Cobblestones & Clapboards: 6 New England Villages That Feel Just Like the UK: A Complete Guide

Both New England and the United Kingdom have more in common than just language. In Vermont, the dry-stone walls winding across fields bring to mind the British countryside, while the fishermen’s shacks of Maine resemble those found in Scotland and Wales. For visitors who dream of visiting a British village but cannot afford a flight across the Atlantic Ocean, New England provides a unique experience. This book will take you on a tour of the charming villages that most resemble the various regions of Great Britain, including England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.

Exploring New England’s ‘Old World’ Villages

Of course, making your way to these fairy tale villages makes the trip all the more exciting. Visitors usually arrive by plane at Logan Airport or Bradley International, then turn to local transportation companies to get them to their quaint little villages. It should be mentioned that those used to the easy transferability offered by British railway substitutes or village taxis would do well to take note of the efficient and reliable door-to-door service that is offered by the likes of Taxis Hemel, which can provide the same sort of service for your visit to remote New England towns.

1. Stowe, Vermont – A Slice of the Cotswolds in the Green Mountains

There is no other village in America that copies the yellow-stone cottages of England’s Cotswolds better than Stowe. Though Vermont is well known for its maple syrup and ski slopes, the central part of Stowe, especially Main Street and the Mountain Road area, resembles the typical English market town. The church tower of the Community Church plays the role of an English “village church” amid the clapboard inns decorated with flower boxes of geraniums. As the Cotswolds depend on footpaths known as “rights of way,” Stowe features the Stowe Recreation Path, which goes over stone bridges and babbling brooks.

Why it is English: Village green, gastropubs with English cheddar and beer, wool and tweed shops, and the quiet and polite atmosphere of Broadway and Castle Combe when day-trippers leave the place.

2. Kennebunkport, Maine – Cornwall’s Fishing Heritage on the Yankee Coast

Drive along the rocky coast of Maine, and you will easily be fooled into thinking that it is the same as the Cornish coast that runs from St Ives to Padstow. Kennebunkport, which features tidal creeks, lobster fishing boats anchored in a safe harbor, and cobblestone streets ending at the water, is very much like Port Isaac or Mousehole in England. The weathered shingled houses, which date back to the 1700s, resemble the granite cottages of the fisher folk in southwest England. The Dock Square, which has a hodgepodge of shops and fish shacks, reminds one of a cleaner and woodier Clovelly.

Cornish Characteristics: The dependence on the ocean for food and culture, the unexpected arrival of the fog, and the existence of coastal footpaths (Marginal Way in Ogunquit resembles a coastal footpath in England). For a truly British experience, have a crab roll and stroll along the breakwater, hearing seagulls calling above—it is your pasty by the Cornish quay in Maine.

3. Woodstock, Vermont – The English Georgian Village Reimagined

Take the same English Georgian village from either Bibury or Lacock, and transplant it to a Vermont river valley, and you will have Woodstock. The village green isn’t a piece of rough grass but rather a carefully landscaped common enclosed by Georgian brick houses on one side and white clapboards on the other. Instead of the picturesque stone arches of England’s villages, there are the quaint wooden covered bridges over the Ottauquechee River. Even the Billings Farm & Museum of Woodstock is a tribute to the same reverence for the past embodied in Britain’s National Trust.

What makes it English: The neatness of the village, the shops that sell antique English bone china, and the walks along the riversides that eventually take you to secret meadows. A walk in the early morning mist through a field where horses are peacefully grazing will make you think you are somewhere in the English countryside.

4. Camden, Maine – A Scottish Highlands Seaport by the Sea

The villages along Scotland’s western shore, such as Tobermory on the Isle of Mull or the communities around the lochs of the Trossachs, consist of towering hills rising up out of black waters, pine forests, and a harsh landscape with a decidedly Scandinavian flavor. Camden, Maine, duplicates this Scottish feeling exactly. The town rises abruptly from Camden Harbor up Mount Battie, with scenery that might just as well be the Firth of Clyde. The schooners bobbing in the harbor recall the fishing boats of Ullapool, while the Camden Hills State Park serves as the equivalent to the Scottish Highlands.

It’s Scottish because of: The dramatic terrain, the fondness for woollen sweaters and solid shoes, and the sound of bagpipes at the yearly Celtic festival. It should be noted that there is a slight architectural Scottish influence in Camden: granite bases, slate rooftops, and heavy-walled inns that can resist the same wind coming across the Atlantic that hits the Outer Hebrides. Travel Tip: If you want to see Camden and the rocky peninsulas surrounding it, but you do not feel like getting a car after your flights, a lot of people tend to hire something like Hemel Hempstead Airport Taxis.

5. Litchfield, Connecticut – Welsh Market Town Tranquility

The Welsh are known for their “little cities,” and market towns which are not quite rural and certainly not urban such as Hay-on-Wye and Crickhowell, with their collection of quaint bookstores, teashops, and churches in a town square. Litchfield, Connecticut is the quintessential little city of Wales. The Green is a huge oblong park surrounded by colonial white houses but the spirit is distinctly Welsh; slow-paced, literary (the Litchfield Historical Society is a delight), and bounded by rolling hills, the parish church here is the Meeting House with its tall steeple.

Why it’s Welsh: The distinct community spirit in which choral societies abound, there is the emphasis on law (Litchfield was home to America’s first law school), and most importantly there is a landscape full of rolling green swells. Sitting in the window of the Saltwater Grille on a drizzly Tuesday afternoon, you feel as though you’re in Brecon.

Also read: Beyond the Guidebook: 7 International Destinations for Truly Unique Cultural Experiences

6. Nantucket, Massachusetts – Coastal Northern Ireland with a Whaling Past

The small towns of Northern Ireland such as Cushendun and Portstewart are characterized by their grey skies, silvery sunlight, stone-built cottages and their melancholy charm born out of the Atlantic Ocean. Nantucket, with its history of wealth brought in by whale hunting and more groomed than its Irish counterparts, also reflects the same kind of primal charm – small buildings painted in white and topped with gray tiles, cobbled streets and wind carrying hints of salt water. The Brant Point Lighthouse represents Nantucket’s version of the Mussenden Temple as a symbol of solitude and endurance. The historic district of Nantucket resembles a cleaner version of a fishing village in Ulster.

What gives it a Northern Irish twist: the rugged architecture (solid walls and tiny paned windows), the abrupt storms that clear to become bright sunshine, and the pub culture, such as the Brotherhood of Thieves or Club Car, which can easily be mistaken for a Belfast pub even on an off day in a Tuesday week.

Honorable Mentions: When to Go & How to Compare

• Essex, Connecticut (English Essex): This riverbank village with a legacy of shipbuilding resembles the maritime villages of its English counterpart.
• Shelburne, Vermont (Borders of Scotland): This place boasts an enormous archive of folk art and farm museum resembling an estate on the Borders of Scotland.
• Castine, Maine (Welsh Gower Peninsula): A small village built on a peninsula, boasting more historical monuments per headcount than virtually any other village in America.

Ideal time to visit for the quintessential UK experience: Late September/October, when fog creeps in during morning hours, and the golden hour arrives by 4 PM, just like autumn in Yorkshire Dales or Trossachs, UK. When choosing accommodation, look for bed & breakfasts serving a “full New England breakfast” with eggs, sausages, baked beans, and toast as a relative of the English fry-up. Finally, be sure to find out about any available local “village taxi” services in advance; unlike in the UK, where village taxis are everywhere, some areas in New England lack ride-sharing services, making transport arrangements just as crucial as they are in rural Wales or Scotland. Be it through comparing Vermont dry-stone walls or Maine slate roofs, these six villages show that the essence of the British Isles still thrives within the borders of New England.