East Anglia versus Cotswolds

Went to East Anglia on my first trip (1969) -- flew charter into Stanstead and spent a few days getting over jetlag and seeing little villages (Bishops Stortford), Ely Cathedral, Cambridge before we went to London. Slow travel trip, lovely relaxed area.
Saw the Cotswolds on a driving trip about 1992, wandered around little towns with my 12-year-old daughter. Seemed slightly more busy/ touristed.

Probably fewer people will have seen East Anglia, so it may be more "special" to you. But you can see that my information is a teeny bit out of date ... Good memories of both areas.

I lived in East Anglia for five years. I spent much of my free time exploring the area and very much appreciate its beauty and the fact that it was not on the traditional tourist's radar. I had never heard of the fens before moving there and was fascinated by all I got to see, learn and explore. I have also visited the Cotswolds but only briefly. To me, the Cotswolds are pretty, certainly a worthy destination, but have become very touristy and there are many places of equal beauty and interest in the English countryside. I remember the day we went to Bourton on the Water. It was swarming with tourists.

My favorite places to visit, (and where we always took visitors) were Ely with its beautiful cathedral, Bury St. Edmunds (a historic market town with abbey ruins, gardens and a very easily walkable old city center), the wonderful little town of Lavenham with its many crooked houses, the queen's residence at Sandringham, the Norfolk Lavender fields near Hunstanton, and the city of Norwich complete with castle and old town. An early morning visit to Newmarket is quite a unique experience when all the thoroughbred racehorses are out for their morning exercise. The countryside and small villages around Newmarket are particularly pretty. Many people love the Norfolk coast and the Broads. I liked the Suffolk beach town of Southwold. There are several beautiful National Trust properties in East Anglia. i would suggest that a car would be the best way to get around and explore East Anglia, although trains and National Express buses run to the bigger cities. To really explore the backroads though, you will need a car.

I can only compare a one-day van trip to the Cotswolds to a multi-day stay in Norwich with a side-trip to Bury St. Edmunda. Both were last year in late August. I didn't find the Cotswolds all that crowded, but the day was very overcast, which may have driven some folks to head in other directions. Both areas were nice, but the Cotswolds were more hilly (perhaps just a function of the particular areas I saw) with more dramatic terrain. Town-wise, I preferred Norfolk. Norwich itself is a city with a large historic district and an especially good museum, the Sainsbury Center. I would happily go back to Norwich. I'm not big on lengthy trips to a series of tiny towns unless I plan to do a lot of rural walking. I find them cute but very similar. Obviously, many people disagree, but I thought the one-day sweep through the Cotswolds was adequate for my purposes.

I traveled by public transportation in Norfolk, which worked well for the amount of moving-around I did. I did need a city bus to get near the Sainsbury Center, which is on the university campus, not near the historic area.

Edited to correct my reversal of Norfolk (the area) and Norwich (the city).

The Cotswolds seem to be way, way higher on people's "must see" list,

I think it's because people visit based on recommendations, they in turn rave about it which results in more people wanting to visit and so on however most visitors will only see the Cotswolds and very little, if any, other parts of the English countryside and therefore will not heap praise on those other parts, consequently those parts of England do not feature on many visitors radar and are overlooked in favour of the more famous and recognisable Cotswolds.

That's not to say that the Cotswolds does not deserve its recognition, it's a lovely part of the country however it is by no means unique and there are many equally or more attractive places in England that are worthy of visiting.

East Anglia is much larger than the Cotswolds and therefore has more to offer in terms of sights and places of interest but that also means greater distances to travel. If it were me I would opt for East Anglia.

Another vote for East Anglia. You will probably find that all the Brits on this forum will vote for East Anglia and as most Americans will have visited the Cotswolds, not EA, therefore they will advise you to visit the Cotswolds!

The Cotswolds aren’t particularly hilly, although the terrain is more undulating than EA. Norwich is one of my favourite cities in the UK, along with Exeter, as it has a small town feel with plenty of character, a good market and you can quickly get into the countryside. There are some good National Trust properties including Lavenham Guildhall, Long Melford, Blickling and Felbrigg Hall.

The north Norfolk coast is stunning and you can take a short boat trip out to visit the seals and take a tour of the Queen’s estate at Sandringham. EA’s waterways are known as the Broads and you can relax on a boat trip as they are best seen from the water.

With so much variety, I don’t know why so many people go to the overrated Cotswolds!

Never quite worked out why such places as East Anglia and for that matter the East Midlands are so ignored by guidebooks for non UK people (Rick Steves is not the only one to do this). Herd instinct maybe,

In several trips to England I still haven't really visited the Cotswolds - Bath is the closest I've come. (Or does the trip to Avebury and Lacock count? It was picturesque as hell, so maybe that was the Cotswolds and I didn't realize it. I was on a London Walks day out and just out to see standing stones and cool things.)

OTOH I had a wonderful time several years ago, when we spent several days in June exploring East Anglia. We had the advantage of traveling by car - driven by a Brit friend, who loved the region and created a great itinerary.

I've just hauled out my scrapbook from that trip. We didn't get up into Norfolk but visited many places in Suffolk and Essex, including Bury St. Edmunds, Lavenham, Kersey, Flatford, Long Melford, Cavendish, Sudbury, Finchingfield, Thaxted, Colchester, Layer Marney, and Greensted.

I don't remember any unpleasant crowds although it was certainly tourist season.

So, please, go and enjoy East Anglia - there's so much to see. But don't go telling everybody about it so that it turns into the Next Big Thing for tourists. Because now that I've looked again through my trip book, I want to see a lot of the region again, and visit places I haven't seen yet, including those in Norfolk. And I hate tourist crowds. Let it just be our little secret. Okay? ;-)

Or does the trip to Avebury and Lacock count? It was picturesque as hell, so maybe that was the Cotswolds and I didn't realize it.

No, neither are in the Cotswolds however Avebury is in the North Wessex Downs, another Area Of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), so it's no surprise it was picturesque and your experience highlights the point I and others keep making, the Cotswolds are not unique in their beauty, half of England is just as nice!

Thanks for that clarification, JC.

This discussion has reminded me of my lack of interest in the Cotswolds. My list of places to visit in Britain doesn't include anything there. To the contrary, my list of things in and around Liverpool is getting longer, and higher in priority, and the Edinburgh list is going to require a trip all its own. As they say, different strokes for different folks.

If it's possible to say it without appearing dismissive, the Cotswolds provide a lot more cosmetic Theme Park views of a long-gone developing country. That's not a bad thing. East Anglia has fewer opportunities to see England Before The Revolution.

That's not bad or good, just different. We loved East Anglia, and have been to visit friends there more than once. I would say that it has more variety, and good access to a wide variety of things, like the Norfolk Broads, ocean and river boating, inexpensive estates to visit, public gardens, Cambridge, a few medieval town centers and inns, East Anglia Open-Air Museum. We had a personal interest in the books of Arthur Ransome, which also called for a separate trip to the Lake District.

For East Anglia, we loved Cambridge, but found more to see in the Cotswolds. I am a big Shakespeare fan and loved Stratford Upon Avon. Also, Oxford, Blenheim Palace, the many towns and villages of the Cotswolds are wonderful. We spend six nights in Chipping Campden.

Other areas of Britain are wonderful, loved South Wales, Yorkshire and The Lake District. Scotland ia another super place.

Thanks for all of these comments!

May I ask, Tim, which revolution is The Revolution? The Industrial one? Or the Glorious one? Or some other?

Look my European history isn't that strong. But I was referring to the execution of Charles I. And I didn't mean to pick a precise date for the disappearance of buildings and monuments. I can't get over that any of the original Banqueting House (beside which the scaffold was erected) is still there today!

As you know, a 100-year old building is really old in the U.S. On the other side of the pond, it's pretty recent.

As you know, a 100-year old building is really old in the U.S. On the other side of the pond, it's pretty recent.

My previous house was 118 years old and I can assure you, it didn't feel pretty recent especially when it came to renovations!

The buildings and architecture of East Anglia is probably as historic
as that of the Cotswolds, if not more so.

Thanks for this, emma. I don't have enough knowledge to generalize, But just from my limited experience in East Anglia, I still remember the wonder of exploring the ancient church at Greensted and the Lavenham Guildhall, and the fun of climbing the stairs to the top of a Tudor turret/tower at Layer Marney (don't know if you can still do that - as I said, it was years ago). For "picturesque," in addition to Lavenham, there's Kersey, which I found adorable. A photo I took there hangs on a wall in my home.

I'm loving this discussion because there seems to be no lack of worthwhile sights to see and places to visit and history to explore, in so many regions of England. I'm not at all anti-Cotswolds, but also not feeling any pain about having not been there. Yet.

We don’t call that period of British history “ a revolution”, even if it technically was, well I’ve never heard it called that anyway.

Marxist historians do (a bourgeois one). Or they did. There don't seem to be so many of them about these days.