Hill

A striking UK destination used as a movie set, with 27,000 acres of ancient woodland and a meandering river passing through, has been named one of the ‘best places in the world’

Some of the world’s most spectacular places are right on our doorstep, and there’s one in the heart of an enchanting UK woodland.

Nestled between the Rivers Wye and Severn in Gloucestershire, straddling the Welsh border, lies the ancient Forest of Dean, with 27,000 acres of towering, majestic trees. It’s one of England’s largest ancient woodlands and stands as a celebrated haven of outstanding natural beauty.

It attracts visitors from far and wide to admire and explore its otherworldly woodland, rustic bridges, snowdrops, and spiralling rivers. But there’s one particular spot in the Forest of Dean that has been deemed the ‘best place in the world’.

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Speaking to the Mirror, forest ranger for Forest Holidays, Gerry O’Brien, said: “I love the Forest of Dean, it’s obviously an area very close to my heart, it’s rich in history, heritage and wildlife. I know it really well, inside out, I guess, now. There are a lot of hidden gems around the forest that I love to go and explore, but Symonds Yat Rock is one of my favourite places in the world. It’s an incredible place to go, and I love it.”

Symonds Yat Rock offers breathtaking views across the winding River Wye, which is towered over by limestone cliffs and sprawling acres of ancient woodland. It’s a haven for birdwatching, with goshawks, buzzards, and sparrowhawks sweeping over the viewpoint, and it has ample walking trails to soak up the picturesque vistas and explore the nearby forest.

Gerry further shared about Symonds Yat Rock: “It’s incredible, it’s an old Iron Age Hill Fort, it’s almost right on the Hertfordshire border, looking out over the countryside. You could imagine, like 2,500 years ago, people were living on that rock, which is hard to believe.

“There are peregrine falcons that nest in the cliff face along the edge, so you can often see them coming up. There’s also a woodland, and if you’re looking down from Symonds Yat Rock, with the River Wye below you, you can look out over Copper Hill and on the other side, it’s the woodland where Harry Potter was filmed.”

Sharing a closer insight into the area and its renowned connections, Gerry added: “If you go to Symonds Yat East, it’s a little hamlet by the river, it’s beautiful and really picturesque. But you walk right past the house that was used in the Netflix series, Sex Education.

“It’s the red house, so all of that was filmed in and along the Wye Valley. There are a lot of hidden gems around the Forest of Dean. They’ve done alot of movies and TV work around the forest.”

Another highlight in the Forest of Dean’s otherworldly scenes is the beautiful Puzzlewood with 14 acres of twisted, moss-draped trees, ancient wooden bridges and snowdrops scattered across the rugged terrain. Alongside Gerry’s favourite place in the world, Puzzlewood is frequently hailed as one of the region’s most picturesque locations.

It even secured a place on Big 7 Travel’s ’50 Most Beautiful Places in the UK’ list for 2025 and again this year. This fantastical atmosphere has also attracted Hollywood attention, serving as a backdrop for productions such as Star Wars: The Force Awakens, The Secret Garden, The Huntsman: Winter’s War, Doctor Who, Merlin, Netflix’s Our Planet and BBC’s Atlantis.

Elsewhere in the Forest of Dean, Gerry recommended King Arthur’s Cave and the nearby Little Doward Hill Fort, an Iron Age fort situated in the Wye Valley. But one lesser-known landmark he applauded is the Darkhill Ironworks.

“It’s an old industrial ruin, and it’s really atmospheric where nature has reclaimed around it”, Gerry shared. “You can do a little walk around the Ironworks, which is a nice nature walk, and you can see the ruins.”

To explore some of Gerry’s recommendations in the Forest of Dean, you can book a stay with Forest Holidays, which offers a collection of lodges, cabins and treehouses, some with outdoor hot tubs to soak under the towering trees. Meanwhile, the likes of Sykes Holiday Cottages and Holidaycottages.co.uk also offer a range of stays in the region.

Do you have a travel story to share? Email webtravel@reachplc.com

NEW YORK — Democratic leaders, desperate to compete in red states where their party brand is toxic, are embracing something new this midterm season: not backing Democrats.

In states like Nebraska and Alaska, Democratic officials are, in some cases, looking past their own party’s candidates while subtly encouraging — or even openly promoting — independent candidates they hope can outperform the Democratic label. The Democratic National Committee and some of its allies in Washington are quietly supporting the new strategy.

Meanwhile, some of the independent candidates are chatting in a group text about their approach as they plot a path that could shake up Congress, which is consumed by partisan gridlock.

Nebraska Democrats this week chose a nominee for U.S. Senate, Cindy Burbank, who said a major campaign priority was to ensure a Democrat wouldn’t be on the fall ballot to pull support from independent Dan Osborn. Shortly after polls closed, Burbank reiterated her plan to drop out in the coming weeks during a private conversation with a party official, according to state Democratic chair Jane Kleeb.

Democratic leaders believe Osborn, who came within 7 percentage points of winning a Senate seat in 2024, has the best chance to defeat Republican Sen. Pete Ricketts.

Democrats’ pivot toward independents is part of an intentional strategy in some places — and something closer to a wink and a nod in others — that covers a handful of high-profile Senate and House and even statehouse contests. Independent Senate candidates are also running in states like Idaho, South Dakota and Montana, where Democratic leadership has so far been unwilling to fully embrace the independents, although many view them as the Democrats’ best chance to stop Republicans this fall.

“For some states, and Nebraska is one of them, where Democrats are 32% of the electorate, this is a long-term strategy for us,” said Kleeb, who also serves as a vice chair to the Democratic National Committee.

Kleeb said her state party is backing independents in at least four state legislative seats in addition to the U.S. Senate: “We have to build a coalition with independents in order to win elections so we can do good work for the people. Period.”

Some of the Democratic Party’s national political machine appears to be on board.

The Democrats’ fundraising site, ActBlue, serves some of the independent candidates, as do popular Democratic-allied website builders. At the same time, some of the party’s campaign committees in Washington quietly provide logistical support in some cases, while avoiding public criticism of the independent candidates even in some races where there is a Democratic nominee.

“The Democratic Party’s brand is awful right now,” said Democratic strategist Josh Schwerin. “The combination of the brand problem and the existential nature of the threat that our country is facing requires us to have a big tent and look for candidates who can win.”

There are risks for the Democratic Party

Some Democratic donors, strategists and party leaders from other states have privately pushed back, insisting Democrats should not look past their own nominees for short-term political gain. They want Democratic officials, in Washington and on the ground in red states, to work harder to make the Democratic brand more attractive — even if it takes several more years to be competitive.

“What’s the independent going to do for the Democratic Party if they win?” asked Democratic strategist Mike Ceraso, who sees the shift toward independents as an attempt to disguise Democrats in some cases. “We’re the party of truth and honesty and integrity, but we’re playing these stupid political games?”

And there is no guarantee that the independent candidates, if elected, would support all of the Democrats’ policy priorities or even Democratic leadership in Congress.

In Idaho, independent Senate candidate Todd Achilles, an Army veteran and former Democratic state legislator, said he won’t be caucusing with either party if elected. He explained his politics as “straight down the middle,” and said he believes in individual liberties.

“Idahoans should be able to live how they want,” he said. But the Democratic Party was a bad fit because it “has given up on little red states like Idaho.”

On his list of problems with Democrats is that the party made a big mistake by initially running Joe Biden again for president in 2024. But he also said “the shine is coming off” Trump, whom Idaho voters backed by 36 points in 2024.

Achilles said he and other military veterans running for Senate as independents chat in the text chain and are “very much on the same page.” He says the group wants to see “guardrails,” including term and age limits and campaign finance reform.

“The priority is to get Congress functioning again,” he said. “We gotta break the grip of the two-party system.”

‘I’ll never vote for a Democrat’

In South Dakota, Navy and Air Force veteran Brian Bengs has launched an independent bid to defeat Republican incumbent Sen. Mike Rounds, who’s seeking a third term this fall.

Bengs ran as a Democrat against Senate Majority Leader John Thune four years ago and lost by 43 points.

A lifelong independent, he said he got turned down by the party this time when he sought to run with its organizational support but without the label. Still, he insists he can win without the party’s formal backing.

One key lesson from his 2022 campaign, he says, was how hard it was to break through with the Democratic Party label.

Voters would immediately ask, “What are you?” he recalled.

“When you say, ‘I’m a lifelong independent running as a Democrat,’” Bengs said, the response was quick. “‘I’ll never vote for a Democrat.’ And that was it,” he said.

“So that takeaway soured me on running again in any party system, because it was just a soul-sucking experience.”

In Alaska, some Democrats believe that commercial fisherman Bill Hill, a retired school superintendent, may represent their best hope in defeating first-term Republican Rep. Nick Begich for the state’s only House seat.

Hill, a lifelong independent, raised more than $780,000 in the first three months of the year, besting Democrat Matt Schultz, a pastor, who raised $578,000 from last October through March.

The state Democratic Party declined to endorse Schultz at its recent convention, which Hill also attended. The House Democrats’ campaign committee in Washington has also declined so far to promote Schultz’s candidacy. Hill, meanwhile, is racking up local union endorsements.

Hill’s message to voters, he said, is the same for Republicans, Democrats and independents: “You need to be pragmatic about who you choose to support in this election cycle, because at the end of the day, we need a change in the House seat in Alaska.”

A spokeswoman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee criticized independents like Osborn, Bengs, Achilles and Seth Bodnar, who is running in Montana, as “fake Independents who would push liberal Democratic policies in the Senate.”

Currently, there are two independents in the Senate: Maine Sen. Angus King and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. Both caucus with Democrats.

In an interview, Hill said he’s unlikely to caucus with Republicans in Washington if elected, but he’s not committing to joining Democrats either. He was reluctant to criticize the Democratic Party or Trump.

Hill acknowledged the challenge of running for Congress as an independent, but said there are benefits, too.

“There’s freedom,” he said. “I can truly represent the working people of Alaska.”

Peoples and Catalini write for the Associated Press.