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England and Scotland Trip Feedback

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We are going to England end of May/early June. Traveling with myself and spouse and 11 year old son. I have the trip mostly put together but would love feedback on a couple things. (Side note: I went to grad school in England but haven’t been back in 20 years). Questions:

  1. My spouse wants to rent a car to travel so we can stop in smaller towns and enjoy. I have only ever used train. Thoughts?

  2. Currently, we are planning to head north to Edinburgh but wondering if I should do the Lake District instead and fly back out of London (saves about $500)

Itinerary
Day 1-3 - London
Day 4- Pick up car and drive to Oxford, drive through Cotswalds and evening in Warwick
Day 5 - Castle and British Motor Museum (my son loves cars) and drive to Leeds late afternoon (where I went to grad school)
Day 6-7 - York
Day 8-10 - Drive north to Edinburgh.

Day 4-5 is kinda crazy. Mostly we want to go to Oxford and the British motor museum in Warwick but will throw in sights as time allows.

Any other ideas or thoughts? Your help is appreciated!

Posted by
2542 posts

That is an intensive itinerary. You aren't going to have a lot of time to stop in small towns and enjoy... Don't underestimate how long it will take to cover distances. Driving in the UK is slow, especially in built up areas.

Warwick Castle and the British Motor Museum are going to fill most of your day. You then have at least a three hour drive to Leeds...

York to Edinburgh is going to be 4-5 hours drive... Rather than flogging across to the Lake District rather than Edinburgh, think about the Yorkshire Dales or North York Moors instead.

Posted by
2 posts

Thank you for your reply! This is very helpful. I always have a tendency to cram too much in. I’m going to reevaluate.

Posted by
9151 posts

York to the Lake District is not exactly flogging it. To Keswick it's about 2 1/2 hours up to Scotch Corner then the A66 straight across. Once out of York it's good roads all the way.
But if going to the Lake District Manchester airport is far closer than London.
If flying out of London better by far to return the car at Penrith then train, to save several hours of travel.

Posted by
1422 posts

Day 4- Pick up car and drive to Oxford, drive through Cotswalds and evening in Warwick

"Kinda crazy" indeed. You can't do Oxford as a drive-through. If you want to see some of Oxford, maybe take a morning train from London, spend the day looking around, stay overnight, then pick up the car and proceed to Warwick and the motor museum, ending up in Leeds.

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