The quaint Gloucestershire village named the most beautiful in the UK has its drawbacks, many of them linked to its burgeoning reputation with holidaymakers, locals say. Bibury, a small Cotswolds village known for its pretty water meadow and 17th century weavers’ cottages, was described by William Morris as “the most beautiful in England” and that status was reaffirmed on a recent Forbes list, on which it nabbed the number one spot. Life in the picture-perfect settlement, just a short drive from Cirencester, isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, however, according to residents.
Craig Chapman, chair of Bibury Parish Council, admitted that the village’s reputation as the most beautiful – on a national and global scale – has put pressure on its resources, impinging on day-to-day local life. He told BBC Radio Gloucestershire that the recognition was a “double-edged sword”, with the influx of tourists attracted by the title a “problematic” issue that comes “at a cost for locals”.
“I’m fairly flabbergasted, having travelled the world, to believe we’re the most attractive village in the world,” he added.
“It’s a great honour, but it’s a little bit of a surprise. There’s a lot of competition out there.”
“The issue is very much about the mechanisms by whereby people come to the village and when they come here, how they behave, where they park,” Mr Chapman explained.
“The reality is, we sit on a B-road. The road is narrow, there’s one bridge across the River Coln, which is only wide enough for one vehicle. We’ve suffered greatly from congestion, particularly from the larger coaches.”
Restrictions on coach access to Bibury were introduced in May and a councillor asked holidaymakers to travel in smaller vehicles last month after reports that emergency services were struggling to get through congestion and poorly parked cars.
The nearby village of Bourton-on-the-Water has already banned coaches after “buckling under the weight” of overtourism – although the move sparked fears that a drop in footfall risked turning it into a “ghost town”.
In Bibury, the problem is particularly pronounced, however, with up to 20,000 visitors descending every weekend, dwarfing its population of around 700, and as many as 50 coaches parking there in a day.
Other villages in Forbes’ ranking included Oia on the Greek island of Santorini, Hallstatt in Austria and Reine in Norway – all of which have also suffered from overtourism issues.
Alongside travel destinations going viral on social media, the trend of increased footfall around the world in recent years has been driven by cheaper and more accessible transport routes, the growth of the global middle class, a rise in short-term rentals and the growing popularity of cruise tourism.