American Reacts to 10 Best Places to Visit in Southwest England

Comments · 605

• CL

  @Claire-tn4xp · 1 year ago

  Tintagel is spectacular as shown. I visited as a child, on a family holiday.

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• M-

  @M-yk9bi · 1 year ago

  London Paddington to Exeter St Davids (Exeter is arguably pretty much the centre of the West Country) is 2 hours on the quickest trains. Trains also run from there right down to Penzance. You will love the coast down there. You see a lot of the Devon coast on the train to Penzance via Plymouth, it is a fantastic railway line that one!

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• FI

  @fingal4217 · 1 year ago

  I don't know - is the Grand Canyon rocks in the middle of nowhere? Stonehenge is a vastly important ancient monument.

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• TR

  @trevorjackson4157 · 1 year ago (edited)

  Get in touch  with your followers, plenty of us would be pleased to show you around.

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• M-

  @M-yk9bi · 1 year ago

  My vote is to go for the "real" Southwest (Devon, Cornwall, Somerset). Wiltshire and Dorset are also great, and Gloucestershire, but assuming your time is limited, go for the real deep Southwest. Start in Exeter and use the train mostly to end up in Penzance stopping in coastal towns and villages. Now head up northeast (no trains on the Cornish coast), ideally doing at least 3 full days of hiking the coastline (ideally a week) which is genuinely some of the most breathtaking in the world. Maybe walk from Bude around to Bideford as a bare minimum? Padstow to Bideford would be brilliant, I guarantee it. Walk by day, stay in village pubs at night, drink real ale, east fresh fish, and have a big breakfast each morning. No better way to spend a week! Then Exmoor and/or back down through mid-Devon to Exeter again to complete the loop. Dartmoor is brilliant too (think Sherlock Holmes Hounds of the Baskervilles). I think 2-3 weeks is what you need to get some of the best of Devon and Cornwall. The main thing is you need (I think) to walk coastline and spend time in villages. You mention more populated coastline: think Dawlish and Torbay etc for that. Paignton and Torquay are very popular but maybe not the nicest. In Cornwall you would like all of the coastal villages! Salisbury is very possibly worth a visit on the way down or back. You are right about Stonehenge. Not worth a detour quite honestly.

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• T.

  @t.a.k.palfrey3882 · 1 year ago

  Stonehenge is a great place to drive by on a warm summer morning, as the mist rises from Salisbury Plain. If prehistoric sites such as this interest you, you're better driving on a further 40 minutes to Avebury Henge, the largest neolithic stone circle in Europe, and much less of a tourist mecca.

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• PA

  @pamelsims2068 · 1 year ago

  Wells is close to Glastonbury most people visit the two on one day. Glastonbury abbey ruins and the Mystical &quot; Glastonbury Tor&quot; <br>Glastonbury is a town and the Glastonbury festival is held on a nearby farm!

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• SA

  @sarabazlinton9820 · 1 year ago

  Visit St Michael’s Mount just off the coast at Marazion, near Penzance if you’re in Cornwall. You can walk across the causeway to the island at low tide, otherwise there’s a ferry. Yes it’s touristy but as you mentioned, tourism is probably Cornwall’s main source of revenue. Lots of beautiful beaches and harbours in Cornwall as well. I live in West Sussex on the coast but always used to take my children to Cornwall for holidays when they were small. This summer I went back for the first time in 5 years, with my eldest son, daughter in law and baby granddaughter. I hadn’t realised how much I’d missed it 😊

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• TH

  @TheNoobilator · 1 year ago

  I am from Somerset, so I can give a little insight in to how accessible Exmoor is! Taunton, Somerset is a pretty notable train network hub for the Southwest, and you can change to a train from there to Dunster. Dunster is a beautiful medieval town with a castle and market centre, and is right on the edge of Exmoor! From there you can hike up in to the national park, or take a train/walk down to the coast at Minehead. That is pretty much the end of the train network, but (depending on how much time you want to spend backpacking) you will be able to experience northern Exmoor! If you can find a way, it is worth going right up to the centre; some beautiful walks with sweeping views, purple heather in flower at the right time of year, birds of prey and wild deer - it&apos;s rather lovely :D

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• JA

  @James-wp3jq · 1 year ago

  Still yet to set foot in Wales &nbsp;!

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• CA

  @carlchadwick9858 · 1 day ago

  Stonehenge... It&apos;s amazing to think how they got there but at the end of the day, it&apos;s just big rocks in a field! I was underwhelmed when we visited.

• TH

  @thomasjames5031 · 1 year ago

  I&apos;m from Plymouth and lived in Somerset for 20 years. Plymouth, of course, is a city on the coast. Sir Francis Drake sailed from Plymouth, as did the Pilgrims, Charles Darwin and Robert Fitzroy in HMS Beagle. And Robert Falcon Scott, the arctic explorer. <br>Devon and Cornwall are often referred to as &apos;the far southwest&apos;. The &apos;Glastonbury festival&apos; is held at Worthy farm between Glastonbury and Shepton Mallet.

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