WEST IS BEST FOR STUNNING SUNSETS
THE South West has the best places in Britain from which to take a stunning sunset picture. That is the conclusion of a competition run by a holiday cottage business, holidaycottages.co.uk, which has seen a boom in staycations this year thanks to the coronavirus pandemic.
With the Westcountry the most popular place in the country for Britons holidaying at home, it was no surprise to see the region score six of the top ten locations seen as the best for watching a spectacular sunset – with Sandbanks, near Poole in Dorset, coming out as number one.
The company said its World Cup of Sunsets began with more than 750 photo entries, narrowed down by the holidaycottages.co.uk team to just 16, which then competed in the championships over two weeks, gaining more than 15,000 votes. The grand finale saw Macclesfield Forest, Cheshire, up against Sandbanks, with Sandbanks taking the title for ‘the UK’s best sunset spot’!
The winner of the competition, Carl Draper, said: “The pic is a summer sunset at Sandbanks, with Keira, my 16-year-old daughter, and my brother. The conditions were perfect that evening – zero wind at high tide meant very little movement of water, which only lasts a few minutes.”
The competition’s top ten featured two venues in Devon and two in Cornwall: 1 Sandbanks, Dorset, 2 Macclesfield Forest, Cheshire, 3 Blencathra, Lake District, 4 Snowdon, Wales, 5 Perranporth, Cornwall, 6 Watergate Bay, Cornwall, 7 Sandwood Bay, Scotland, 8 Watermouth Harbour, Devon, 9 Sturminster Marshall, Dorset, 10 Morte Point, Devon.
Simon Lockyer, social media manager at holidaycottages.co.uk, said: “We were blown away by the stunning sights from all over the UK submitted in the first round.
“It really goes to show that you really don’t need to travel outside of the UK to experience such incredible scenes!”