Best Viewing Locations

Nottinghamshire woodland with clearings well away from the city, a genuine option for the wider East Midlands.

AONB chalk hills; flat agricultural land keeps horizons wide and skies dark.

Charnwood Forest country park a few miles outside Leicester, the closest realistic option for the East Midlands.

AONB ridge north-west of London, the closest realistic option for the Home Counties, though London's glow limits it.

Dark Sky Discovery sites along the chalk ridge, during Hp30 7+ aurora reaches this far south.

Open heathland in the Sussex Weald, away from the worst of the London and Brighton light domes.

Ancient woodland with several dark clearings away from Southampton and Bournemouth.

Flat wetland landscape with near-zero obstruction, wide north horizon ideal for low aurora.

The UK mainland's most northerly point, outstanding northern horizon.

Open reservoir landscape in England's smallest county, surprisingly dark eastern Midlands site.

Dark Sky Discovery site with unobstructed northern horizon from the moors.

AONB ridge on the Worcestershire/Herefordshire border, elevated, open, and away from the West Midlands conurbation.

National Trust heathland ridge on the Staffordshire/Worcestershire border, close to Birmingham and the Black Country.

Dark sky forest heathland on the Norfolk/Suffolk border; one of England's darkest lowland areas.

Long Mynd and Stiperstones ridgelines give clear west and north horizons away from city light.

Gold-tier Dark Sky Park, highest ground in southern England with panoramic sky.

AONB with rolling moors away from Preston and Blackburn glow, good low-horizon views.

Ancient landscape with minimal light pollution and wide open skies.

Open moorland between Manchester, Bolton and Blackburn, the closest realistic dark sky for Greater Manchester.

Remote Atlantic headland; one of the least light-polluted mainland spots.

AONB forest dark sky site in Staffordshire, popular with Midlands aurora chasers.

Dark Sky Discovery site; high limestone plateau with excellent northern views.

England's darkest county; Kielder Observatory is based here.

Kinder Scout and Bleaklow give high exposed moorland, the best Midlands viewing spot during strong events.

Gold-tier Dark Sky Reserve; coastal ridge gives clear northern horizon over the Bristol Channel.

North-facing Atlantic coastline with spectacular basalt cliffs and minimal light pollution.

Gold-tier Dark Sky Reserve, clear mountain nights away from coastal haze.

Britain's northernmost outpost, some of the darkest skies in the UK.

International Dark Sky Reserve in the heart of South Wales.

Dark Sky Discovery site on the Atlantic coast, minimal eastward glow, open north horizon.

Granite upland in Cornwall, isolated from city glow and surprisingly dark for southern England.

Gold-tier Dark Sky Park, high plateau, crisp Highland air.

Dark skies above Ennerdale and Wastwater, clear of city glow with high fell horizon.

Mid-Wales reservoir valley with genuine International Dark Sky Park status, one of the darkest places in Britain.

Scotland's original Gold-tier Dark Sky Park; good southern coverage too.

Crown dependency in the Irish Sea with Gold-tier Dark Sky Island status, surrounded by dark water.

Rolling hills between Edinburgh and Northumberland, accessible dark skies without the Highland drive.

AONB upland plateau in County Tyrone, one of Northern Ireland's darkest areas.