so much history , hidden beauty and friendly folk.