The art of escaping the holiday crowds in the UK

With staycations increasing in popularity in the UK this year, beaches and coastlines are becoming very packed.

Post-lockdown, rather than making a beeline for Cornwall, Devon, the Lake District or the Highlands, why not try out some of the UK’s lesser trod beauties?

You’ll not only be rewarded by sparser crowds, but you’re less likely to stress out the locals. For up-to-date opening information check individual websites.

Snowdonia National Park closed the routes up its most popular mountains during lockdown, including Snowdon, Tryfan and Cader Idris, to avoid visitors returning home with corona souvenirs.

When they reopen, head to the Glyders: Glyder Fawr (large) and Glyder Fach (small). In sight of Snowdon, resembling castles grown out of rock, you can walk these via a circular, dramatic route.

Stretching from Dorset to Devon, the Jurassic Coast alternates golden sand and rocks and cliffs. However, beauty spots like Durdle Door and Chesil Beach are sometimes victims of their own instafame.

To discover a quieter stretch of British coast, yet rich in fossils and geology, explore the lesser known areas along the North Kent coast.

The chalk cliffs between Pegwell Bay and Ramsgate are studded by sea-urchin fossils; the beach of Reculver is rich in prehistoric flotsam; and Herne Bay is one of the top spots to find sharks’ teeth.

The Lake District throngs with people come summer. The calm of the serene blue expanse of Windermere, is often counteracted by the hubbub around its local sights. But it doesn’t have to be this way.

Sumptuous, wild and deep (England’s deepest lake) Wastwater, to the west and overlooked by England’s highest mountain, Scafell Pike, feels like the lake that the tourists forgot.

Trickier to reach, and with fewer settlements around the dark blue water, it’s simply impossible for it to get as busy as the more populated lake shores in the eastern Lake District.