Travel Tips: UK Alternatives to Foreign Destinations

Since the start of the Coronavirus pandemic last year, it's been, at times, difficult, and at other times, impossible to travel abroad. This has meant that many people around the world have been discovering different places around their own countries on their holidays, and this has been especially true here in the UK.

Speaking from personal experience, over the past year I should have been living in Santiago with my boyfriend, and exploring different places around Chile and Latin America. Instead, I have been living in a small, isolated village in Wiltshire with my parents, and have only left the country once since the first lockdown came into force. I'm not going to pretend that I'm satisfied with this situation, but I've at least tried to make the best of it. One effective source of escapism for me has been to travel to various places around my local area and beyond, in particular those that are reminiscent of foreign countries. 

This has led me to put together a list of some of my favourite UK alternatives to foreign destinations. Some are alternatives to a particular town or city, whereas others are alternatives to entire countries/parts of the world. I hope that it can come in useful for the times when it's not possible to leave the country (though hopefully this never happens again!), or for times when you would simply prefer to have a UK holiday. After all, there are many reasons to travel in our own countries, such as wanting to protect the environment, or not wanting to go through the hassle of border controls and luggage restrictions. 

So with that said, here are my British alternatives to ten foreign destinations!

Foreign Destination: China

Image of Beijing by Magda Ehlers from pexels.com

UK Alternative: Chinatown, London

The Chinatown in London is one of the largest Chinatowns in Europe, and it really does make you feel like you've been transported to China. Not only are there many colourful lanterns, elaborate gateways, and Chinese statues, but all of the shop names are written in Chinese! It's definitely one of the highlights of a trip to London, and it demonstrates just what an international city it is.

Read more here and here!

Foreign Destination: Veules-les-Roses, France

Read more about Veules-les-Roses here!

UK Alternative: Bibury

When I spent part of my Year Abroad in Normandy, I realised just how similar the north of France and the south of England are. Which makes sense really, as they're very close to each other! And when I visited Bibury in the Cotswolds last summer, I was struck by how similar it was to the village of Veules-les-Roses. Both are situated on rivers, and are full of quaint cottages and pretty flowers. In addition, they both have been described as the prettiest villages in their respective countries!

Read more here and here!

Foreign Destination: Viña del Mar, Chile

Read more about Viña del Mar here and here!

UK Alternative: Bournemouth

At the height of summer, the beach town of Bournemouth on the south coast of England really does feel a bit like somewhere more exotic. My boyfriend compared it to Viña del Mar (one of the most popular beach towns in Chile) and I can definitely also see the similarity. They both have plenty of palm trees, sandy beaches and pretty gardens.

Read more here and here!

Foreign Destination: The Netherlands

Image of Amsterdam by Kata Pal from pexels.com

UK Alternative 1: Westbury Court Garden

This has to be one of the most unique destinations I've been to over the last year, as it's the only restored Dutch water garden left in the UK. If you want to see canals, a Dutch pavilion, formal gardens and plenty of tulips, you should definitely visit!

Read more here!

UK Alternative 2: Ashdown House

Ashdown House is another very unique place, as it's a Dutch townhouse located in the English countryside! The house was built in the 17th century and has a very long and detailed history. It's more than worth a visit if you're interested in either history or architecture.

Read more here!

Foreign Destination: North American Lakes

Image of Field, Canada by James Wheeler from pexels.com

UK Alternative: The Cotswold Water Park

The Cotswold Water Park, a small area containing around 180 lakes, is only a short distance from my house, but often makes me think of the lakes of Canada and the north of the United States. Maybe this is because of the large amount of wooden cabins and New England chalets that you can find on the edges of the lakes. In any case, the area is a great place to enjoy nature, watersports and wildlife spotting.

Read more here and here!

Foreign Destinations: Italy and Greece

Image of the Pantheon in Rome by Griffin Wooldridge from pexels.com

Image of the Acropolis in Athens by Mohammed Zarovski from pexels.com

UK Alternative 1: Stourhead

The National Trust property Stourhead is famous for being one of the most beautiful gardens in the country. Its design was heavily influenced by Greek and Roman mythology, and it features several temples and statues of various deities. The highlight has to be the Pantheon (pictured above), which was inspired by the building of the same name in Rome.

Read more here!

UK Alternative 2: Buscot Park

The Buscot Park National Trust property also takes inspiration from Italy and Greece. It has lots of classical architecture, walls painted with frescoes, and even an Italian water garden, making it a very picturesque place to wander around on a summer's day.

Read more here!

Foreign Destination: Japan

Image of Osaka by Bagus Pangestu from pexels.com

UK Alternative: Batsford Arboretum

This arboretum in the Cotswolds is home to the UK's national collection of Japanese cherry blossom (sakura) trees, and is heavily inspired by Japan. Sights to look out for there include the Japanese rest house (pictured above), the statue of the Buddha, and several little red Japanese bridges over streams.

Read more here! 

Foreign Destination: Provence, France

Image by David Bartus from pexels.com

UK Alternative: Cotswold Lavender

Unfortunately, the weather was a bit grim when I visited Cotswold Lavender last year, hence the rather grey-looking photo! But it was still a nice experience to walk around the fields and see and smell all of the different types of lavender. It's probably the closest you can get to having a holiday in Provence without leaving England!

Read more here!

Foreign Destination: The Taj Mahal, India

 

Image by Sudipta Mondal from pexels.com

UK Alternative 1: Brighton Pavilion

The Brighton Pavilion is the most famous Indian-style building in the UK, and was inspired by palaces such as the Taj Mahal. Although it had scaffolding around it when I visited with my boyfriend Claudio last year, it was still a very majestic sight to see. It's definitely worth getting tickets to enter the palace and see the Chinese-inspired rooms inside. I would also recommend viewing some of the other Indian-style buildings around the city, such as the Brighton Dome and the Western Pavilion.

Read more here and here!

UK Alternative 2: Sezincote

In fact, the most direct inspiration for the Brighton Pavilion was this palace located in the Cotswolds, which I would say is even more majestic. Not only is the building itself beautiful, but it also has amazing gardens, including the Persian Garden seen in my picture. Sezincote is definitely one of my favourite places I've visited this year, and it almost made me feel like I was really in India.

Read more here!

Foreign Destination: The South of Chile

Read more about the South of Chile here!

UK Alternative: The Lake District

When I visited the Lake District in the north of England last September, I was surprised by how much it reminded me of the south of Chile, where I'd been in 2018. The mountains may not be so high, but at least there actually are mountains (I don't think we have any in the south of England). Plus, there's a range of lakes, waterfalls and forests to explore.

Read more here and here!

So there you have it: my little world tour that you can take without leaving the UK. (Well, actually, I've just realised that all the destinations are in England, as that's the part of Britain I'm most familiar with, but I'm sure there are some other great foreign alternatives in Scotland and Wales - Portmeirion in particular looks a lot like Italy, and is somewhere I'd love to go to in the future.)

Of course, there is no real substitute for global travel; personally, I still plan to continue discovering the world once it's possible to do so again. But, it's nice to know that there are some places where you can get a little bit of that feeling of being somewhere else, whilst still being here in England!

Check out the rest of my Travel Tips here!

The Lake District: Day Three

On the morning of our second (and last) full day in the Lake District, we got a taxi down to Bowness-on-Windermere, a town that's popular with tourists. It's a very busy but picturesque place with lots of wildlife!

We were there to catch a boat and go on a cruise across to Lakeside, a village at the south end of Lake Windermere, where the lake flows into the River Leven. 

It was very cold on the boat, but I really enjoyed the trip. Windermere is actually the largest lake in England, at a length of 10 miles and a width of 1 mile, and is surrounded by hills and mountains. Therefore it offers many beautiful views.

I particularly liked this building which looks like a castle, but is actually a viewing station called Claife Heights.

When we arrived at Lakeside, we boarded an old steam train and went on a trip down to the village of Haverthwaite and back again. The views of the river and the surrounding countryside were great, and the train and railway station were like a snapshot from the past, reminiscent of when train travel was enjoyable!

Afterwards we got on the boat again to go back to Bowness. This time, we travelled quite closely past Belle Isle, the biggest island in the lake, at 1 km in length. There is just one house on the island, called the Round House. Its design was inspired by the Pantheon in Rome, and it was possible to see the top of it from the boat. We could also see an adorable little poodle waiting at the end of a jetty on the island! Unfortunately, it's very hard to see him/her in my picture!

Once we were back in Bowness, we went to the Belsfield Hotel for a very special afternoon tea. The hotel is an incredible place, that looks almost like a palace both inside and out.

The best thing is that they offer afternoon teas for all dietary requirements, including a vegan one, which was obviously the one I chose. It was really delicious and so big that I could save some for supper and the next day's lunch!

From where we were sitting, we had great views over the lake and the gardens of the hotel. There were little rabbits happily frolicking about just outside the window!

The views from outside the hotel were also amazing.

We got a taxi back to Windermere to relax in the hotel for a couple of hours. Then my dad and I went for a walk through the town. Like I'd done the previous day, we walked up Queen Adelaide's Hill. However this time, the views were clearer as the weather was nicer.

Afterwards we walked through another public footpath. There was a beautiful waterfall there that we hadn't been expecting to find!

The footpath eventually leads to the shore of the lake. It was very peaceful to watch the sun setting over the water.

Then we walked back up the footpath and carried on along the main road. We came across a viewpoint where you can see across to various mountains including Scafell Pike, the tallest mountain in England. If I ever go back to the Lake District, I'd like to have a go at climbing it!

Finally, as we were walking back towards the hotel, we saw three beautiful deer in a field! It was hard to get good photos of them on my phone camera, but it was amazing to watch them.

This was our last bit of sightseeing in the area, as we drove back down to Wiltshire the next day. Overall, I enjoyed our visit to the Lake District a lot and I found it more interesting than I expected to.

My favourite places were the two waterfalls we saw: Stock Ghyll Force and the waterfall in Windermere. I really liked the nature of the area as a whole, because it was surprisingly reminiscent of my trip to the south of Chile in 2018. My boyfriend (who's from Chile) said the same thing when he saw the photos! Okay, so there aren't any snow-capped volcanoes and imposing Andes mountains in the English Lake District like there are in the Chilean Lake District, but there are still (smaller) mountains, lakes (obviously), rivers, forests and waterfalls. And very cold weather!

I was expecting the nature to be more like my local "Lake District", the Cotswold Water Park. However, the two areas are actually very different. The Cotswold Water Park has around 150 small lakes spread across a small area, whereas the Lake District has 16 much larger lakes spaced further apart. I would definitely recommend both as great places to visit.

This trip was the first proper holiday I've had since the start of the pandemic and it was a bit of a different experience. We wore masks inside the communal areas of the hotel and in all public places except for remote outdoor spaces, and we also had to order breakfast at the hotel the evening before, as buffets aren't Covid compliant. But these things weren't really a big deal for me, and they made me feel more safe. The only issue I had regarding Covid safety was with the crowds of people that were in Ambleside and Bowness, because at times social distancing wasn't possible, and not everyone was wearing a mask or making an effort to keep as much distance as they could.

All things considered, I feel mostly okay about travelling again, and I found that this trip was good preparation for when I go abroad with my boyfriend in a month or two's time. I don't think I would go abroad at this time if the circumstances of my life and relationship were different, but it's going to be my boyfriend's first trip to Europe, so we need to make the most of it! Besides, I do believe that we all need to try to live our lives with some sort of normality, given that we don't know how long this situation will continue for. If we take the necessary precautions (like mask-wearing and social distancing), then we can safely enjoy both domestic and international travel.

In the coming weeks, I plan to do a couple more local trips with my family. Then, at last, my boyfriend will arrive in England and we'll have two weeks of self-isolation at home. Afterwards (barring any further lockdowns -  I pray this doesn't happen) we'll be free to explore the UK and beyond. It's a strange time at the moment, and therefore travelling is a bit different than it used to be. But I'm excited to go on some slightly more adventurous travel adventures over the coming months!

Read about The Lake District: Days One and Two here!