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ENGLAND
London
Overview:
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 equaled 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 harbor 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.
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