CORFE Castle has appeared in a top 20 list of the UK's most searched small towns and villages.

The research, from holiday rental search engine Likibu.com, places the picturesque Purbeck village at number 15, with 33,150 monthly searches.

Portmeirion in Wales tops the chart, with 110,000 monthly searches.

A spokesman for Likibu said: "With the Covid-19 restrictions still active, rural getaways to nearby and less crowded areas have become the alternative for most tourism lovers.

"Therefore, we tell you which are the villages and small towns that have been searched the most on the internet in the last months."

UK towns and villages with less than 20,000 inhabitants were included in the rankings.

TOP 20:

1. Portmeirion (Gwynedd, Wales) - 110,000 monthly searches

2. Whitby (North Yorkshire, England) - 90,500 monthly searches

3. Bourton-on-the-Water (Gloucestershire, England) - 74,000 monthly searches

4. Alnwick (Northumberland, England) - 71,700 monthly searches

6. Cirencester (Gloucestershire, England) - 49,820 monthly searches

7. Salcombe (Devon, England) - 49,710 monthly searches

8. Robin Hood’s Bay (North Yorkshire, England) - 49,550 monthly searches

9. Keswick (Cumbria, England) - 40,890 monthly searches

10. Hebden Bridge (West Yorkshire, England) - 40,570 monthly searches

11. Castle Combe (Wiltshire, England) - 40,540 monthly searches

12. Looe (Cornwall, England) - 39,200 monthly searches

13. Oban (Argyll and Bute, Scotland) - 33,580 monthly searches

14. Bakewell (Derbyshire, England) - 33,420 monthly searches

15. Corfe Castle (Dorset, England) - 33,150 monthly searches

16. Clovelly (Devon, England) - 33,110 monthly searches

17. Ambleside (Cumbria, England) - 27,400 monthly searches

18. Polperro (Cornwall, England) - 27,160 monthly searches

19. Stamford (Lincolnshire, England) - 27,100 monthly searches

20. Burford (Oxfordshire, England) - 22,250 monthly searches