ENGLAND VACATION TOURING REGIONS

The Touring Regions of England map shown here is one of the more popular maps used for identifying the touring regions. Others may have a region called "Heart of England" instead of "Costwolds." The Heart of England includes some of the same counties as are included in the Cotswolds.

The touring regions of England are a convenient method of identifying the geographic part of England one wishes to visit. Indeed, the brochures published by the accompanied tour companies and many of the tourist guides mention one or more of the regions as an introduction to the sites to be toured. It is not unusual for Americans who have visited England on one or more of the guided tours to ask if we have visited the Cotswolds. This is because the popular tour stop of Bath is in the Cotswolds region.

The Regions are not equivalent to Counties. A region may include all or pats of several adjacent counties. The Cotswolds includes all or parts of the counties of Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Warwickshire, Oxfordshire, and Berkshire. The region of East Anglia would include Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, and Cambridgeshire. One can easily determine this by viewing a map of the counties of England in comparison with the touring regions.

We do not concern ourselves much with the regions. We plan visits based upon the sites we wish to visit. When we wanted to visit "Heriot Country," we located the town of Thirsk where the veterinary practice featured in the TV series was located and stayed on a farm in the nearby picturesque village of Pickhill.