Revealed: The UK's best places to find love on a staycation

Devon revealed amongst the most romantic places in the UK

With the run-up to Valentine’s day fast approaching and the UK brimming with beautiful romantic places to visit, Welsh cottage company Sugar & Loaf have conducted research into holiday romances around the UK to warm your heart.

Here are some of the loveliest proposal stories to make you smile:

💕 “We climbed high into the clouds amongst the wind and rain, it was the first time I had ever been to the Lake District. My husband traditionally went down on one knee and asked me to marry him. Of course, I said yes! He was in the Royal Navy at the time and had just returned from a 7-month deployment along with the most beautiful engagement ring - I’m a very lucky lady.”

💕 “Well, I had arranged to go for an all you can eat buffet. All very normal it seems :-). I had bought these fortune cookies saying 'Will you marry me?'. 

The worst thing was I had the fortune cookies in my pocket and she was enjoying the all you can eat buffet. I phoned a friend and she said just keep filling the water up so I did and that worked. 
I passed over the fortune cookies two red and one gold. I didn't read it properly as the gold one was bigger and to my horror, it was mine that said 'Will you marry me?'. I ended up passing it to her and after about six times of reading it she said, is this you asking me to marry you? She was in shock, bless her. 

The funniest thing was we go to church and they did a prophetic evening at a church I went to. I said on the way back what will my wife's name be and the answer was Nelly. It just so happens Nelly is Greek for Helen, my wife's name.”

💕 “Just the two of us, on a dog walk, with a glorious sunset overlooking the Black Mountains.”

💕 “I was on holiday from work for a week, as was my then-boyfriend (now husband of 37 years), but we weren’t really together as it had always been a bit of a long-distance relationship because I lived in Southend-on-Sea and he was living and working in Birmingham.  

Unbeknown to me, he had taken a week off his work, and had cycled all the way down from Birmingham to Southend (about 150 miles), turned up on my doorstep, and asked me out for dinner that evening. We were going with his friends, to try out a restaurant in Southend for our friend’s cricket club dinner.

When we got back to my flat after the meal (and I should add that the meal was so bad, I was ill in the ladies loo in the restaurant), whilst enjoying a cup of coffee, he proposed to me… and we got married a year to the day of that evening!  

And in case you’re wondering, he got the train back from Southend to Birmingham….”
💕 "Beautiful early-morning walk up Helm crag…my then-boyfriend proposed at the top over a lovely picnic of smoked salmon and cream cheese bagels, and prosecco! The sun even shined!" 

UK holiday romances

UK holiday romances

Having surveyed over 100 people across the UK to collate the data, the results show that London, Cumbrian and Cornwall are the most popular places to propose, the Midlands, South East England and Wales are the most popular locations to tie the knot and Cornwall, Dorset and Devon are the top honeymoon destinations.  

The top places to propose in the UK are:

• London
• Cumbria
• Cornwall

The top places to get married in the UK are:

• Midlands
• South East
• Wales

The top places to honeymoon in the UK are:

• Cornwall
• Dorset
• Devon

Laura Mackenzie, Senior Brand Communications Executive at Sugar & Loaf, commented: “We have had our hearts warmed by the amazing holiday romance stories from around the UK. We thought this analysis could help those in search of some inspiration for a romantic UK getaway in 2022.

The data has been really fascinating to analyse, and it’s great to see much-loved gorgeous Welsh spots mentioned amongst the amazing proposal stories alongside so many other gorgeous places.”

Find out more about the UK’s most romantic places in our blog.