Wigton

Sitting prettily between the Solway Coast and the Lake District fells, Wigton offers the best of both worlds.

It’s an inland gateway to the Solway Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and with its winding streets and alleyways and independent shops and eateries, it’s a place to while away an hour, or a day.

If you head north out of town it takes you to Kirkbride, home to an airfield and a Roman fort. Then there’s Glasson Moss, a patchwork of raised peat bogs, where you can explore on trails and boardwalks. There’s also Bowness on Solway, where a bridge used to cross the Solway Firth to Scotland, and it’s the western end of Hadrian’s Wall.

You can also head west to Abbeytown and Holme Cultram Abbey, or go beachcombing on Silloth’s dunes and beaches.

There’s plenty of history in Wigton, which visitors can discover through a heritage trail available from the Market Hall. The town is an ancient settlement with a street plan dating back to before Medieval times. The Romans came here too, with a cavalry station that served Hadrian’s Wall.

From more recent times, discover the stained glass windows of St Mary’s Church which dates back to 1125 and was originally constructed using stone from the Roman fort, or find the Gothic Catholic church on King Street.

The writer and broadcaster Melvyn Bragg, or Lord Bragg of Wigton, is one of the town’s most famous residents, and he has never left, keeping a house here despite his career taking him around the world.

The centre of this market town is marked by a landmark monument, officially called the George Moore Memorial Fountain. Mr Moore served his apprenticeship as a draper in the town and funded the monument in memory of his wife Eliza Ray. He too left Wigton for London but never forgot his roots.

Wigton shot to worldwide fame in 2016 when its biggest business, Innovia Films, began producing the paper for new polymer bank notes for the Bank of England.