Two Cotswold villages have made the top 10 in a list of the best UK hidden gems for a staycation.
The 2022 UK Hidden Gem Index, compiled by holiday rental company HomeToGo, ranked Blockley as the fifth best hidden gem in the UK, followed by Bibury at number six, with the picturesque Cotswold villages being the only locations in Gloucestershire to make the top 10.
Destinations were rated on criteria including outdoor activities, photo-friendliness, pubs and weather, with the final list comprising 24 of the UK's most scenic and serene villages to visit for a staycation to avoid airport chaos and crowds.
But despite all 24 villages being located within National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, none of them made HomeToGo's list of the top 500 most-searched destinations for summer 2022, qualifying them as hidden gems.
The list highlighted Blockley, within the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, for its honey-coloured cottages, historic mills along Blockley brook, seasonal food at Blockley Café and attractions like Upton Wold - the 'hidden garden of the Cotswolds' - not to mention famous filming locations like Blockley Church, which featured in BBC series Father Brown.
HomeToGo's UK marketing manager, Eleanor Moody, said: 'Even after the reopening of international travel, we expected many holidaymakers to opt for local getaways throughout 2022, following on from the pandemic-driven surge in the demand for domestic breaks.
'With flight cancellations now disrupting plans to journey abroad, we're seeing signs of an even more significant swing back to a staycation summer. In June this year, 69 per cent of searches for holiday rentals via hometogo.co.uk were for stays in domestic destinations.
'For those considering a holiday closer to home, whether it’s to avoid airport mayhem or simply to discover more of what the UK has to offer, HomeToGo’s Hidden Gem Index aims to provide plenty of inspiration for first-class, lesser-known spots to explore.'
Alongside Bibury and Blockley, Dunwich on the Suffolk coast snagged the number one spot, with Abbotsbury, Studland and Worth Matravers in Dorset; Bosham in Chichester; Patterdale in Cumbria; Brancaster in Norfolk; and Branscomb in Devon making up the remainder of the top 10.
