NORTH Yorkshire has been named among the UK’s top ‘agritourism’ destinations offering holidays packed with the most rural attractions and countryside pursuits.
The Agritourism Index has been compiled by sustainable online shopping platform the Bower Collective which ranks the number of farm stays, farm shops, country shows and events and hiking trails in the UK's regions.
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According to the research, North Yorkshire has the UK’s richest selection of country shows and events, with more than 33 listed in the annual calendar.
The county also has 37 working farm stays to choose from, 21 farmshops to source local produce and more than 780 hiking trails to ramble.
Google searches in North Yorkshire for ‘farm holiday’ have doubled in the past year – making the county one of the top ten in the UK which has seen the largest rise in demand in the past year.
Overall, Devon is ranked as the top location for a rural getaway in the UK.
It ranked in the top ten for all factors in the Bower Collective’s study and was named the top area for an agritourism holiday.
Devon has more listed farm stays than any other UK county, with 187 listed options offering tourists the chance to taste life on a working farm.
It also placed second for the number of farm shops and third for the variety of country shows and events.
Completing the top three is Cumbria, which came top for the number of hiking trails – the only place in the UK with over a 1,000 walks listed.
The best spot for a rural getaway in Wales is Powys, in Scotland it's the Highlands, and in Northern Ireland County Down comes out top.
The study found that Cumbria, Derbyshire and Hampshire offer ramblers the best choice of options, with 1432, 804, 801 walking trails listed respectively.
The Bower Collective has created an interactive tool to help holidaymakers plan their rural getaway.
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