Quintessential England with afternoon teas on the lawn, chocolate-box villages with thatched roofs and duck ponds and swans. Just some of the images that come to mind when I think of our home country. And whilst for the moment we choose to roam around Europe and explore foreign lands,  there’s no doubting England has some gems.

A friend is coming to England this summer from New Zealand and so I have put together the highlights that we have come to know and love about this stalwart island and compiled it all into an interactive map. As a guide, it is of course not complete. It never could be as this is a personal journal of our highlights over the last fifty years as Britains. Although it is a start….

So we invite you in to explore:

• The southern shores of Sussex, Hampshire and Dorset
• The delights of the south west, Devon, Cornwall and Somerset
• The quintessential heart of England in the Cotswolds
• Bath and Avon
• Wales and her borders
• Up north including the Lake District, Northumberland, Derbyshire and York
• Isle of Man – we couldn’t pass this opportunity up after living there 18 years.

For our interactive map combining all our highlights, click on the link below. Of course for more information why not check out the Lonely Planet’s Guide to England.

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