North, south, east, west, Yorkshire is surely the best

I spent a large part of the coronation bank holiday weekend in Devon attending a special family birthday party and, in the process, journeyed through 10 counties of England.Whilst the trip south was largely confined to a series of motorways, the return was more leisurely, driven largely by choice, but otherwise by necessity, especially when the M5 was logjammed near Taunton.So, we headed cross country initially to Glastonbury, and over to Malmesbury though landscape that was pleasant but to my mind not particularly interesting. Then it was the A429 up to Cirencester where its centre may be historic but not its ring road nor confusion of roundabouts.
Tim WaringTim Waring
Tim Waring
By The Newsroom
Published 15th May 2023, 05:00 BST

One cannot question that Stow in the Wold, and Morton in the Marsh are both picturesque but on Tuesday they were

overrun by traffic. Then it was the relative quiet of the Fosse Way, but we soon experienced why it is popular with motorcyclists, and explained why the road signs are largely for their benefit.

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Warwick soon beckoned, again with its mass of new roads, leading us through to the M69 and then

to that well-known motoring watering hole known as Leicester Forest East.

But rather than continue up the M1, we returned the Fosse Way in its guise as the A46 travelling to the east of Nottingham,

joining the A1 at Newark for the final leg back to Yorkshire.

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Throughout our 750 mile round trip, we saw a wide variety of countryside, towns and villages and, especially when heading south, what seemed to be an ever increasing number of roadside logistic hubs, but what struck me the most was how few of the houses we saw in south western England, small or large, bettered what we have here in Yorkshire.

Cotswold thatched houses may be pretty, but what about a mullioned stone farmhouse or stylish barn conversion in The Dales?

The Devon coastline may be awash with glass architectural gems, but are they really any better than the mix of old and new that seem to be an increasing trend along our wonderful East Coast?

Gloucestershire may have royal patronage and appealing undulating countryside, but what about the Howardian Hills? And whilst comparing areas is it best in York or Bath?

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As for big cities, we kept away from Birmingham, in which case the next major commercial UK hub is surely the northern powerhouse

combination of Sheffield, Leeds and Bradford, especially when you add in Doncaster, Halifax, Huddersfield and Wakefield.

There are of course those that say it is better in the south-west due to its weather. Well having experienced what blew in from the Atlantic over the last few days, I don’t subscribe to that one either.

As a staunch Yorkshireman, I do of course have a biased view. However, when other guests at the aforementioned birthday party variously travelled from the South-East and Scotland, and then commented enthusiastically about the variety of Yorkshire as seen through the raft of current and past television shows and films, maybe us locals should not be surprised they intend to visit God’s

Own County shortly, especially when I pointed out that York is half between London and Edinburgh.

Tim Waring FRICS, Prime Residential at GSC Grays, email [email protected], tel: 01423 590500

Related topics:YorkshireNorthDevonWarwickGlastonbury