When my A level exams finished I went to Eyam, a village in the Peak District (in England) with two of my closest friends. It was a really moving trip, filled with the echoes of the people who lived there in 1665-6 when the plague found its way there and killed 260 of the villagers.
What’s most moving about the whole thing is that the people in the village would have had a much higher chance of survival if they’d left the village and moved away from the infected population. However, they followed the advice of their vicar, Mompesson, and isolated themselves so the plague wasn’t spread to more of the country.
I found this post about the village at the time of the plague fascinating:
Eyam – The Plague Village of Self Sacrifice.
I would very strongly recommend the village as a beautiful place to go for a break, in particular the Eyam Museum is a must visit – my friends and I all thought it was really well done. We also visited Chatsworth house and Castleton, which are nearby, and are both very beautiful.
How You've Grown 