Herefordshire

The beautiful border country of Herefordshire in the English West Midlands sits in that vital space between England and Wales which was long fought over but is now a haven of country walks, riverside trails and – in the case of pretty, literary Hay-on-Wye – probably the single biggest concentration of secondhand bookshops in the world. The county town of Hereford is actually a cathedral city, albeit one with fewer than 60,000 souls, making it a delightful place to explore – and counting as one of the smallest city-break destinations you can knock off your list in the UK. Rustic inns, restaurants with rooms, country house hotels and boutique B&Bs are all very much Herefordshire's thing – and cider is very much the thing to drink, by the way, while you're here – and if you're looking for an English country break that's off the beaten track, we'd say you've found it.