We'd like to spend a couple of days somewhere in the countryside where, both when going for a ride or for a hike, it is very clear that one is not anywhere in the United States? So, for example, while the Lake District seems quite picturesque, my thought is that the rolling hills, lakes, and greenery are not that unlike some places in New England or upstate NY. (Maybe I'm wrong, but that's my initial impression.) We'll have a car for a week, and for the rest of that week we'll be hitting some of the usual (e.g., Bath, Cotswolds, white cliffs of Beachy Head), and some required by my girlfriend (e.g., Chatsworth House, which was in the 2005 production of Pride and Prejudice). Suggestions? And since we'd rather not spend too much time simply getting somewhere, my guess is that Scotland would be a bit too far. Thanks.
You could come to the area where I live, which is called the New Forest. It's not new, it's just been called that for the last 950 years or so, but it's the largest continuous area of natural open land in lowland Britain, comprising woodland, heath and bog. Ponies and cattle are allowed to roam freely throughout the 150 square miles or so of the National Park (we have cattle grids at each end of our road to stop them getting in our gardens) and they sculpt the landscape, preventing it from being taken over by scrub. Walking and cycling are hugely popular here, but I don't expect it can be mistaken for anywhere in the US. And it's less than 2 hours from London by train or car. See the National Park website here: http://www.newforestnpa.gov.uk/
I've spent a lot of time both in New England as well as the Lake District - the Lake District is nothing like New England in my opinion! The only thing you could really say might be similar, is that they are both rural. The Lakes are a place really unlike anywhere else...the culture, the styles of the buildings and stone walls, the Herdwick sheep, the history, the literary connections, the hiking...it's quite unique.
A place I loved in England was the area of Cornwall and Dartmoor in southwestern England. It's very windswept and beautiful and you do feel that you are not at all in the US anymore! We like to stay at farms, especially in Cornwall, to be able to live in an authentic environment and to be able to walk along the many cliff paths and drive into the little, tucked in villages along the coast.
What about the Isle of Wight? or St Michael's Mount in Cornwall?
I like the Peak District...it has a variety of landscapes and history from the mesolithic. We drove from Derby to Bakewell (Chatsworth) thru a windy canyon with lttle villages clinging to the sides. The Midlands seem the "most" English to me. Chatsworth is a great destination! I can visually remember it most vividly.
I've been all over England and much of the rest of the UK. No place ever left me confused about whether I was in the US. I don't know what you're reading but it's wrong.
The Yorkshire Dales are lovely. It's very different from any place in the US. What makes most of the countryside in the UK so different is that while there a wild bits like the Peaks or the Highlands, you can still find the human influence in ways that you do not in places like the Rockies or even New England. I would take the train to York, visit there for a day or two and then rent a car to take you to the Dales. PAm
I grew up in the New Forest, and it's beautiful- but I spent a long time in New Hope PA and it did remind me a lot of my childhood home. The heathland areas are lovely though, and quite unique- and there are lots of lovely little villages, Burley, Lyndhurst and Brokenhurst to name three. Brokenhurst is on the main London- Weymouth railway line and there's a bike rental place at the station. I also spent a fair bit of time in upstate NY, and I didn't think it was at all like the Lake District in the UK. The Yorkshire Moors would be a very different place to visit. I have friends who go walking there almost every year, for their vacation.
Many varieties of deciduous trees, lakes, farmland, and rolling hills we have in abundance in the U.S., but I think I've never seen anything in the States that is like the Moors in Yorkshire and Lancashire. The dry stone walls are a lovely feature. I've been to almost all 50 states, but of course, can't claim to have 'seen it all'.
I am from the Pacific NW and I go to the Lake District because it reminds me of home. I like hiking in the south east. I love those chalk cliffs! Several hikes that give you beautiful vistas of castles or the sea. I also love abbey ruins.