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Seeing Giant’s Causeway, whale watching in Scotland and visiting the Roman Baths have emerged among a list of British bucket list aspirations, a study found.
Spending the day at the Wimbledon tennis tournament, walking along Hadrian’s Wall and celebrating the summer solstice at Stonehenge also featured.
A number of other quintessentially British experiences made it on to the list of must-dos, including enjoying a clotted cream tea in Cornwall and staying in a thatched cottage in the Cotswolds.
Despite these dreams, the survey of 2,000 adults commissioned by Sykes Holiday Cottages, revealed just how unexplored the UK really is, as Brits are more likely to have visited France, Spain and Italy than England’s home counties.
According to the stats more than six in 10 (63 per cent) have spent time in Spain, compared to just a third who’ve been to Surrey.
And more Brits have visited France (67 per cent) than Cornwall, Manchester and even London.
In fact, the same number of us have travelled across the globe to Australia as those who have been across the border to Aberdeenshire (16 per cent).
And although Giant’s Causeway tops Brits’ home-based bucket list, only a quarter of the nation have visited Northern Ireland, where it’s located.
Graham Donoghue, CEO at Sykes Holiday Cottages, said: “Despite a desire to tick off our British bucket list experiences, these results show how undiscovered the country actually is.
“Lots of us are more likely to get on a plane or a ferry and go abroad than take in everything the UK has to offer.
“Although it’s brilliant to travel to other countries and cultures, many people would be surprised at how much there is to see just a hundred miles away from their hometown – Britain isn’t called great for nothing!”
The study also found that the average Brit has visited just 15 out of nearly 50 counties in the UK – although more than one in 10 (11 per cent) admit they’ve been to a maximum of three.
In comparison, the average person has travelled to 10 different countries around the world.
The north-south divide is also ever-apparent in Brits’ travel choices, as almost one in five southerners said they’ve never ventured up north.
And nearly half (48 per cent) of the population of Wales and Scotland haven’t ever been to each other’s country.
The decision to holiday abroad must be affecting our knowledge of the UK, as a tenth of Brits think Land’s End is in Scotland – when that couldn’t be further from its location at the very foot of Cornwall.
A further 12 per cent think the Brecon Beacons is in Scotland, and six per cent are even convinced that London is in the north west of the country.
Nearly one in four (24 per cent) of those polled via OnePoll.com admitted they’ve not had a summer ‘staycation’ in over five years, but the majority said they would like to spend more time exploring the UK.
Graham Donoghue added: “Now is a key time of year for families planning their summer getaway, and I’d just encourage people to commit to discovering what’s on their doorstep.”
“Tying into this, we’re running our biggest-ever competition to give someone the opportunity to see sights and do things they’ve always wanted to do throughout the UK.”
* To help the nation tick off their British bucket lists, the holiday cottage rental agency is running its biggest-ever competition for the chance to win £4,000 in holiday vouchers and £1,000 spending money.
For details on how to enter, visit: www.sykescottages.co.uk/blog/monthly-prize-draw-january-2019
Brits’ top 20 British bucket list experiences:
1. Visit Giant's Causeway
2. Go whale watching in the Scottish Highlands
3. Visit Bath's Roman Baths
4. Walk along Hadrian's Wall
5. See in the summer solstice at Stonehenge
6. Spend a day at Wimbledon
7. Enjoy a clotted cream tea in Cornwall
8. Stay in a thatched cottage in the Cotswolds
9. Visit the Edinburgh Festival
10. Visit Buckingham Palace
11. Watch a show on London's West End
12. See the White Cliffs of Dover
13. Eat fresh fish and chips in Whitby
14. Walk through Cheddar Gorge
15. Climb Mount Snowdon
16. Take a boat trip on Lake Windermere
17. Stargazing in Northumberland
18. See the crown jewels at the Tower of London
19. Look for Nessie at Loch Ness
20. Search for fossils on the Jurassic Coast
ENDS
