London is the place to start. Nowhere in the country can
match the scope and innovation of the metropolis, a colossal,
frenetic city, perhaps not as immediately attractive as its
European counterparts, but with so much variety that the only
obstacle to a great time is the shockingly high cost of everything.
It's here that you'll find Britain's best spread of nightlife,
cultural events, museums, galleries, pubs and restaurants. The
other large cities, such as Birmingham, Newcastle, Leeds or
Liverpool each have their strengths: Birmingham has a
resurgent arts scene, for example, while people travel for miles to
sample Newcastle's nightlife. These days Manchester can
match the capital for glamour in cafés and clubs, and also boasts
the inimitable draw of the world's best-known football team.
England's ancient cathedral cities, such as Lincoln, York,
Salisbury, Durham and Winchester , cannot be equalled
for sheer physical beauty. Wherever you're based, you're never more
than a few miles from a ruined castle, a majestic country house, a
secluded chapel or a monastery. In the southwest there are remnants
of a Celtic culture that was all but eradicated elsewhere by the
Romans, and everywhere you can find traces of prehistoric settlers
- most famously the megalithic circles of Stonehenge and
Avebury .
Most beguiling of all are the long-established villages of
England, hundreds of which amount to nothing more than a pub, a
shop, a gaggle of cottages and a farmhouse offering bed and
breakfast. Devon, Cornwall , the Cotswolds and the
Yorkshire Dales harbour some especially picturesque
specimens, but every county can boast a decent showing. Then, of
course, there's the English countryside, an extraordinarily diverse
terrain from which Constable, Turner, Wordsworth, Emily Brontë and
a host of other writers and artists took inspiration. Exmoor,
Dartmoor, Bodmin Moor , the North York Moors and the
Lake District are the most dramatic and best known of the
national parks, each offering an array of landscapes crisscrossed
with walking routes.