The little UK town 'just like the Cotswolds' but £85k cheaper and 99 further miles north

A beautiful market town in Lincolnshire has been touted as a budget-friendly alternative to the Cotswolds, offering the region's rich history and stunning vistas without the crowds of visitors. The historian WG Hoskins once said of Stamford: "If there is a more beautiful town in the whole of England, I have yet to see it." His praise holds up decades later, with the bustling medieval parish remaining a hidden gem of the East Midlands, with views and heritage to rival the southern Cotswolds.

The market town, which has a population of around 20,000, appeared in the Domesday Book and remnants of the past can be found dotted around its cobblestone streets, including former coaching inns and the George Hotel, which dates back to 1597. It was also designated England's first conservation area in 1967, and has over 600 listed buildings packed into its small streets. What's more, compared to its Cotswolds counterpart, house prices in Stamford are not extortionate, averaging £345,492 over the last year.

The price falls almost £85,000 below the average cost of homes in the Cotswolds, which hovered around £430,432 over the last 12 months.

Recently TikToker @getloschris heaped praise on the location saying it was "a perfect little town that looked just like the Costwolds but "really close to the north of England."

Indeed, Stamford, which lies roughly 99 miles further north than the renowned Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), has little to rank it below the rolling hills and quaint hamlets of what is often called England's prettiest region.

Alongside its vast historic interest, the market town is full of independent shops, often tucked down narrow passageways, and has been featured in a number of film and TV productions, notably including Pride and Prejudice, The Crown and the Da Vinci Code.

The most impressive architectural work in the area, Burghley House, which retains its Tudor kitchen from the mid-16th century, was most recently closed to the public while it hosted a new adaptation of Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein.

While it undoubtedly has less of a cultural footprint on the imagination of the British public and visiting tourists than the Cotswolds, Stamford has not escaped recognition entirely.

It was named the best place to live in Britain by The Times in 2013 and among a handful of towns to receive the accolade last year, with judges praising its "picturesque backdrop" and "strong, proud community".

Precise visitor figures for Stamford are not readily available, but no discourse about spiralling house prices and cobblestone streets rammed with traffic has risen around it in recent years, as it has for towns and villages like Bourton-on-the-Water, known as the Venice of the Cotswolds, which receives around 300,000 tourists annually.

The Midlands town is also more accessible for Brits nationwide, lying roughly two hours away from both Leeds and the UK capital. This also makes it the perfect stop-off for those travelling up and down the country. As Sir Walter Scott wrote more than 200 years ago, it may be "the finest sight on the road between Edinburgh and London".