Picture perfect

Game of Thrones sets, stunning beaches and favourite writing spots of treasured poets: we reveal our most scenic postal routes.

With more than 30 million British addresses receiving deliveries six days a week, Royal Mail certainly has a handle on where the nation’s most stunning beauty spots are located.

Having scoured the length and breadth of our network of delivery offices, which span the farthest reaches of our fair isle, we can now unveil our 10 most scenic postal routes. They have been chosen because they run into a little or well-known beauty spot or house an unusual back story (or both!).

In no particular order, here are the nation’s 10 most scenic postal routes:

Scotland

• Harris, Western Isles – HS3. Some postal routes spanning the Harris area in Scotland’s Western Isles have the fortune of bordering the stunning Luskentyre Beach; which is regularly featured in the world’s most beautiful beaches lists.
• Trossachs, Loch Lomond – FK17. The disarmingly beautiful Trossachs route in Perthshire spans three separate lochs (Loch Katrine, Loch Venachar and Loch Achray) and has even served as a film set for certain Outlander episodes. The round also straddles the geographical and cultural divide of the Highland Boundary Fault Line, with lowland Scotland to the south and east and the mountains and traditionally Gaelic culture to the north and west.

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Northern Ireland

• Troyhead, Bally Castle – BT54. The Antrim Coast is famed for its outstanding beauty; however the route spanning the Troyhead district covers some well-known Game Of Thrones filming sets, including the Dark Hedges, which acts as the backdrop for the infamous ‘King’s Road’ in the cult TV series. The post is coming.

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South West England

• Trebetherick, Cornwall – PL27. This picturesque North Cornish coastal village boasts a beautiful blend of sand dunes, quaint churches and railways, and is situated on the River Camel estuary, where the remains of shipwrecks can be seen on the foreshore.
• Lower Slaughter, Gloucestershire – GL54. This Cotswolds-based route has the great fortune to run in between the famously quaint ‘Upper’ and ‘Lower Slaughter’ villages. Consistently voted as one of the most picturesque parts of what is already a famously beautiful area, the villages’ historic mills are set against the backdrop of the beautiful River Eye, and boasts a particularly warm and welcoming community.
• Tresco, Isles of Scilly – TR24. Cars are not allowed on this beautiful little island in the Celtic Sea, so its postwoman Daphne Jenkins (73) completes the 2-3 mile route by bicycle. The mail arrives to the island by boat six days a week from the largest Scilly Isle (St. Mary’s) and is delivered by Daphne, who having been the island’s sole postwoman for 17 years, is a pillar of the local community.

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North West England

• Lake Windermere, Cumbria – LA23. This amazing postal route mainly serves the historic Troutbeck village, which happens to be located on the edge of the stunning Lake Windermere. The route also includes the (allegedly haunted) Kirkstone Pass Inn, which with a winding 20 minute road approach, boasts the title of one of the highest public houses in the country.

North East England

• Holy Island, Northumberland – TD15. Timing is critical on this route due to the heavily tided stretch of water leading to the historic Holy Island in Northumberland. This incredible beauty spot hosts up to 400 delivery points including Lindisfarne Priory, which saw one of the first ever bibles brought to the UK circa 7^th century AD.

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Midlands

• Henley-In-Arden, Warwickshire – B95. In the midst of Shakespeare county, this route begins outside the wildly popular Henley Ice Cream shop in the historic village of Henley-In-Arden, and covers vast swathes of rolling Cotswolds countryside typical of the area. Some delivery spots on this round, including Aston Cantlow, trace their lineage as far back as the Domesday book.

Wales

• Laugharne, Carmarthenshire – SA33. This Carmarthenshire-based postal route includes Dylan Thomas’s stunningly scenic boat house, home to the ‘Writing Shed’, which served as the birthplace for many of the national treasure’s most famous works. It also boasts truly beautiful views of the Taf Estuary.