South West

This is, allegedly, the only place in the world where you can visit a colony of nesting Mute Swans. (Trust me, they are not mute).  A Benedictine monastery was established at Abbotsbury in the 11th century and the monks began farming swans - which often featured at medieval banquets. The monks have long gone, but the swans are still there (different ones, obviously). If you visit Abbotsbury Swannery these days, you'll find about 600 swans, all free to roam. The colony is established adjacent to a shallow lagoon, the Fleet, which lies behind Chesil Beach. It's a unique location.

The enormous Neolithic stone henge and bank at Avebury surrounds the entire village of Avebury.  Dating from c2600BC, it is part of a wider complex of prehistoric sites nearby that include West Kennet Avenbue and Longbarrow, Silbury Hill and Windmill Hill. Get up close and personal with the stones - which you cannot normally do at nearby Stonehenge.

“Who can ever be tired of Bath?” Jane Austen enquired. Apart from being a favourite of one of England’s most-loved novelists, Bath is probably most famed for its Roman and Regency heritage. The Romans built extensive baths there and called the town Aquae Sulis (the waters of Sul, a local Celtic deity similar to Minerva). The remains of the complex were discovered in the 18th C, by which time the healing waters of Bath had again become fashionable, with the help of the dandy, Beau Nash, and the town evolved into a go-to Regency place. Thus Bath is also loved for its surviving honey-coloured Georgian architecture, not least its elegant Royal Crescent and unusual Pulteney Bridge over the Avon, designed by Robert Adam and containing shops built across its full span.  Among Bath’s many other attractions is the Gothic 15th C Abbey, where a monastery was founded in the 7th century. Bath is a World Heritage Site, one of Britain’s tourist magnets and features heavily on overseas visitors’ itineraries, as well as being a desirable romantic weekend destination.

The Cotswold village of Bibury on the River Coln is lovely, has been around since at least Saxon times and was described by William Morris as “The most beautiful village in England”. It is much-visited by tourists, much photographed and particularly known for a row of cottages called Arlington Row – which has featured in movies.  Arlington Row was built as a wool store by monks in the 14th century and was converted into weavers’ cottages in the 17th century.  One, No 9, is owned by the National Trust and is available for holiday bookings.  An area of marshy water meadow close to Arlington Row was known as ‘Rack Isle’ and was where wool was hung on racks after being washed.  These days, it’s a nature reserve.

Picturesque ancient Boscastle perches on the side of a small valley in north Cornwall. It is possibly best known for its long narrow harbour, a natural inlet at the mouth of the River Valency, protected by two stone harbour walls built in 1584 by Sir Richard Grenville. It is packed with history, from the remains of the castle that gives it its name – Boterelescastel (1302), to its old fishermen’s cottages. It has an industrial past, but is now a destination for tourists who come for its potteries, art galleries, the Museum of Witchcraft, views – and walking; the South West Coastal Path runs through Boscastle. It has associations with Thomas Hardy, who met his first wife, Emma Gifford, while working as an architect on the nearby church of St Juliot. Boscastle is ‘Castle Boterel’ in his 1873 novel, ‘A Pair of Blue Eyes’. Beneath Penally Point is a blow-hole known as the Devil's Bellows, which sometimes blows a horizontal spout of water halfway across the harbour entrance.

Severe flash floods in 2004, and to a lesser extent in 2007, turned roads into gushing torrents and caused considerable damage.

Most of the land is owned by the National Trust.