We were within the area of total eclipse, but as you can see from the map, there wasn't much area to choose from. Other than the towns and cities on the coast it counts as rural for England. (Plymouth is largest, 300k people; eclipses certainly do pass over cities.)
We stood on a hill, along with probably 30 other people who'd chosen the same place, just above a village. It went completely dark, and quiet (except for the people), the street lights on a road in the distance came on. We could see sunlight far to the north and south, yet ourselves were in near-total darkness (like overnight twilight at high latitudes).
Then it started to get light again, and the birds starting singing. It was mostly overcast, but with some glimpses of the occluded sun at every stage of the eclipse.
It wasn't a profound and spiritual experience, but it is one of the things I remember clearly from several holidays to that part of England with my family. Maybe being alone would make it different — there'd have been no-one else saying "isn't this amazing!" to their children. But more realistically, English families on holiday aren't looking for profound and spiritual experiences, we leave that to the Americans.
We couldn't see the corona, due to the clouds. Maybe that's important.
I think being on a small hill helped, and not being within an urban area.
You got such a laugh out of me there! True words.
Thanks for the details.
It goes from quiet sunny day, to an insect rock concert, and back again. And if you're outside, you feel the temperature plummet, adding to the experience. All in under 4 minutes.
In the city you'll likely still hear some of that, so... whichever you do, it'll be great.
Is it about light pollution? About being somewhere quiet? Is it about a field specifically or about being away from road traffic? Like is a park OK? Is the beach OK?
Or is it mainly just being in 100% and you usually have to go somewhere rural for that because statistically it doesn't pass directly over major cities?