Room4u Tour Guides

holidaying in great britain ~ an ideas guide to the uk

Traditionally anyone thinking of booking their holidays in Britain is unlikely to have the weather anywhere near the top of their list of priorities, which is a shame because contrary to most people's ideas the South East of England enjoys the kind of Summer climate more commonly associated with the Mediterranean. Sure, the lush, rolling lawns and herbaceous borders that traditionally define the English countryside are unlikely to be replaced by swathes of palms and eucalyptus trees anytime soon, but the South Coast of England gets nearly two-thousand hours of sunshine each year (an average of nearly five hours a day). Hotspots include Eastbourne in East Sussex and Bognor Regis in West Sussex, where May and June temperatures regularly exceed 75 Fahrenheit (23 degrees Celsius). Of course, this is in complete contrast to popular tourist areas like the Lake District and the Western Isles of Scotland, which for the most part consists of high ground, especially in the north of Britain, where there are a range of stunning peaks surpassing 1000 metres. Fjord-like sea lochs and the islands of the Hebrides characterise the wetter west of the region, while the sunnier south contains the gentler undulations of the UK's Southern Uplands.

Holiday in England

Choose from a beach holiday on the English Riviera in the South of England, a major shopping experience in London or the Arthurian romance of the English West Coast ~ England Holidays

Holiday in Scotland

Whether you come with an open heart, or a map and a stout pair of walking boats, Scotland offers a breathtaking landscape peppered with grand, baronial castles, a tome of folklore, some of the wildest open plains in the whole of Great Britain ~ Scotland Holidays

Holiday in Wales

Looking for ideas of the perfect family holiday then Wales has the magical wilderness that is the Snowdonia National Park, the Brecon Beacons and the Pembrokeshire Coastline – 240 square miles of predominantly coastal parkland ~ Wales Holidays

Holiday in Ireland

Forget the Shamrock and the leprechauns, they never told the real story of Ireland. The real story is in the ancient basalt columns of the Giants Causeway and the warm, hospitable lap of Dublin one of the liveliest and dynamic capitals in the UK ~ Dublin

The British Isles is a magical, eclectic mix of peaks and troughs in every respect. The borders between England and Scotland are marked by the Cheviot Hills and rugged, iconic landmarks like Hadrians Wall. In the central belt you have the wuthering, windswept moors of the Yorkshire Dales, as captivating now as they were at the time of the Brontes. The Costwolds in the English midlands may be fixed in the popular imaginations as England's lush fertile flatlands with its immaculate English Rose Gardens, finely manicured bowling greens and thatched Cottages, but it too has peaks as high as 1,000 metres. It is indeed an area of outstanding natural beauty.

Britain is a creature of beautiful contradictions. It is endearingly ancient on the one hand and fiercely modern on the other, as those lucky enough to have holidayed in Glasgow, Edinburgh or London will be able verify. The mighty crags and tors of the Cairngorms look stunning with their white-capped peaks in Winter but they also look just as astonishing through the prism of a gentle summer shower. Britain is a multifarious, complex beast. Over the duration of just one day a visitor to the North of Scotland can be scampering up some lofty, windswept peak, paddling the rushing waters of some nearby gorge and standing on the rich, golden sands of a beach as the sun sinks into a satisfying cushion of pink, red and orange clouds along the horizon. Still thinking of holidaying in Britain? Then prepare to be dazzled and bewildered in equal measures …