Hi All!
My parents booked a trip for the 3 of us to visit England in October. My father isn't a huge "city guy", and has already visited London once before. We are staying for 6 days - does anyone have any suggestions on other parts of England that would be nice to visit in October? -- Thanks!
Most of it!
What are your interests? To suggest a part of England that is nice to visit in October is too broad a question. You'll probably receive lots of reccomendations for The Cotswolds but that's because for many it's the only place outside of London that they've visited in England. There are many, many more places in England that are as nice as, if not better than, The Cotswolds but it's better to base a decision on your interests.
To follow on from what JC said, what are your interests and how far are you willing to travel? Do you want to stay close by to London, or are you willing to go further afield?
Here are some of the places I would recommend:
1) York - great town with beautiful church and ancient wall around the city.
2) Oxford - Visit Blenheim Palace, eat at the Eagle and Child pub, enjoy the University buildings
3) Bath - Amazing Roman baths and the town in general is great to just stroll around in.
4) Hampton Court Palace - See the palace and the gardens, famous hedge maze, visit Kew Gardens
That should get you started, hope you have a great trip!
I'm visiting London again in October and am considering day trips to:
Eastbourne/Beachy Head/Seven Sisters (if good weather)
Winchester/Chawton
St. Albans
Norwich
Enjoy your trip!
I'm visiting London again in October and am considering day trips to:
Winchester/Chawton
Presumably for Jane Austen? You'll be in a lovely and historic part of the country, especially Winchester. I've policed this part of Hampshire for some time and never tire of driving around all the little villages and wandering throughout Winchester (some parts less than others!)
Winchester/Chawton....Presumably for Jane Austen?
Yes, though I'm not a true devotee I've read that it's a lovely area. If not this trip then next time.
Our trip to England was mid-September of last year. I thought the weather was really nice and the temperature was pretty perfect for a lot of walking around.
What types things are you interested in doing/seeing? Will you be renting a car or relying on public transit? That might help the forum give you better advice.
We stayed in London for the most part but did make trips to Hampton Court Place and Eastbourne/Beachy Head. The day trips outside of London are among the highlights of our trip.
Do you already have your flights? If not, you could fly into and/or out of Manchester, making it easier to see places nowhere near London. For instance, in a few weeks some friends of mine are flying round trip to Manchester and renting a car, seeing the Peak District and Lake District, and not going to London at all on this particular trip.
If you are locked into flying round trip to London, you can still see other places, and only have to be in or near London for the night before your flight home.
As others have stated, it depends on your interests and which direction you want to travel. Tonbridge, Ightham mote, Churchills house at Chartwell, Alyesford Priory, Leeds castle, Canterbury, Dover, Rye, Portsmouth, Brighton, Bletchley Park, Bath, Cotswolds. Then of course, there's Stonehenge, Salisbury, Cardiff, Tintern abbey, Wells, Tintagel, Lands End, St. Ives, St. Michael Mount, Plymouth, Windsor, and the list could go on and on.
wow - so many great suggestions! Thanks everyone for taking the time to help - I really appreciate it! :)
Well see, it's a bit hard to find something we would all enjoy. My mother and I would enjoy going almost anywhere and walking around and taking the sites in.
My father however... is where it gets tough. He is famous for saying things such as "it's just a pile of old rocks" at the Acropolis, or "it's just a building" at the Eiffel Tower. He loves WWII, and ships/oceanside. He is.. shall I say stereotypical American. A bit larger and enjoys taking rides through places to see the sites from the comfort of his car. He seems pretty set on spending a few days in Portsmouth and driving through the coast. My objections to that is - I've been to Portsmouth, I don't feel there is a few days worth of activities. Driving the coast in late October might not be the best season and with the cars being a lot smaller than he's used to - an uncomfortable ride for him :(
We are visiting friend in Essex the first night - I suggested the next morning we drive to Oxford, spend a few days around there, see Blenheim Palace, drive through the Costwolds (looks gorgeous thanks for that suggestion!) and on our way back to Essex stop in at Windsor Castle.
I'd love to take him to Portsmouth, see Brighton, and Dover. But I sort of felt maybe that is a trip for warmer weather no? I could be totally wrong!
Looking forward to hearing everyone's thoughts :)
If Portsmouth hasn't got a few days of interest then Dover will be about 20 minutes (Castle, checked, Banksy, checked, errr what next?)
There's a D-Day museum in Portsmouth. I haven't been there, but someone mentioned it on this forum and I believe said it was good.
Just about every coastal town or city seems to have some sort of boat trip you can take.
Portsmouth doesn't have several days worth of visit. The Historic Dockyard can fill a day, the D-Day museum, Royal Marines museum, Southsea Castle etc can fill another day but there are some gems just outside the city. I love going to Portchester Castle http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/portchester-castle/ and the Royal Armouries at Fort Nelson is a favourite with my kids as it's only a brief drive away https://royalarmouries.org/visit-us/fort-nelson/.
From there the picturesque village of Southwick is minutes away https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southwick,_Hampshire
From Southwick it's a reasonably short drive through several lovely villages to Winchester.
October wouldn't be a bad month, it could be wet and windy or sunny enough for a pub lunch in the garden however most of the various museum exhibits are indoors.
Snarky/hard-nosed comment here-if you are there for 6 days, that's 2 days for each person's agenda and your dad may need to realize the trip is not just about him. If he doesn't like some of the things you and your mom want to see, he(not you) can find other things he can do during that time. And this comment comes from someone who is sad that her in-laws are no longer here to vacation with!
