2 weeks in England

You want to sleep in Bath for four or five nights with one full day in Bath. Good day trips from Bath are Stonehenge (1h) before driving to Avebury (45m) then back to Bath (1h). Another good day trip from Bath is Glastonbury (1h) then stop in Wells (15m) before driving back to Bath (45m).
From Bath drive to Chipping Campden in the Cotswolds (1h 45m) and sleep there for two nights. The next day drive to the Stanway House (30m) then to Stow-on-the-Wold (30m) before going back to Chipping Campden (30m).
From Chipping Campden drive to York (3h 30m) for two or three nights. From York drive to Keswick in the Lakes District (2h 15m) for two nights. After one night in Keswick drive the scenic circle drive south of Keswick.
To learn more buy Rick Steves England eleventh edition guidebook: https://store.ricksteves.com/shop/p/england-guidebook.

We just did a nice two-week trip, starting in London and then visiting the Lake District, York and Yorkshire Dales, and Edinburgh, from where we flew home. We did this mostly by train except we had a car in the Dales. It was a nice trip with a good mix of city/village/countryside sights. Let me know if you'd like more information.

2 hours 15 minutes drive from York to Keswick is a very optimal timing- up the A1 and across the A66. Just getting out of York to the A1, let alone that busy, busy road, then the A66 (especially in it's Cumbrian stretch) can be a tortuous road. It is also a road with a lot of accident blackspots, where severe delays caused by RTC's are far from uncommon.
You are also missing any number of worthwhile stop off points trying to do it in that time.

Stop rushing, take a bit of time. If you are driving, in preference to taking public transport, then use the car to best advantage.

IMO the A1/A66 route is not even the best scenically (it is for speed). There are two better routes - up the A1 to Northallerton then through Wensleydale to Sedbergh and Kendal , or the A65 across to Skipton, then Kendal and the A591 up through the Lakes. And why on earth this forum thinks there is only one place to stay in the Lake District in the shape of Keswick is beyond me. Use the car and stop in the smaller, interesting villages- Hawkshead and Coniston would be good examples but far from the only ones.

If you want to venture south you can come to Winchester which is a lovely cathedral city. It is not necessarily representative of the rest of the country in terms of socioeconomic status (its quite an expensive little place), but you can see the must-sees in 2 days or less. I recommend the cathedral, Winchester College, a private school founded in 1382, the history museum on the cathedral close and the Hospital of St Cross (a 12th century almshouse). Some ahistorical things to do would be to walk the South Downs Way which passes through some lovely villages, the first (called Chilcomb) being only 20 minutes or so from Winchester.

About 45 minutes west by car is the cathedral city of Salisbury, you can continue west into Dorset to see the town of Sherborne (Sherborne Abbey is my favourite historic religious site). But I'd say in general you can't go wrong with the towns and villages in Dorset. From Sherborne you can walk to some surrounding towns and villages quite easily if that interests you.
Hope this helps!

We did four weeks in England and S. Wales driving a rental car in 2017, It was great.

If you skip London, like we did, there is much to see.

Places that are my favorites:
Bath, stayed at the Brooks Guesthouse.
The Cotswolds, need a rental car if you stay there. We stayed in Chipping Campden at the Volunteer Inn.
Stratford Upon Avon is wonderful, especially if you love Shakespeare.
Winchester, especially its cathedral.
Salisbury, especially its cathedral.
York, this one is tops on my list, walk the ancient walls, see the Minster (Cathedral) and the National Railway Museum.

Stuart - the reason everyone wants to stay in Keswick is that's where Rick recommends they stay. In the same way everyone thinks that they have to go to Bath and the Cotswolds and in the last few years, to York. Neither Bath nor York are the interesting small towns that Steve wants. Interesting, yes, but not small and both rammed with tourists pretty much year round.

If you're going west of London then I would recommend both Somerset and Dorset ahead of the Cotswolds these days, especially for someone looking for small towns with boutique hotels. Cornwall and Devon are both also great places but especially Cornwall is geographically out on a limb for a 2 week tour if you also want to see Northern England, and you should.

Another two areas I would recommend are the Peak District NP and the English/Welsh borders (Shropshire/Herefordshire/Powys). Both stunningly beautiful and conveniently on the way north to cut down on long drives.

Bear in mind that the last week of May is a half term school holiday in most of the UK and would be best avoided if you can - everywhere busier and accommodation harder to find.

Finally from Florida it's very easy to fly direct to Manchester rather than London. You could both fly in and out from there or into MAN and back from a London airport.

Here's my Trip Report from September of 2023 that may give you some ideas. We went from Salisbury to Canterbury and everything in between over 2 weeks. https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/trip-report-the-south-of-england

Thank you all for some great input. I need to sit down and map it all out. I realize you cannot see it all but I think whatever I sights, people and places I go I will be wonderful. Again thanks. I am thinking that the last week in May may not be the time to go because of school schedules. Maybe the first two weeks in June. The beauty of being retired, flexibility.

Steve

Steve - you may find that air fares from Florida to the UK will be high on the weekend of 31/5 and 1/6 - many UK families will be coming home at the end of the holiday. Leaving it a few days might well see cheaper fares.

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After doing some research I think I have a itinerary that will work for us. First stop is Dublin for 3 nights (my son insists that we stop there since we skipped it on our Ireland and Scotland trip a few years back). Then take a plane to Manchester and pick up a car to head toward the Peak District and stay in Castleton for 2 nights. Next stop would be York for 2 nights. Then on to Stow on the Wold for 2 nights. Stay in Wells (smaller than Bath, which we can visit) for 2 nights. Lastly go to London for 3 nights. Your thoughts are always appreciated. Maybe to many stops.

Is your son going with you? Is there a particular family connection to Dublin? If not, I'd leave Dublin for another trip and add those days to the stops you want to do in England. With only 2 nights in each location, you really only have one full day and bits and pieces of others as you move on to the next stop. I second Clyffthear's recommendation to visit Sherborne, a nice day trip from Wells.

• We were in Wells for three nights in October. I made a last minute (day before---we got lucky!) reservation at an old country house. We would've added another night or two had there been 2 rooms available at Beryl's.
  

https://www.berylcountryhouse.com/

That is a lot of travelling for 14 nights. I’d agree with CanAmCherieand would give Dublin a miss this time. (It is your trip and you don’t HAVE to do what son says!) Use those 3 nights to add in an extra night to some of the 2 night stays. 2 nights only gives a full day plus a bit at each destination and they all deserve a lot more than that! You really need to plan 3 nights in a place and even for somewhere like York that will hardly give you time to scratch the surface (as well as missing the wonderful scenery of the North York Moors and Yorkshire Dales. Both areas have many delightful small villages that are easily equally to those found in the Cotswolds but without the crowds. )

I’d try and remove another stop too. Distances may not look far compared with the States but driving times can be long and it will take a lot longer to cover distances than you might expect, especially off the motorways. Also Motorway driving is boring and often not that good scenically.

May be swap this around and begin with a few nights in London - you won’t need a car here - and it gives time to adjust for jet lag. Then decide whether you want to concentrate on the south (Cotswolds, Wells area and also think about Dorset which gets ignored by many people but has a lot going for it) or head north (Peak District, York, North York Moors , North York Dales...)

Hire a car after London - use the train to get to the next destination - Oxford or York say) and pick up the car there. Think about flying open jaw so you don’t necessarily fly back from London...

After doing some research I think I have a itinerary that will work for us. First stop is Dublin for 3 nights (my son insists that we stop there since we skipped it on our Ireland and Scotland trip a few years back). Then take a plane to Manchester and pick up a car to head toward the Peak District and stay in Castleton for 2 nights. Next stop would be York for 2 nights. Then on to Stow on the Wold for 2 nights. Stay in Wells (smaller than Bath, which we can visit) for 2 nights. Lastly go to London for 3 nights. Your thoughts are always appreciated. Maybe to many stops.

Yes, there are too many stops. :-) I agree with wasleys and CanAmCherie that it would be much better to skip Dublin. It's going to take a lot of time to get there and then head over to the mainland UK. And 3 nights equals out to only 2 days. That's not enough time to do it justice and takes time away from England.

Second, you will love Castleton! Please consider dropping Dublin and adding another night there. 2 nights only gives you one full day. It's a beautiful charming village surrounded by the most gorgeous scenery. I was there for 5 nights and could easily have stayed longer. You will regret not spending more time there. I would also agree that you should drop another stop (either Stow or Wells) and add a night to York and Stow or Wells (depending which one you drop).

Wasleys also has a good idea in that you are all over the place. Granted the country is small but it would be easier to stick to either the north or south. Personally, I like the north better, so you could spend 3 nights in Castleton, then maybe 3+ nights in the Yorkshire Dales, then 3+ nights in Whitby, where you could spend some time visiting York on a day trip. This will give you access to all those charming villages you want to see. Finally, end it in London.

The other alternative will be to focus on the south, and that might appeal to you more. I like the north better as it is usually less crowded than the Cotswolds and is more wide open. But that's me. :-)

Thanks again for all the input. As I was looking at this itinerary I got exhausted with all the moving around, but I thought I would throw it out there. We do prefer staying three or more nights when possible. Since we travel to Europe once a year we appreciate staying put in one place for awhile. When you look at RS tours I do think they move around too much, never really getting a feel for the area they are stopping at.

I do think they move around too much, never really getting a feel for the area they are stopping at.

One problem with many tours is they are aimed at those wanting to see as much as possible in the least possible time. (It's Thursday it must be Canterbury mindset.) I remember talking to a Canadian visitor many years ago and asking if she was enjoying her visit to England. The reply was "I'll tell you when I look at the photos when I'm back home...." She was being serious too. So many people come back from holiday having learned little about where they have been, the culture etc.

For those that have stay in Castleton, do you have any recommendation as where to stay? We tend to like B&B's in order to have conversations with fellow travelers.