A top UK sex therapist has named the South West region of the Cotswolds as the nation’s ‘raunchiest’ area, where residents are intimate 15 times a month, on average.
According to former NHS counsellor Natasha Silverman, the rural part of the UK, which is home to high profile figures like Kate Moss and Jeremy Clarkson, the quieter life leaves more headspace for residents to ‘think erotically’.
‘There’s a higher desire generally in rural areas, which seems to be particularly higher here in the Cotswolds,’ said Ms Silverman, who lives in Cotswold village, Bourton-on-the-Water.
‘One is that there’s a slower pace of life here, and I think when you are able to be a bit more connected, present and grounded, and you’re not in that intense work hard-play hard lifestyle which comes in lots of cities, you tend to have headspace to be available for erotic cues.
‘I speak to a lot of women — you’re not going to think about sex until you’re bored, otherwise everything else is going to get in the way.
‘There’s more opportunity for their minds to go to those places. Essentially, work-life balance has a stronger emphasis in the Cotswolds.’
She added that she’s noticed an abundance of apps and websites for local people that cater to the ‘kink community’ — those interested in more unusual or adventurous sexual interests.
It comes as a recent survey found that residents of the Cotswolds have among the highest libidos in the UK, having sex 15 times a month on average.
The Cotswolds village of Castle Combe. The area is home to the nation’s randiest people, according to sex therapist Natasha Silverman
In second place is Suffolk, where people are intimate 14 times a month, followed by Norfolk, where the rate is 13 times a month.
According to the nationwide survey by business consultant Perspectus Global, rural residents are having sex an average of 11 times a month, while City folk only manage to get it on eight times.
Those in urban areas find it more difficult to ‘slow down and be more present’, Ms Silverman said.
‘Even if work is intense, even if your lifestyle is full on, make sure you have scheduled into your diary some kind of downtime. Many of us find it really hard to stop.’
The findings appear to echo the raunchy scenes seen in the Disney+ comedy series, Rivals, which is set in the fictional rural town of Rutshire, and follows the characters’ various romantic endeavors.
The show is based on the novels written by Jilly Cooper, which are set in a Cotswold village, similar to the one she lives in.
Ms Silverman points to the impressive provision of menopause services in the area as another potential explanation for the sexually active population.
Rival fans begged Disney + for a second series of the saucy show – set in a fictional rural town – that ended on a cliffhanger. Last month a follow-up season was confirmed, due to be broadcasted in early 2026.
She said: ‘When women have HRT [hormone replacement therapy] — and a bit more oestrogen pumping through their bodies, and some supplementary testosterone, they know what sexual cues feel like again.
‘And that is when I often have women coming in for couple work saying that their husbands are less interested [in sex] these days, but the women feel like their sex drive has ramped up, they’re having more fantasies, they’re watching more porn.
‘Women are becoming more in touch with their sexual self again. I really cannot stress enough how hard it has been for women to access the right kind of support in peri-menopause and menopause.’
Many of the old-wives’ tales about differences in sexual desire between men and women have a base in science, according to Ms Silverman.
Ms Silverman said those who live in rural areas have more time to explore sexual fantasies and kinks.
She suggests research shows that over 80 per cent of women have a different type of sexual desire to their male counterparts.
‘If you have a vagina, you are going to have more of a responsive sexual desire, so that means you need someone to remind you that you can be turned on,’ she said.
‘Whereas we live in a world where the majority of men have spontaneous sexual desire — it’s on like a light switch.
‘Often, a woman will be stacking the dishwasher and her male partner is asking her if she is in the mood to have sex, and she’s thinking, “what the hell are you talking about, I’m doing the housework”.
‘It’s a bit of a trope that men are always in the mood and that women, particularly in marriages, need a bit more arousal, but the science is there.
“Women need the arousal to have the thought of wanting sex, and men have the thought which triggers the arousal.’
