15 beautiful alternatives to the UK's crowded national parks

Telegraph

16-04-2025

Snowdonia, the Lakes, Dartmoor, the Dales… the crowds, car parks, litter, the queues. The National Park brand has been so successful that sometimes it's a victim of its own success.
All 15 of the UK's national parks allow rampant sheep farming; they also have huge herd-appeal. Where friends, family, neighbours and Instagram 'influencers' go, so does everyone else.
But there's no need to join the gang. As well as 46 National Landscapes (formerly known as AONBs), the UK has 387 National Nature Reserves, the Wildlife Trusts manage 2,300 nature reserves, the RSPB has 222 reserves and the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust manages 10 sites.
So, as spring blooms and summer fast approaches, why not consider these alternatives?
1. Swap Dartmoor for the Sperrin National Landscape
Northern Ireland's Sperrin Mountains extend from the Strule Valley in the west to the perimeter of the Lough Neagh lowlands. It's an area of expansive moorland enlivened by narrow glens and deep valleys.
The Sperrins has its own dedicated star-watching centre, OM Dark Sky Park and Observatory at Davagh Forest (also a mountain biking hotspot), four spectacular driving routes, and some great day walks – such as the Craignamaddy Circuit (12.8 miles), Robbers Table (9 miles) and Causeway Hill (9.5 miles).
How to visit
Ardtara Country House (028 7964 4490) has double rooms from £86, including breakfast. Take the ferry via Belfast or fly from Manchester to Derry with Ryanair from £135 return.
2. Swap Exmoor for Nidderdale National Landscape
As soon as the sun comes out, the unoriginals head south and west. Go north and you'll find a far less well-trodden wilderness.
Between Wharfedale and Harrogate, Nidderdale is a long, impressive dale divided by the River Nidd. The western side is mainly remote, wild-looking gritstone landscape with heather moorland. The eastern part is softer and more pastoral with rolling farmland, traditional hay meadows and sheltered river valleys.
As well as natural attractions, top stops include the Victorian spa town of Ilkley, Hackfall, a beautiful woodland garden, and the dramatic ruins of Jervaulx Abbey.
How to visit
The Crescent Inn (01943 811250) has double rooms from £133, including breakfast. Take the train to Ilkley via Leeds.
3. Swap the Lake District for the Eden Valley
West of the upper M6 is Wordsworth, Windermere and water pollution. To the east lies the paradisiacal Eden Valley.
It's a mix of lush green countryside, traditional towns and quaint sandstone villages – some dating back to Viking times. Highlights include Lacy's Caves, carved out of sandstone, and the River Eden Benchmarks, 10 sculptures in dramatic settings, which serve as seats.
To the south are the Howgill Fells, more peaceful than their Lakeland sisters and just as beautiful. The most scenic railway in England, the Settle to Carlisle, runs through the valley to Kirkby Stephen.
How to visit
Augill Castle (01768 341937) has double rooms from £206, including breakfast. Take the train to Kirkby Stephen.
4. Swap the New Forest for the North Wessex Downs National Landscape
The North Wessex Downs, Alfred the Great country, is home to miles of quiet hiking trails, ancient sites like the Uffington White Horse, Savernake Forest, with its gnarled oaks, and the market towns of Marlborough and Hungerford.
The area is rich in Neolithic sites, many positioned along the Great Stones Way. Watership Down is here, too, and there's an excellent 82-mile Sustrans bike route between Reading and Bath on the Kennet and Avon Canal – visiting idyllic country pubs, impressive aqueducts and the spectacular Caen Hill Flight of locks near Devizes.
How to visit
The Troutbeck Guest House (01980 671124) has double rooms from £160, including breakfast. Catch the train to Pewsey, from which it's a 10-minute taxi ride or 25 minutes by bus.
5. Swap Northumberland National Park for the North Pennines National Landscape
Between the National Parks of the Yorkshire Dales and Northumberland, the North Pennines is the second largest of the National Landscapes and a Unesco Global Geopark.
A largely upland area, it's dominated by wide-open heather moors, species-rich hay meadows, rivers and waterfalls, and almost a third of England's upland heathland and a similar proportion of its blanket bog.
Standout sites include High Force on the River Tees (England's biggest waterfall) and the sweeping U-shaped valley of High Cup Gill above Dufton.
Red squirrels, otters and rare arctic alpine plants are present, as well as tens of thousands of pairs of breeding wading birds and a whopping eighty per cent of England's black grouse.
How to visit
The Rose and Crown (01833 650213) has double rooms from £150, including breakfast. Penrith and Hexham railway stations are close to the park, respectively.
6. Swap the North York Moors for RSPB Bempton Cliffs
Around half a million seabirds gather at RSPB Bempton Cliffs between March and August to roost and breed on the towering chalk cliffs. It's England's largest seabird colony, with important numbers of puffins, kittiwakes, razorbills, guillemots and gannets.
The Cliff Top Trail, just two miles long, merits a couple of hours to enjoy the spectacle. There are longer walks to Buckton and Buckton Cliffs trig point, with superb views along the sands to Filey and Scarborough, and an 11.5-mile circular walk to Flamborough Head.
How to visit
The Crabpot Cottage Guest House (01262 850555) has double rooms from £85, including breakfast. Catch the train to Bridlington. It's 11 minutes by rail or half an hour by bus to Buckton, followed by a short walk to the RSPB site's visitor centre.
7. Swap the Peak District for Manchester's moorlands
The famous north-south axis of the Pennine Way makes Edale and the Peak District magnets for walkers from the many large nearby urban areas and farther afield. But the north-east corner of the national park skirts Saddleworth Moor near Oldham. Why not go the whole hog and turn the edge into the centre?
There are great trails, including the new, circular GM Ringway and popular Trans-Pennine Trail, and a decent metro system means you can combine hiking and biking with city fun and culture.
How to visit
Disbury House Hotel (0161 448 2200) has double rooms from £150, including breakfast. Take the train to Manchester Piccadilly or Victoria; branch lines run into the moorland countryside at Broadbottom, Greenfield and Stalybridge.
8. Swap the South Downs for the Kent Downs National Landscape
If Kent is the Garden of England, then the Kent Downs National Landscape is its wild-ish heart. Stretching from the London/Surrey border all the way to the Straits of Dover, it encompasses precious chalk grassland, woodlands, traditional orchards and heathland.
The Downs rise to more than 750 feet, cresting in a prominent escarpment above the Weald to the south. Highlights include the North Downs Way Art Trail, the North Downs Way National Trail and the historic attractions of Canterbury and Chatham, both on the northern edge of the park.
How to visit
Eastwell Manor (0843 561 2019) has double rooms from £204, including breakfast. Ashford International (for St Pancras and Eurostar services) is a 15-minute drive, while Canterbury is 30 minutes away by car.
9. Swap the Yorkshire Dales for the West Pennine Moors
Lancashire's lateral spur doesn't get the attention, or boot-traffic, of the main Pennine spine, but delivers many of the same natural highs.
It's easy to combine bracing walks up to Rivington Pike and the Winter Hill TV mast, Darwen Tower and Pendle Hill summit with tours of industrial history sites and cultural experiences in Burnley (Queen Street Mill and Gawthorpe and Towneley halls are must-sees) and Clitheroe (with its castle ruins). There's great food and pubs in the Ribble Valley.
The new Two Toms Trail links Whalley to the Pennine Way via Nelson and Earby and the last surviving Clarion House.
How to visit
Northcote (01254 240555) has double rooms from £300, including breakfast. Access the moors via Bolton, Darwen or Clitheroe railway stations.
10. Swap Loch Lomond & The Trossachs for the Antrim Coast and Glens Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
Just to the east of the Giant's Causeway, the heart of Northern Ireland's Antrim Coast and Glens AONB is the Antrim Plateau, rising to 1,600 feet and riven by picturesque glens running east and north-east towards the sea. The area has a long settlement history and abounds in archaeological sites, listed buildings, historic monuments and conservation areas.
On a clear day, there are superb views eastwards to the Scottish Islands and the Mull of Kintyre. The AONB contains Northern Ireland's only inhabited offshore island – Rathlin.
How to visit
Ballygally Castle (028 2858 1066) has double rooms from £150, including breakfast. Catch the ferry to Larne and catch a local bus to Ballygally.
11. Swap the Cairngorms for the Flow Country
The Flow Country – given Unesco status last summer – is the largest area of blanket bog on earth.
Damaged in the Seventies and Eighties following a botched forestry scheme, the area is now being allowed to recover, which is good for the planet – peat is a vital carbon store – and native fauna. The main railway line from Wick and Thurso to Inverness train runs on an embankment and you can ride through ogling the glistening pools, rivulets and spongy peatland.
Merlin, short-eared owls and golden eagles hunt over the mosses and pools. Divers, plover and greenshank feed and nest in the wetlands. Combine explorations around this Patagonia-like wilderness with whisky tasting and coast walks.
How to visit
Mackays (01955 602323) has double rooms from £97, including breakfast. Catch the train to Wick, which is at the end of the Far North Line.
12. Swap the Pembrokeshire Coast for Carmarthenshire
Carmarthenshire – or Sir Gâr – known as the Garden of Wales, is where the M4 runs out, though that doesn't stop travellers speeding through without looking.
They are missing a trick. The Wales Coast Path here is wonderful, winding through ancient Carmarthen, around the Llansteffan peninsula and into lovely Laugharne, with its castle ruins, Dylan Thomas sites and great pubs.
Close to Llandeilo is the Black Mountain range at the western end of the Brecon Beacons. Okay, it's a bit of a cheat as it's part of a national park, but this side gets nothing like the tourist traffic of the area around Pen y Fan.
How to visit
The Mansion House (01267 241515) has double rooms from £280, including breakfast. The mainline train goes to Carmarthen. The Heart of Wales line stops in Llandeilo and Llandovery.
13. Swap Snowdonia for the Llŷn National Landscape
Walk out of Aberdaron on the Wales Coast Path and you can look back on Snowdonia and congratulate yourself for choosing calm and coast over crowds and queues.
The Llŷn National Landscape covers a quarter of its namesake peninsula and is a patchwork of heritage and nature-rich, scenic, spiritually uplifting areas.
It boasts 22 Sites of Special Scientific Interest, is known for its rare breeding choughs, has several sites associated with the poet RS Thomas and contains car-free Bardsey Island – the so-called 'Island of 20,000 Saints'.
Need a mountain? Yr Eifl, or The Rivals, is the highest point on the Llyn Peninsula in North Wales and has three peaks. Garn Ganol, the central summit, is the highest at 1,841 feet.
How to visit
Porth Tocyn (01758 713303) has double rooms from £165, including breakfast. The Cambrian Line connects Pwllheli and Criccieth to the mainline to Chester and London.
14. Swap the Brecon Beacons for the Valleys
Only a sliver of land separates these two famous Welsh regions, but a world of history, culture, characterisation and human geography. The Valleys are an exhilarating combination of one-time industrial crucible and natural drama, made up of bulbous mountains, fast-flowing rivers and streams, magnificent moorlands and rewilded slagheaps.
Bypassed by park-bound backpackers and beach-bound families alike, their famous towns – Merthyr, Pontypridd, Ebbw Vale – pioneered locomotive power, nonconformism, Chartism, the rugby of the Rhondda forward, choral music, Welsh boxing, and much else bsides.
As well as cultural and natural attractions, the region is home to BikePark Wales – the UK's most diverse selection of all-weather mountain bike trails; Zip World Tower Colliery, which has four ziplines, with two-seater rides, speeds of up to 70mph and child-friendly ziplines; and the excellent Big Pit interactive mining-history museum.
How to visit
Celtic Manor Resort (01633 413000) has double rooms from £192, including breakfast. Trains go up and down the Valleys from Newport, Swansea and Port Talbot.
15. Swap The Broads for Birmingham
You might have read in these pages of an audacious plan to turn Brum and its burbs into the West Midlands National Park. Well, why not put theory into practice?
Birmingham looks built-up, but it has urban parks, waterways and a rich patchwork of environments – from heathland to pastoral settings to wooded areas, including Shakespeare's Forest of Arden. Around the margins are areas evocative of the ancient shires absorbed by the West Midlands in 1965.
Walk the towpaths or hire a canal boat to observe the hidden story of the UK's second city. You can visit Hindu temples, eat delicious Indian food and go back in time at the Black Country Living Museum, one of the UK's finest family-friendly visitor experiences.
How to visit