The most romantic places to propose in the UK (and where to stay)

Right on the Anglo-Welsh border, The Cat’s Back, also known as Black Hill, is named for its supposed likeness to, well you guessed it. If you want to hike the full thing, it could take up to five and a half hours, but there’s short routes you can take to the summit. Once up there, you’ll have an almost panoramic view of the countryside and it makes a pretty breath-taking spot to get down on one knee, and surely carries enough visual impact to elicit a yes! Consider an early morning sunrise walk, or an easier sunset stroll for maximum romantic effect. Nearby, and we mean really nearby, there’s Pumla, a yurt that sits just a couple of miles from the summit. Spend the day making the climb, and the night (hopefully) celebrating in luxury.

Some people would go to the ends of the earth for their partners, but we suggest perhaps just the end of Scotland will do. Right at the tippy top, there’s a huge mass of water that makes up Loch Broom. Like a giant lake, surrounded by stunning hills, there’s few places as secluded and beautiful to pop the question. Even better, if you don’t want to hike all the way to the summit, there’s plenty of suitable spaces by the waterside too. The surrounding pine forest, the fresh air and abundant wildlife laying down a soundtrack make a pretty gorgeous setting and right on the water’s edge are the incredible Ecotone cabins, the ideal spot to launch from, with rather lovely verandas to come back to.

A proposal is very much the sort of thing you want to get right the first time, and if you’re not going to go the whole nine (or 95) yards, why bother? In its very own microclimate, the Isles of Scilly feel much more Mediterranean than they do English, but you’re only 28 miles off the coast of Cornwall. You’re spoilt for choice here - you could do a classic beach walk, with the turquoise waters lapping at the shores (again, we really must advise a good sunset too), or head up to St Martin’s, an iconic landmark, to kneel before an un-light-polluted starscape and profess your love.

Some people are brave enough to ask the big Q with an audience, and some are… less keen for a very public whoopsie. We trust everything’s going to go well, and so should you. But if you’re more the type for a private affair, you can’t get much more secluded (or beautiful) than Cumbria, and The Lake District. Any which way you look, you’re pretty much guaranteed for a view, and you could be at the highest peaks, or the lowest valleys and lakes when you decide to whip out that tiny box. It could be, in fact, that you don’t even get out of bed, and one of the best spots imaginable to do so, would be the bed at the Hinterlandes Hidden Hut.

You could be in Hampshire for a number of reasons. You could be hopping over to the Isle of Wight, touring the city of Southampton, or even finding somewhere beautiful like a forest clearing in the New Forest National Park as a backdrop to your proposal. There’s plenty to pick from. The Perigord Treehouse itself might well be the main attraction, however. Set onto an English vineyard, in fact the first treehouse to be built on one in the UK, you spend a few days in luxury and high-end design. Take a tour of the vines, drink some incredibly local wine, spend an evening or afternoon or maybe even morning in the outdoor baths, even go truffle hunting – if the season is right. When the light fades, and the wood burner is up and crackling, pop a knee in front of a picture window, and ready the champagne.