Posted on May 12, 2008 by Fiona Hilliard

England- land of afternoon tea, twin-sets and bowler hats it ain’t.  According to the Rough Guide to England, old blighty is now better known as a nation of overweight, celebrity obsessed TV addicts. 

The four travel writers who penned the new guide say there is nowhere so “fascinating, beautiful and culturally diverse, yet as insular self-important and irritating as, England”. 

The guide attributes the 2005 London bombings and the Iraq war, as having a scarring impact on the country, which it describes as a “querulous, quarrelsome country” that could be in the grip of an identity crisis. 

Foreign visitors are also warned that the English are “the most contradictory people imaginable.”

The guide is not completely negative however, saving a soft spot for the country’s love of animals, generosity to charities, ironies, its openess to refugees, thriving arts and culture and the fondness for the soothing quality of BBC Radio 4.  Don’t take a bunch of hackneyed travel writers’ word for it though. Explore England for yourself with a hire car.  There’s nothing quite like England car hire for discovering what this land truly means to you.  Travelling though leafy back-roads, bustling cities and pretty medieval towns, you’re sure to find an image of England that speaks volumes more than any guidebook ever could.