Don’t do it! Don’t spend the few remaining months of summer desperately trying to secure the last vacant cottage in Cornwall, the only remaining patch of campsites in the Lake District, or the Western Isles’ one free hotel room. With more people set to be holidaying at home in the UK than ever before this summer, the wise choice will be to avoid the usual favourite zones and set your sights instead on a crowd-free break, such as one in these underappreciated areas.
Black Mountains, Wales
Lying in the shadow of the Brecon Beacons, the hilly uplands of the Black Mountains are a wonderful crinkle of rugged beauty, but without the Gore-Tex crush of their crowded, loftier neighbours. Stretching across 80 square miles of Powys, Monmouthshire and Herefordshire, the area is near hubs such as Hay-on-Wye and Abergavenny, but with many more enchanting secrets wrapped in their folds: including chapels, captivating villages and fine pubs.
Those seeking altitudinous solitude will find it here, especially if they follow the advice of Ruth Pickvance, an international mountain runner and former British Fell Champion, who offers trail running courses from the charming village of Llanbedr.
“Get proactive with your map!” she says. “Buy a 1:25,000 scale OS map and plan a route that explores the smaller footpaths and lesser-known summits, rather than sticking to the main ridges and footpaths. Instead of climbing Pen-y-Fan, the Beacons honeypot, where you’ll find yourself queuing on the summit, head for the nearby hills which are just as spectacular and will be deserted in comparison,” she says.
Pickvance runs Beginning Fell Running for Women days (£55pp), which are operating monthly in a “covid-tweaked” way. Table Mountain and Sugarloaf Mountain are the region’s most iconic peaks, but the gentlest of wanders are in ample supply too, along meandering streams and emerald pastures spilling from the highest reaches.
Nearby Crickhowell, in the Usk valley, is one of the most enticing villages, where the Dragon Inn (doubles from £90 B&B) is now open for outdoor food and drinks.
Don’t leave eccentric Llanthony off your schedule – this transporting enclave in a hollow surrounds an ancient ruined Augustinian priory, attached to the Llanthony Priory Hotel (doubles from £95 a night). Anyone feeling phone-sick and done with the news will rejoice in this hermetic hotel’s lack of signal and TVs. The simple rooms are “furnished in a manner suited to a 12th-century priory” and some of them are in a tower accessed by spiral staircase. More esoteric self-catering accommodation options, from treehouses and bothies to barns, yurts and farms are collated by The Cottage Co. Pick your place, unfurl and breathe.
Fife, Scotland
The region of Fife, over the Forth Bridge from Edinburgh up to the Firth of Tay, may be best known for the students and golfers of St Andrews, but it’s a lush green area whose seaboard, East Neuk, is bejewelled with resplendent fishing villages such as Crail, Earlsferry, Elie, St Monans, Ansthruther and Pittenween. A tour makes a fabulous holiday, especially for foodies looking for seafood or farm produce.
Restaurant reviewers have been floored by the flavours and sorcery of chef James Ferguson, who runs the Kinneuchar Inn, a 17th-century seaview building in sleepy Kilconquhar. Book ahead for world-conquering dishes of deep-fried squid and skordalia, texel lamb with bobby beans and romesco sauce, then visit some of Ferguson’s favourite local producers.
His preferred fish merchant, David Lowrie, has just opened a shop. “Think great wodges of turbot on the bone, super-fresh spoots [razor clams], creel-caught prawns,” says Ferguson. Another favourite is the Bowhouse Market (next market 8 August) on the 2,000-hectare Balcaskie estate, particularly the Butchery at Bowhouse and Scotland the Bread. The tap room-come-record shop at his adored Futtle Organic Brewery remains closed, but you can buy takeaway beers, organic cocktails and seaweed kombuchas, while East Pier Smokehouse, St Monans, he describes as “a lovely place to enjoy simple delicious food such as lobster or whole smoked sea bass while looking out to sea”.
Now you just need a pad to hole up in. East Fife Holiday Homes has a good range of cottages, such as the listed harbour-front Admiralty House in Pittenweem, sleeping eight from £700 a week, or try the deftly decorated Elie holiday homes from Elie Select. Elie’s Ship Inn (doubles from £100 B&B) has six smart rooms and a beer garden.
In normal times, Fife has myriad arts events, open studios, and galleries. Some, such as Griselda Hill Pottery, home of Wemyss Ware ceramics, are open. See welcometofife.com for up-to-date information on reopenings.
The north Pennines, England
With other popular national parks surrounding it (the Lakes to the west, Dales to the south, Kielder to the north), the north Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) is too often passed over by those who would love it best. But anyone who’s a sucker for a stout hiking boot will fall for this windblown wilderness’s remote moors and villages.
Like a living library of rare British habitats, its unique combination of upland hay meadows, heathland and blanket bog make it a nature-lovers’ paradise – red grouse thrive on the heather moorland, and in summer, golden plover, meadow pipit, merlin and short-eared owls might be noted in your spotter jotter. Start plotting at the Bowless Visitor Centre in Newbiggin-in-Teesdale, a stroll from the hammering waterfalls of High Force and Low Force.
After feasting on fresh air, descend to one of the area’s homely villages such as Allendale, where picnickers can bag local ales and cans of hard seltzer flavoured with black cherry from the Allendale Brewery, in an old lead smelting mill on the banks of the River Allen. Hexham’s Garden Station serves takeaway food from a converted railway carriage, and there are gorgeous gardens and a ferny woodland walk with sculptures to explore.
When it’s time to hunker down, the Rose and Crown (reopens 1 August, doubles from £125 B&B) in Romaldkirk in Upper Teesdale has smart rooms and cosy nooks for wolfing plates of cider-battered sea bass or venison pie.
Alternatively Bradley Burn Farm has cottages from £307 a week sleeping two, or treat yourself to the enchanting Lord Crewe Arms (doubles from £189 B&B) on the Blanchland estate, built as a monastery in 1165, with a dramatic bar in the crypt and fantastic dining.
The hotel’s general manager, Tommy Mark, has some great suggestions for local outings: “Blanchard Abbey offers a slice of local history without the crowds, and our Penny Pie walk, passing an old mill, takes you up on to the moors where you’re more likely to bump into a grouse than another human being. Corbridge is our favourite village for lovely little shops, including recycled homeware store RE.”
Don’t get too cosy before bedtime. The AONB has 16 Dark Sky Discovery Sites for sublime stargazing on a clear night; Burnhope Reservoir in Upper Weardale is one of the quietest - just remember a flask of hot toddy. northpennines.org.uk
Strangford Lough, County Down, Northern Ireland
Seal pups may raise their silky heads to greet you as you kayak across Strangford Lough on a Glide With the Tide (£89pp) three-hour session, guided by instructor John Hubbucks.
Happily, Hubbucks is just as handy with a ladle as a paddle – he’s a trained chef, and stops off to forage for mussels when in season, cooking them up on the beach with lashings of Irish whiskey cream sauce, or laying out plates of tasty bites from local producers.
Porpoises and otters are sometimes spotted, and he’ll reveal the unspoilt secret spots of the islet-littered lough, fringed with pretty coves and empty beaches.
This experience might just form the best day of your holiday in County Down, in the north-east of the island, but perhaps not – there are many other ways to fill a week.
Though you’ll have to move fast to secure these properties for the coming months, basing yourself somewhere spectacular will get you off to a good start. The luxurious Baker’s Cottages (sleeps six from £480 for two nights), set in a wildflower garden in Seaforde, has Netflix, beach towels and toastie makers as extras, plus a wet-weather godsend – a hot tub house with log-burner.
The Irish Landmark Trust’s astonishing Northern Ireland properties include Helen’s Tower (from £292 for two nights sleeping two) near Bangor, a tall, Rapunzel-esque gamekeeper’s tower with a rooftop reading room, while St John’s Point Lighthouse (from £318 for two nights) near Killough has two separate houses beside the striking blue and yellow-striped lighthouse tower, each sleeping four.
Then take the opportunity to immerse yourself in nature. Murlough National Nature Reserve is a 6,000-year-old sand dune system where it’s easy to find a secluded patch of sand on spectacular Dundrum Bay, and spot birds as you walk the boardwalk, with views of the indigo-tinged Mourne Mountains as a backdrop.
And more formal botanical splendour can be enjoyed at the celebrated National Trust gardens of Rowallane, Mount Stewart and Castle Ward.
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