England shows many different faces: pulsing city life and lonely landscapes, old-fashioned customs and avant-garde culture, lovely beaches and rough mountains. For cultural sightseeing as for nightlife, London is ceaselessly thriving, and inevitably, it is the one place that features on everyone's itinerary. It is not only Europe's biggest city (with a population of over seven million} and capital of the United Kingdom, but also the place where the country's news, politics and money are made. Within the southeast of England, along the coastline, Canterbury, the bishopric seat of Thomas Becket, offers contrasting diversions. This is the richest part of the country due to its agricultural wealth and proximity to the capital. The southwest of England with the rugged moorlands of Devon and the rocky coastline of Cornwall is another spot worth discovering. Salisbury, where they say the West Country starts, is dominated by the elegant spire of its cathedral.
