Destination Guide to the Heart of England
Home to Shakespeare’s Stratford-upon-Avon, the city of Oxford, bundles of historic villages and the idyllic Cotswolds countryside, exploring the Heart of England is an essential part of the English vacation experience. The Heart of England is home to the glorious Cotswolds countryside, a designated area of outstanding natural beauty.
Demonstrating rural England at its most quintessential, the Cotswolds region covers much of Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire and is typified by gently sloping patchwork fields, rolling hills, meandering rivers and soft woodlands. The region is dotted with traditional towns and villages with eccentric names such as Stow-on-the-Wold and Moreton-in-Marsh. Attractions in themselves, these settlements are attractive collections of honey coloured sandstone houses, thatch cottages and cobbled market squares.
Gloriously picturesque on a larger scale, the cities of Oxford and Stratford-upon-Avon are both absolute “must-sees” for this region. Oxford is home to one of the world’s most famous academic institutions at Oxford University, the college buildings offer stunning architecture whilst the city holds a wistful air of academia. An elegant medieval town of timberwork buildings and open greens Stratford was once home to the Bard himself and the surrounding areas hold a wealth of Shakespeare heritage and dedicated sites. Further west along the English border with Wales there are a procession of Tudor market towns and stunning medieval cathedral cities such as Gloucester, Hereford, Ross-on-Wye and Shrewsbury whilst in the centre of England you’ll find the buzzing metropolis of Birmingham, England’s second most populous city.
The Heart of England’s landscapes are punctuated with stately homes and castles including some of England’s best known sites such as Blenheim Palace (near Oxford), Chatsworth House, in the Peak District, the archetypal medieval fortress at Warwick Castle and the lesser known romantic gardens of Sudely Castle. For those who prefer their history more recent, a visit to the designated world heritage site at Ironbridge in the Shropshire hills is not to be missed.
North of Birmingham, you’ll find the Peak District, England’s first protected National Park and another area of outstanding natural beauty. In contrast with the mellow slopes of the Cotwolds, the Peak District is a hiker’s paradise offering dramatic landscapes, rocky precipices, underground caverns, peat bogs and wild moorlands.
Encompassing some of England’s key historic city’s and sites, alongside lesser known gems and some of the country’s most quintessential countryside, central England really is the Heart of England.
