Find places to visit in Britain by name, location, type of attraction, or other keyword.
This listings directory of over 950 entries is being phased out.
It now excludes places and things of interest in the North of England, including Yorkshire.
These can be found in ABAB’s Places.
Places to visit in England’s East Midlands are currently being moved to ABAB’s Places.
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The New Forest offers chocolate-box scenery - 220 square miles of open heath and woodland where ponies, cattle and pigs roam freely, punctuated by the occasional attractive town and village. It's an ancient royal hunting forest, created in the 11th century by William the Conqueror - his 'Nova Foresta' - at the expense of its inhabitants. These days, it's a place for walking, cycling, horse riding - or just relaxing.
Hampshire’s New Forest covers an area of 220 square miles (570 square kilometres) and the National Park was established 2005. The highest point is Telegraph Hill at just under 460 feet (140 metres).
There is nothing harsh about the New Forest; it is, simply, lovely. Attractive towns, chocolate-box villages and a maritime heritage add to the mix. The National Motor Museum is at Beaulieu and there’s a particularly lovely garden at Exbury.
The New Forest is adjacent to some of the most populous parts of the south coast of England, such as Southampton and Bournmouth. Principal settlements within the New Forest are Lyndhurst and Brockenhurst.
Lymington Town Hall
Avenue Road
Lymington
Orford Ness is Europe's largest shingle spit, approximately 10 miles long running between the River Alde and the North Sea in Suffolk. It is an internationally important area of shingle habitat, home to a huge variety of wildlife, much of it fragile and precious. It was also used for secret military testing and experimentation, including for aircraft, radio, radar, ballistics and atomic weapons, since the First World War until after the Cold War. Limited access is available via National Trust Ferry from Orford.
Orford
The Peak District National Park was Britain’s first, in 1951. It sits surrounded by major conurbations, broadly between Manchester and Sheffield, mainly in Derbyshire, but also partly in Staffordshire, Cheshire and South and West Yorkshire. The Park covers an area of 555 square miles (1437 square kilometres) and the highest point is Kinder Scout in the north of the region at 2087 feet (636 metres).
The development of national parks has often seen conflict between landowners and the public. Kinder was the scene of a mass trespass undertaken by ramblers in 1932, to raise awareness of the fact that the public was denied access to open country. Some believe this act of civil disobedience, which amazingly resulted in some arrests, was instrumental in producing national parks legislation in 1949.
The Peak District is a park of two halves. In the north, the ‘Dark Peak’ is characterised by millstone grit pokes through areas of moorland, whereas the central and southern areas, known as ‘White Peak’ are largely limestone country. Neolithic man was here and the Romans used to export lead mined from the limestone areas, and admire the unique semi-precious Blue John stone found near Castleton.
Like most of Britain’s national parks, the Peak district is favoured by walkers, climbers, campers, cyclists – and so on. Beneath the ground, cavers enjoy exploring the natural caverns and old mine workings.
Villages in the Peak District are renowned for the tradition of well dressing in spring and summer.
The principal settlements within the National Park are Bakewell and Tideswell, though Buxton, just outside the park authority, is an important town, famed for its spring water since Roman times.
Aldern House
Baslow Road
Bakewell
The Pembrokeshire Coast National Park covers an area of 240 square miles (621 kilometres) along a 260 mile (418 kilometres) coastline in South-West Wales. It was established in 1952 and the highest point is Foel Cwmcerwyn at 1758 feet (536 metres).
Pembrokeshire Coast National Park is unique in that it is predominantly, but not exclusively, coastal. But, in addition to high rugged cliffs and broad, sandy, beaches, it does include woodland and inland hills. Along the 186 mile (299 kilometres) long Pembrokeshire Coast Path you will spot seals, dolphins and basking sharks, as well as seabirds. There are prehistoric tombs, Iron Age hill forts, numerous castles and Britain’s smallest city, St Davids. The park includes a marine nature reserve, 6 national nature reserves and 75 Sites of Special Scientific Interest.
Principal settlements include St Davids and Tenby.
Llanion Park
Pembroke Dock
One of Britain's largest colonies of common and grey seals is at Blakeney Pont, a 4 mile spit that sticks out into the North Sea. It is a national nature reserve, and a favourite spot for birds, native and foreign, as well as seals. Various companies run boat trips to see the seals. The trips last about an hour and tend to depart from Morston Quay.
The link below will take you to one operator - but there are others - no recommendation is implied.
Nr Blakeney
Snowdonia National Park in North Wales was one of Britain’s first, established in 1951. It is a place of mountains, covering 840 square miles (2176 square kilometres). Snowdonia is known as Eryri in Welsh, a name that can be translated as “the place of the eagles”. There are actually nine mountain ranges, caves, lakes, rivers and forests. Like other National Parks in Britain, this is serious walking and climbing country and needs to be treated with respect.
The area is stacked with historic sites as well as world-famous places like the gardens at Bodnant and Sir Clough Williams-Ellis’ fantasy village, Portmeirion. Snowdonia National Park also boasts no fewer than seven narrow-gauge railways: the Ffestiniog, Welsh Highland, Llyn Padarn, Talyllyn, Bala Lake, Fairbourne and, finally, the Snowdon Mountain Railway which will take you almost to the summit of Britain’s second highest mountain, Snowdon, at 3560 feet (1085 metres).
The principal settlements in Snowdonia National Park are Aberdyfi, Dolgellau, Trawsfynydd and Beddgelert.
The picture is of Castell-y-Gwynt (Castle of the Winds) a rock formation near the summit of Glyder Fach.
Penrhyndeudraeth
The South Downs National Park was designated as recently as 2010 and covers an area of 627 square miles (1624 square kilometres) parallel with the busy South Coast of England, from St Catherine's Hill near Winchester in Hampshire in the west to Beachy Head, near Eastbourne in East Sussex. Just outside the Park boundaries are the bustling towns and cities of Winchester, Portsmouth, Bognor Regis, Eastbourne and Brighton. London is about an hour to the north.
It is mainly an area of rolling chalk downland, which includes the white cliffs of Sussex (not to be confused with the ones at Dover). This is no wild, remote, national park. It is a rich area of mixed farming, woodland, country estates, gardens, vineyards, pleasant middle-England market towns, pretty villages and good pubs. It may be walking without altitude, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t good walking to be done; and the slopes will still test the muscles. You'll also find significant prehistoric landmarks.
The highest point is Blackdown, where the poet Tennyson once had a home, close to the border with Surrey, at 918 feet (280 metres).
Principal settlements include Arundel, Steyning, Lewes, Midhurst and Petersfield.
South Downs Centre
North Street
Midhurst
Wolstonbury Hill is a 676 feet (206 metres) high hill on the South Downs, north of Brighton, with spectacular views. It is a scheduled monument, the site of a late Bronze Age enclosure, or hill fort, and other remains, as well as a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) notable for chalk downland flowers, including eleven different types of orchid, and over 30 species of butterflies. It also has the highest concentration of anthills on the South Downs and the remains of a 20th century rifle range allegedly used during World War Two. What more could you ask?
There is evidence that hilltop was also used during the Iron Age, Roman and Anglo-Saxon periods.
Extensive damage was caused during flint digging in the 18th and 19th centuries when, allegedly, some skeletons were unearthed. Other remains – animal bones, pottery and worked flint – were dug up in the 1920s. Overall, there seems to be a great deal of uncertainty about what, exactly, went on on Wolstonbury Hill.
There is some traditional association with nearby Danny House, a nearby Elizabethan mansion (not open to the public). During WW1, Lloyd George stayed at the house and is said to have mislaid some secret papers while walking on the hill. During the Second World War, the area was used by Canadian troops training for D-Day.
Access to Wolstonbury Hill is by footpath from various points – as identified on the OS map. Post Code is for Pyecombe, from which there is a bridleway leading almost to the top.
Pyecombe
If your favourite attraction is not listed yet, and you have a good quality digital photograph of it that you are able to freely send, please get in touch.