1. north yorkshire
The biggest and the best, with cathedrals, churches, cities, curries. Dales and Moors are both tip-top. Home to many arseholes, but nowhere is perfect.
2. herefordshire
Both the Special Air Service and various 60s survivors use the glorious rolling hills to treat their PTSD. Each of its towns is somehow magnificent, and the people are gracious.
3. northumberland
Welcome to Raoul Moat country. A deeply mystical place: think of the rowan tree and the pele tower – some lovely pubs too. Bamburgh Beach is as good as England gets.
4. somerset
Crusties, hippies, Notting Hillbillies, journalists writing ponderous thinkpieces about ‘gentrification’ in Bruton, there is much to dislike about Zummerzet, but there is an undeniable charm to the place.
5. cornwall
Loaded with pagan magic, and a palpable sense of wonder (and poverty). Just outside the top spots on account of its profound unfriendliness.
6. derbyshire
A heady mix of the nation’s finest landscapes – the Peak District – and its most depressing branches of Wetherspoons in the country (The Babington Arms, Derby).
7. shropshire
Grooming gangs, borderlands and a dairy industry. Lots to love here. Betjeman was right – Ludlow is England’s finest town.
8. suffolk
The wool towns of Lavenham and so on are remarkably well-preserved and somehow not twee. The coastline, however, is patient zero for the seasonal molestation of our prettiest countryside towns by the capital’s worst people.
