Walking holidays in England guide

England’s walking trails take you on journeys that have inspired poets and writers, saints and scholars. For pure poetry in motion, follow in the footsteps of Wordsworth in the Lake District who famously ‘wandered lonely as a cloud’ throughout his native land. Indeed, his ‘Guide through the District of the Lakes’ published in 1820 is thought to have been the region’s biggest ever PR event. The South Downs was home to Virginia Woolf and the Bloomsbury set, Shakespeare’s Way is 235km of literary loveliness, and it is almost the law to carry a copy of a De Maurier novel while hiking around Cornwall on the South West Coast Path. Thankfully, as our England walking holidays guide will show you, these holidays are all about walking from one place to the next, with your bags transported for you, so you can pack all the books you want.

For many British travellers, there are parts of our home country that we have always planned to explore but never got around to. We may have an old guide book tucked away to the Lake District that we bought years ago, or even gone as far as buying an OS map of the Jurassic Coast on a weekend break, vowing to come back and explore beyond the campsite or festival. A walking holiday is the wakeup call you need to actually do it.

There is a world of walking experts out there who know all the paths, how to access them, the best inns or hotels along the way and also the best pub stops. Most England walking holidays are tailor made, and aimed at independent walkers. That way, you can take a week and cover one section of the South West Coast Path, for example, or take two and include dream spots such as the Isles of Scilly, the Gardens of Heligan and the Eden Project. You can discuss with your tour operator how much you want to walk in a day, and they will create a daily route for you, booking you easily accessible accommodation along the way.

Most of our England walking holidays are on very established trails, such as the South Downs Way, Dales Way, or the Pilgrims’ Way, or long distance ones such as the South West Coast Path. And this is England. We like our signs, so there are plenty of them. Your walking holiday company will also give you maps and detailed itineraries, especially if you are going off the beaten path.

In terms of getting to and from the region where you are walking, a lot of our walking companies encourage rail transport instead of bringing your car. In the Cotswolds, for example, a four day trip starts in Moreton-in-Marsh and ends in Kingham, both with railway stations. The South Downs and Kent Coast are peppered with pretty railway stations and to get somewhere like Dovedale in the Peak District, you can take a train to Derby and then a taxi onwards for about 30km.

In the Cotswolds, home to food festivals and fine fare at every turn, you won’t be short of a cream tea on your walking routes. This is also home to delicious ice cream, tasty cheeses and plenty of local breweries. And always seek out a local farmers’ market if your tour operator hasn’t highlighted one, which they should of course.