The Prettiest Towns And Villages In The UK Ranked
11 November 2020
Thatched cottages, packhorse bridges arching over gurgling streams, an almost staged troop of puddle ducks waddling over a cobbled town square… all of these provide the criteria needed to enter our beauty pageant in search of the UK’s prettiest towns and villages. And if you don’t tick at least one of the boxes, then you need not apply. We’re looking at you, Swindon!
Join us as we take a quick lap through the prettiest towns and villages you can visit in the UK by coach in 2021.
St Ives
When it comes to sugar-sand beaches fringed with Cinderella-blue waters, St Ives is the belle of the ball. Just imagine her at a beauty pageant… she’d steal the show, sauntering around in a rippling seafoam-blue dress, and we wouldn’t blame her!
With hasselback hills and leafy lanes meandering down into this whitewashed, seaside town, it seems that home-grown produce stalls burst from every hedgerow, laden with freshly picked flowers, eggs and handmade honesty boxes. And those baby-blue waters could easily pass for the Caribbean… with no passport required for this stunning town.
If Cornwall is your catch of the day then make sure you check out our Newquay & the Cream of Cornwall break which offers an optional excursion to St Ives.
Bourton-on-the-Water
Low footbridges criss-crossing over the babbling River Windrush and more twee, waterfront tearooms than is strictly necessary for a village of this size, Bourton-on-the-Water steals the show when it comes to Cotswold charmers.
So pretty it created itself in miniature with its popular model village. You say vain, we say why not? If it’s so nice, let's enjoy it twice! Get up close with Bourton-on-the-Water and her two equally beautiful sisters, Stow-on-the-Wold and Broadway during our Steaming through the Cotswolds & Cruising the River Avon getaway in 2021.
Tenby
With steal-your-mrs good looks, Tenby is an eye-catching little character. Sweet-talking fudge emporiums strut through the preening lanes, ice-cream kiosks saunter amongst the sands and a rainbow of pastel-coloured houses cascade down the harbour like a spilt bag of Skittles.
If the thought of this walled seaside town gives you a sugar-rush, then our Picturebook Pembrokeshire, Tenby & the Vale of Rheidol Railway trip sounds like your kind of holiday.
Haworth
This former Brontë sister hangout ranks as one of the prettiest places in Yorkshire for us. When it comes to villages with winding cobbled lanes inching their way up towards mysterious moors, this heartthrob in the north wrote the hymnbook. And the novel for that matter. It’s not hard to see how these little streets provided inspiration for both Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights. With brooding moors, sultry skies and alluring little footpaths, we’re talking the kind of scenery that’s enticing enough to get Cathy out of bed at midnight to go searching for Heathcliff!
Experience the bewitching Yorkshire landscape for yourself during our Historic York & the Yorkshire Moors & Dales break away.
Plus many, many more
We couldn’t stop with just four of the prettiest towns and villages in the UK. The village of Port Sunlight will forever sweep us off our feet with no less than 900 Grade II-listed buildings! Charming Bakewell deserves a mention as the birthplace of the delicious pastry and equally moreish riverside walks, and - we know we’re cheating with a whole county - but Kent, the garden of England, with its coastal fortresses and orchards laden with more apples than Ma Larkin could use in the busiest pie-making season, will always be a showstopper for us!
Has your favourite made our list of the prettiest towns and villages in the UK? If not, have a look through our range of UK coach breaks. You’re bound to find yourself a match.