Super Nature: Britain’s Most Beautiful Places to Live, Part 2

For all the convenience of living in an urban setting, with the amenities you need on the doorstep, for many of us, spending time in the open countryside is an essential part of life.

Regeneration and building the new homes we need may grab many headlines, but Great Britain is still for the most part a rural country, with around on 10% built on. All over this country, there are significant parts of the varied landscapes which now have protected status and are visited by millions of people every year, whether for the purpose of exercise or the sheer enjoyment of fresh air, nature and wonderful views.

We continue our look at some of the most popular National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs), and new homes for sale around them, this time in Wales and the South West of England.

Cotswolds

Britain’s largest designated AONB, the majority of the rolling hills of the Cotswolds stretch across five counties, bordered by famous towns and cities including Cheltenham, Cirencester and Bath. Its countryside incorporates many market towns and villages built in distinctive honey-coloured stone, as well as historic estates and gardens, and a water park is a great complement to many miles of walking and cycling routes.

In Gloucestershire, on the western fringes of the Cotswolds just outside Stroud, Great Oldbury offers a mix of three- and four-bedroom house types. Yate is also just outside this AONB and only half-an-hour from the centre of Bristol: at Ladden Garden Village, there is a wide variety of one- to four-bedroom homes to suit different buyers and budgets, while for those of retirement age, Trewin Lodge provides one- and two-bedroom apartments specifically for older purchasers.

Wye Valley

The River Wye is some 150 miles long and winds through a varied rural landscape. The Wye Valley stretches across the English/Welsh border and offers scenery of pastures, hills and dramatic gorges. The river itself is a haven for canoeing, boat trips, wildlife and angling. Among its numerous well-known treasures are Tintern Abbey and Goodrich Castle.

Monmouth is a town on the western edge of this AONB and the King’s Wood Gate development there has a number of four- and five-bedroom detached house types available. And on the eastern fringes, in the Gloucestershire town of Lydney, there are three- and four-bedroom homes at Severn Heights.

Mendip Hills

The Mendip Hills in Somerset are famous for their steep slopes and gorges (Cheddar Gorge and Wookey Hole Caves here are among the country’s most famous natural landmarks), though walkers can also enjoy plenty of woodland and grasslands too. Notable features of this AONB are the lakes of the Chew Valley and the views across to Wales from its highest point, Black Down.

On the south-eastern tip of the Mendip Hills is the cathedral city of Wells, the location of the Bishops Green development which is currently selling three- and four-bedroom homes from £300,000. At the western end, just outside the coastal town of Weston-super-Mare, is Locking Parklands, where four- and five-bedroom houses start from £469,995.

Dartmoor

Labelled the ‘Heart of Devon’, this famous open moorland is complemented by granite tors and rivers, along with the bogs that featured in The Hound of the Baskervilles. This National Park is home to the semi-wild Dartmoor ponies. Climbing, water sports and fishing are all available – and check out ’letterboxing’ as a way of tackling the landscape on foot.

There’s a choice of terraced, semi-detached and detached homes on the market at Lucerne Fields in Ivybridge, on the southern edge of Dartmoor, and there’s a similar range of properties at The Tors which is located in Tavistock, on the west side of this much-loved sweep of land.

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