One of the most beautiful villages in England is just one hour from London
If this has got you wistfully thinking about planning your own day trip from the city, we have some good news. The country's most beautiful chocolate box villages have just been revealed by Independent Cottages, and one is only an hour from the Big Smoke.
Cookham in Berkshire has been named one of Independent Cottages' most beautiful English villages. How did the holiday booking site work out its ranking? Well, it analysed villages across England, taking into account their number of listed historic buildings, oldest recorded existence, whether they're in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), how many people searched for the village online, and how many TikTok posts they featured in.
Ranking at number 13 out of 43, according to the research Cookham dates back to 43AD and is home to 69 listed buildings. Its most searched for attraction is the Ferry Cookham, a riverside country pub and restaurant. The village had a search volume of 1,300 and appeared in 700 TikToks.
And Cookham wasn't the only spot on the list within easy reach of the capital. Most of the ranking's top 10 were within two hours of London, with locations including Castle Combe in Wiltshire, West Sussex's Bosham and Suffolk's Lavenham making it into the top 10.
Want to know which 6,000-year-old village was crowned the most beautiful place in England? Find the full list of pretty villages here.
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