Best of British

Brits like to travel. It seems being on an island is reason enough to leave it as much as possible. Even for the most patriotic of Britons, a week abroad in Spain, Portugal, Italy and age-old enemy France is far too tempting.

Thanks to the plethora of low-cost airlines, Britons are some of the most frequent fliers. Unlike our neighbours across the Channel and throughout the European continent, we can’t as easily pack up a car and hit the open road. One, our roads aren’t that open, and two, to get anywhere fast, we need to fly.

It seems strange to many Brits that people actually love coming to Britain. Yes, we all know the Americans just love the history and the Russians adore the shopping, but aside from that what do they actually do for a week in the British Isle’s? After all, it’s not like they come for the weather.

However, Britain does have much to offer, both tourists and life-long locals. The countryside is stunning. Many people fly all the way to New Zealand for a touch of J. R. R. Tolkien’s English countryside, when they could just head to Cumbria, the Lake District, Devon and Dorset.

The Americans are right, we do have a lot of history; this history is not just in the City of London, Christ’s College, Oxford, or along the banks of the Cambridge Canal. There are country houses, castles, forts and abbeys dotted across the landscape from the top of Scotland right down to tip of Cornwall.

Although we don’t have the climate of southern Spain – shame – we do have some outstanding beaches in places you might not have considered. The beaches of the North West for example are pristine stretches of glistening sand. The rugged cliffs give way to rolling hills in Pembrokeshire and the beaches are white and pleasantly windswept.

When it comes to forests, lakes and mountains, we may not have the oldest, biggest or highest in Europe but we put up a good fight. The New Forest, Epping Forest, Whinfell Forest, Sherwood Forest, the list goes on. The Lake District is not the only place to find lakes in the UK. Scotland has Loch Lomond and of course, it’s famous Loch Ness.

One of the best ways to see Britain, get back to basics and explore this rich natural and historical heritage is on a camping holiday. Park Resorts for example offers a wealth of caravan holidays in locations all over the UK.