chloedickensonThis post about my year in travel photos in 2021 contains mentions of previously gifted and collaborative work and affiliate links. Please see my disclaimer for more.
I can’t believe I’m even in the position to write this post because where on Earth did 2021 go but here we are; another year over and another living amidst a global pandemic. Similarly to writing my 2020 ‘year in travel photos’ post, I wasn’t sure that it would make for a very riveting read as I didn’t go abroad until the 16th December when we flew to New York (unless you count going to Wales as “abroad”), so I didn’t know if I’d have anything particularly interesting to write about.
However, putting together this post has reminded me just how many amazing places I’ve been lucky to visit this year and even if I didn’t manage to venture much further than the UK until about two weeks ago due to You Know What, I’m beyond happy with all the UK travel we’ve done in 2021.
Last year, Matt and I created our very own AtoZ UK road trip challenge during the pandemic in which we’d decided to try and visit at least one place in the UK beginning with every letter of the alphabet and I’m delighted to say that we finished our challenge a couple of weeks ago! I’ll be writing a huge post about that very soon, but for now, I want to share more details about all the places I visited in 2021.
It certainly wasn’t the year of travel I was hoping for or anticipating but it turned out to be quite the year of visiting new places that are right on my doorstep and if I can be grateful to You Know What for anything, it has to be that.
Here’s my year in travel photos in 2021; enjoy!
P.S. I just want to add as a side note that I visited my parents’ in Penrith many times in 2021 so while that technically counts as “travel”, I went up so many times that I haven’t added every single visit below! I also went over to Doncaster a good few times as well to see my family, best friend and godson but again, I made that trip numerous times so I haven’t included it below.
Northumberland part 1 – Alnwick, Lindisfarne Castle, Bamburgh
I still can’t believe that this is true, but our first trip of 2021 wasn’t until the beginning of May when we went up to Northumberland for our five year anniversary.
Despite it being the beginning of May, as you can probably tell from the picture above, it was absolutely bloody freezing and so windy! On this trip, we visited Alnwick Castle, Holy Island/Lindisfarne Castle and we made a very brief stop in Bamburgh but as the weather was so bad, we didn’t quite get to see and do everything we wanted.
Thankfully, we made another trip up north just a few weeks later, more on that below…
Check out my Northumberland guides here.
London – travel photos in 2021
Our next trip was to London and we were in the capital primarily to get our new aligners fitted, but we also decided to make a little minibreak out of it and booked a hotel for the night in Hounslow and then ventured into the city for the evening where we had a few drinks at Boxpark in Shoreditch and then ate the most delicious Indian food I’ve ever had in the UK at Dishoom Shoreditch.
Check out my London travel guides here.
Northumberland part 2 – Bamburgh, Alnwick Gardens, Dunstanburgh & Warkworth
Our second trip to the beautiful county of Northumberland was actually part of a press trip collaboration with Visit Northumberland who very kindly provided us with entrance tickets to places such as Alnwick Garden, Bamburgh Castle and Warkworth Castle.
We were blessed with much better weather on this trip and it was also so much fun working with a UK tourism board for the first time since the pandemic so not only was it great to get out exploring again, but it was amazing to be creating travel content again.
Check out my Northumberland guides here.
We bought a campervan!
This isn’t technically a trip but it was such a huge part of our 2021 travels that I simply had to include it in my travel photos in 2021 post.
At the end of May, over the bank holiday weekend, Matt and I bought our very first campervan that we self-converted entirely from scratch and while it was a huge challenge, it was one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done and I’m so proud that we managed to make this dream come true in 2021.
Read more about our campervan conversion here.
Leeds – travel photos in 2021
Next up; a girls’ trip to Leeds with my mum and her two best friends. We spent a few hours enjoying bottomless brunch and eating scrumptious food and sinking yummy cocktails and prosecco at Mans Market and then we headed to a few other cocktail bars in Leeds for more drinks.
While it certainly wasn’t a touristy trip to Leeds, it was an absolutely awesome day/night with the girls and I’m so grateful to spend time with people who really make my heart happy.
Whitby
Our first trip in our newly converted campervan was to Whitby; a lovely Yorkshire seaside town that’s just over an hour away from our house in York.
We decided to head to Whitby for our first excursion in the van, partly because it’s close enough to home and we didn’t want to venture too far on our first trip as we wanted to make sure the van worked properly and it also meant that we could add the letter ‘W’ to the list of places we’d been to as part of our AtoZ UK road trip challenge.
Lake District – Grasmere, Ambleside, Kendal, Hawkshead & More
As our Whitby trip was such a huge success, we started planning a trip around the Lake District, a place that we’d actually spent very little time in, despite the fact that my parents live in Penrith, just on the outskirts of the Lakes.
On our 3-day trip in the Lakes, we managed to visit so many awesome places, including Grasmere, Ambleside, Kendal, Keswick, Hawkshead, Surprise View and more. It was an incredible time and we spent the full three nights freedom camping which was so much fun.
Check out more of my Lake District content here.
Goathland
Goathland is a place that I visited with my family many years ago when we went on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, but my recent visit with Matt was just a fleeting stop.
For avid Harry Potter fans, Goathland is a great place to visit in the UK as it’s actually where they film the Hogsmeade station scenes and it’s just as beautiful in real life as it is in the films.
Durham – travel photos in 2021
I’d had Durham on my list of places to visit in the UK for several years so I was delighted when the opportunity presented itself for us to visit for the day.
Unfortunately, it didn’t quite live up to my expectations but I can admit that it’s a truly beautiful city and the cathedral alone is worth a visit to Durham because it’s absolutely spectacular.
Darlington
After our day in Durham, we headed over to Darlington for the night as Matt had a hotel voucher from his birthday back in February, so we decided to make our trip up north into a little night away and the hotel that we stayed at – Blackwell Grange Hotel – was absolutely wonderful.
Check out my full review of Blackwell Grange Hotel here.
Warner Bros. Studio Tour London
The following day after our stay in Darlington marked the start of a very busy few weeks as we made our way down south.
Our first stop was at the Warner Bros. Studio Tour in London, AKA Harry Potter World, as part of a collaboration with Tinggly.
I had actually been to the Warner Bros. Studio in London around ten years ago, but it was so much fun to go back with Matt and experience the magic all over again.
Take a look at my full review of Harry Potter World London here.
Canterbury – travel photos in 2021
After the Harry Potter experience, we made our way to Canterbury which is where we officially began our huge trip towards the south coast of England in the campervan.
We only spent a couple of hours in Canterbury but it’s every bit as beautiful as I imagined it to be and while I don’t think I’d necessarily be in a mega rush to head back anytime soon, I would certainly recommend it to you guys if you’re in the area.
Margate
Margate was the next stop on our South Coast England road trip and it’s a place that I’d wanted to visit for so many years so it was really exciting to finally head there and experience it myself.
I’d highly recommend a trip to Margate and I’d definitely head back there again myself one day.
Check out my Margate post here.
Dover
The White Cliffs of Dover are such an incredibly iconic part of England and the UK as a whole so we knew that we had to have them on our South Coast England road trip itinerary. We enjoyed walking along the clifftop and we also stayed at a great campsite not too far away, so it was a lovely place to spend a day or so.
Hastings – travel photos in 2021
Hastings was never really a place that I planned on visiting but it seemed to make sense to spend the night there after we’d been at the White Cliffs and while there isn’t really a lot going on, it made for a nice little stop on our road trip.
Seven Sister Cliffs
The Seven Sisters Cliffs were yet another thing that I had on my UK bucket list and even though the weather was pretty dreadful on the day we visited (even though it was the middle of August!), they still vastly exceeded my expectations with their enormity and beauty.
Brighton – travel photos in 2021
I’d wanted to visit Brighton ever since I started watching the likes of Zoella, Pointless Blog and Marcus Butler on YouTube when I was a teenager as many of my favourite creators either lived there or spent a lot of time there, so it was really exciting to finally go there in 2021.
It’s a pretty hectic place with a lot going on, but its quirkiness and vibrancy make it one of the most fun and interesting places in England and I’d definitely recommend a quick trip there, especially when it’s good weather!
Check out my Brighton content here.
Portsmouth/Port Solent
Our time in Portsmouth and Port Solent was more of a pitstop as we needed a place to stay for the night so we found this amazing free layby in Port Solent that offered the most wonderful sunset over the water.
Sometimes with travel, it’s the experiences that you never even anticipated that turn out to be the most enjoyable and watching the sunset in Port Solent was definitely one of my favourite memories of our South Coast England trip.
Southampton
Southampton was another place that we drove through for a quick visit as it was somewhere that we were intrigued to see, but we weren’t overwhelmingly bothered about spending a lot of time there so we probably spent an hour or two wandering around the city before moving on to the next stop on our trip.
Salisbury – travel photos in 2021
Salisbury is a really small city with a mightily impressive cathedral that houses an original copy of the Magna Carta so it’s a pretty cool place to visit if you’re a history buff.
Stonehenge
Stonehenge is a place that I’d heard many mixed reviews about from people over the years but it was still a place that I wanted to visit as it’s such an iconic landmark in England. However, when I discovered that it was £21.10 per person to see what is essentially very large rocks, I was very reluctant to pay.
So, after doing a bit of research and talking to a guy who we met in Port Solent the night before, we discovered that you can actually park down a country lane adjacent to Stonehenge where dozens of other campers park up for the night to sleep. When we discovered this spot and pulled up in our campervan, we couldn’t believe how close we were to the stones and that we had an awesome view of them for the whole day/night completely for free! Of course, we weren’t able to get super close to them, but we saved over £40 by just parking on the country lane next to them!
Bournemouth
Bournemouth was the first stop one morning of our South Coast England trip and despite it only being around 9am when we got there, we were treated to some of the best weather of the entire trip. The beach in Bournemouth is absolutely beautiful and as we were there so early, we enjoyed the mostly empty view of it.
Dorset – Old Harry Rocks, Durdle Door, Lulworth Cove
Our time in Dorset was some of my favourite of our whole South Coast trip and indeed, in 2021 as a whole. We visited some remarkable places in Dorset, including Old Harry Rocks, Durdle Door, Lulworth Cove and Stair Hole and the scenery and natural features in this part of the country are some of the most beautiful naturally occurring things I’ve ever seen.
Check out my full Dorset guide here.
Polperro – travel photos in 2021
After our time in the Jurassic Coast, we started to make our way to Cornwall and our first proper stop was in Polperro; a gorgeous, tiny fishing village that doesn’t have an awful lot going on but it’s so cute and sweet that it’s definitely worth spending a little time in.
The Eden Project
I know I’m going to get a lot of stick for saying this, but I was incredibly disappointed by the Eden Project. I think maybe after experiencing Gardens by the Bay in Singapore I’ve been ruined by giant domes with flowers inside, but with a ticket price between £29.50 and £32.50, depending on the time of year you go, it’s very steep and I certainly don’t think it’s worth that much money.
Lantic Bay
Lantic Bay on the other hand was the direct opposite of a disappointment and if anything, its unparalleled beauty completely blew me away. If you’re planning a trip to Cornwall, I’d highly suggest adding Lantic Bay to your itinerary.
Lizard Point – travel photos in 2021
While Land’s End is much more popular and famous than Lizard Point, I truly believe that the most southerly point of England deserves way more attention than it gets as it’s such a gorgeous place. I actually preferred Lizard Point to Land’s End as well and the fact that there were barely any tourists when we visited made it even more enjoyable.
Kynance Cove
Before our trip, I’d Googled pictures of Kynance Cove and I couldn’t believe how magical it looked in the sunshine. Unfortunately, our experience of Kynance Cove was on an incredibly cloudy and miserable day (this seemed to be the case most days on our South Coast trip, despite it being the middle of August!) so it wasn’t quite as majestic as I was anticipating, but the scenery here was still utterly breathtaking and I’m glad we still visited even if it wasn’t quite the weather I’d have liked!
Land’s End
Land’s End is the most westerly point of mainland England and the whole area has been turned into a huge tourist attraction and holiday complex. It’s a very cool place to see and the scenery is truly beautiful, but it does get very, very busy so just be prepared for the crowds if you’re planning a visit there!
Gwithian Beach – travel photos in 2021
I’d never even heard of Gwithian Beach before doing research for our trip, but as soon as we walked up and saw the stretch of beach from our sand dune viewpoint, I was blown away by how pristine the sand was and as there were very few people on the beach, it looked even more incredible.
Perranporth
I’d actually been to Perranporth many years ago with my family on holiday and it was so nice to return in August with Matt. We didn’t stay in the area for too long as it was absolutely heaving with it being the height of summer, but we did manage to grab some cheesy chips, so it was a pretty great visit ;).
Tintagel Castle
Tintagel Castle was yet another place that I’d never heard of before researching for our trip down south, but as soon as I saw pictures of it, I knew I wanted to pay it a visit and I’m so glad we did as it turned out to be one of my absolute favourite places on our entire South Coast England road trip!
If you ever get the chance to visit Tintagel Castle while in Cornwall, I would highly recommend it!
Castle Cary – travel photos in 2021
On our way back up north, we stopped off in the tiny village of Castle Cary to visit our friend Jake who we met while travelling. Unfortunately, his girlfriend Bex wasn’t there as it would have been awesome to see her as well, but it was so great to catch up with Jake as we hadn’t seen him since Cambodia all the way back in March 2020.
Friendships that are made while travelling are some of the very best and I always feel so lucky to meet new people whenever we travel.
Aberystwyth
In mid-September, Matt and I embarked on another road trip in our campervan, this time to Wales, but unfortunately, it wasn’t as long as we’d hoped for.
We started the trip at Pistyll Rhaeadr waterfall in Wales before heading to Aberystwyth and a few other places (more on that below), before we had to head back home to York when Matt fell ill and tested positive for Covid.
Our time in Aberystwyth was amazing nonetheless and it’s such a gorgeous seaside town in Wales that I’d definitely revisit at some point.
Devil’s Bridge
Devil’s Bridge is another place that we visited on our first trip to Wales and it’s an awesome waterfall/woodland area with three very random bridges placed on top of one another.
The scenery here is really cool and I’d recommend adding it to your Wales bucket list.
Portmeirion – travel photos in 2021
I’d heard so much about Portmeirion in recent years and I’d seen so many pictures and videos of it floating around on Instagram so I knew that I wanted to pay this magical village a visit on our North Wales road trip.
Suffice to say that it’s a truly wonderful place in Wales and one that’s absolutely gorgeous and definitely very ‘Instagrammable’!
Read more about Portmeirion Village here.
Snowdonia National Park
Our original plan was to attempt to hike up Mount Snowdon but almost as soon as we made our way into Snowdonia National Park and saw the enormity of the mountain, we quickly decided against it!
Instead, we enjoyed a leisurely drive through the park with several stops along the way to admire the spectacular scenery and views.
Chester
At the beginning of October, we headed to Chester for the afternoon to have a little wander around the city as it was one of the places we had listed as the letter ‘C’ for our AtoZ UK road trip challenge.
We didn’t really do an awful lot there as the weather was abysmal, but it was still nice to experience the city for the first time.
Liverpool
After our short stint in Chester, we made our way across to Liverpool later that evening for a night out in the city. It was my first time in Liverpool so while I would have quite liked to experience the more touristy side of the city, we didn’t arrive until it was dark and the weather was so appalling the following day that I didn’t really get to see much of Liverpool itself.
We did manage to watch a Liverpool match, however, as Matt is such a huge fan and it was my first time at Anfield and I really enjoyed it!
I’d definitely like to go back one day and enjoy a proper weekend break there.
Castle Combe – travel photos in 2021
Castle Combe is a place that I’d wanted to visit for years after seeing so many beautiful pictures of this tiny village online so when we were planning our second trip to Wales, we decided to take a bit of a detour and drive through Castle Combe first to see this magical village for ourselves.
I was so happy that it’s as beautiful in real life as it is in pictures and it’s definitely a place that lived up to my expectations.
Bath
As well as visiting Castle Combe just before we made our way into Wales for the second time in 2021, we also spent a few hours in Bath; yet another city that I’d never been to.
We didn’t spend ages there so I’d certainly like to go back for a longer visit one day, but I did thoroughly enjoy our time there and it’s such a beautiful ancient city.
Cardiff
Our second Wales road trip of the year commenced in the country’s capital city; Cardiff. I didn’t have mega high expectations of Cardiff but I was truly blown away by how beautiful it is and it was one of my favourite places that we visited in the whole of Wales.
Barry
Barry is a seaside town in Wales that I’d been desperate to visit ever since I started watching Gavin and Stacey many, many years ago. It’s one of my all-time favourite TV shows so I was really excited to visit some of the filming locations in Barry and while it’s never as exciting as seeing it on the tele, I thought it was pretty bloody cool to be stood where all my favourite characters have filmed over the years!
Swansea/Swansea Bay
As part of our South Wales road trip, we partnered with Visit Swansea Bay to create some content in and around the area and it was my first “official” press trip I’ve ever done in that all our food, accommodation and activities were very kindly paid for by the tourism board. I put so much effort into creating content for Visit Swansea Bay and we had such a truly wonderful time in the area; this part of the trip was definitely a 2021 travel highlight.
Check out all my Swansea Bay content here.
St David’s
After our time in Swansea Bay, we made our way around the southwest coast for a bit before spending the afternoon in St David’s; a truly lovely place that holds the title of the smallest city in the UK. It might be a tiny place but it’s home to a stunning cathedral and numerous cafes and chocolate shops that are well worth a visit!
Richmond
Throughout 2021, we made several journeys down south to London to have our teeth and aligners checked by my family’s friend and business partner and while it seems like quite the trek just to have our teeth done, it’s very much worth it!
We didn’t realise until our most recent visit, however, that the dental practice is not too far from Richmond which is where the Apple TV series Ted Lasso was filmed. Both Matt and I are huge fans of the show, so it was great to see the pub that is used in the series in real life, as well as Ted’s apartment and a few other filming locations.
Oxford – travel photos in 2021
Oxford is one of the places that I was most excited to visit as part of our AtoZ UK road trip challenge and I’m delighted to say that it didn’t disappoint in the slightest; in fact, it far exceeded all my expectations of the historic city.
We were only there for around 24 hours, but we managed to see and do so many things and I know that I’ll happily return to Oxford in the future as it’s such a truly gorgeous UK city.
National Space Centre
On our way back home from Oxford, we drove past a sign for the National Space Centre and as Matt is a huge fan of all things space, we decided to go into the museum and check it out.
I’ve also started enjoying learning more about space and the universe recently and the National Space Centre was a great place to visit; I’d highly recommend it if you love learning about our galaxy, the universe and of course, the moon!
Center Parcs
One of our last trips of 2021 was a weekend away in Whinfell Forest Center Parcs with my family for my grandma’s 70th birthday. There were 18 of us altogether so it was a pretty hectic weekend but it was so, so lovely to spend such dedicated time with my family, especially after such a difficult couple of years where we’ve barely spent any time together.
Center Parcs has always been one of my favourite family holiday destinations so spending a weekend there with the whole family was awesome.
Ripon
Ripon was a very unexpected, last-minute trip after lots of drama leading up to our trip to New York. After Matt’s mum tested positive for Covid, we had to leave the house and semi-self-isolate in a hotel and The Unicorn Hotel in Ripon was by far the most affordable option for a week so we headed there and it turned out to be a truly great place to stay, despite the crappy circumstances!
New York – travel photos in 2021
At the time of writing this, I’m sitting in our apartment in New York City on my last trip of 2021 and one that was a lot of hard work to make happen but the immense relief and gratitude I felt when we landed and I realised that a dream I’d had since I was about eight years old was coming true was unfathomable.
It’s my fifth time in New York but it’s my first extended stay in the city (we’re here for a month!) and I’m beyond happy and excited to be finishing 2021 and starting 2022 in my favourite place in the world.
Check out all my New York posts here.
Related posts:
Pin for later – travel photos in 2021
Did you manage to enjoy many trips in 2021? Let me know in the comments or on Instagram @imjustagirl_16.
