Northern England by Train

The first thing to do is look at the rail map PDF.

I would go London (PAD) > CARDIFF (3 nights). Cardiff > SHREWSBURY (1 night?) or continue west to PORTHMADOG (3 or 4 n).

Leave Porthmadog via FFESTINIOG STEAM RAILWAY for Blaenau Ffestiniog where you change to a normal train for LLANDUDNO JUNCTION / CONWY or LLANDUDNO (3n). Then off to CHESTER (2 or3n) with a day trip to LIVERPOOL maybe?

Then head to WINDERMERE (Lake District) before going to YORK and then back down to LONDON (Kings Cross).

Check out back threads in the Wales forum for more info. and see > https://www.visitwales.com

"as we want to include a side tour of Normandy."

IF you are going to try to include Normandy in this trip, I'd encourage you to plan an open jaw flight itinerary, for instance flying IN to London and flying home from Paris after you visit Normandy. It is a little convoluted to get to Normandy and will be easier if you don't have to return to London to fly out. You may wind up with a train routing thru Paris anyway.

Regarding the Lake District- it likely doesn't matter too much which of the three towns you stay in- I have a number of quite exhaustive posts on the forum about that. Penrith would be a bit awkward in terms of adding tine on at the start and end of each day.
Windermere or Keswick would be better. Which is very much personal. I would say Keswick over Windermere, but that is me, speaking as a local.

I am pretty sure that Mountain Goat run a day tour to Hadrian's Wall. Their main base is at Windermere Railway Station (well just down the hill to be exact), but they do pick ups all over the Lake District.

To go on to York you could go up to Carlisle on the train (from Windermere or Keswick via Penrith or direct to Carlisle on the bus) then either via Hexham or via the scenic Settle/Carlisle line to York. Either of those routes has suddenly become a lot, lot cheaper.

Equally from Windermere you could train to Preston, then pick up an hourly York bound train via Burnley for York.

Also from Penrith there is a bus service to Appleby on a Monday to Friday and to Kirkby Stephen station on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday to pick up the Settle line.

Many permutations of route- too many to list in an introduction- that just confuses folk.

Or do the Lake District then train to Hexham or Haltwhistle for 2 or 3 nights for the wall then on to York via Newcastle.

This is all very easy by train, and as such this is just a placemarker to say yes it can be done. The details can be thrashed out later.

From North Wales to the Lake District there are probably a good half dozen routes by train, but the most logical is hourly Manchester bound train as far as Warrington Bank Quay, then Avanti trains (bound for Glasgow or Edinburgh) to Oxenholme (change for train to Windermere) or Penrith (change for hourly bus to Keswick). Or bus from Windermere to Keswick if you prefer.

We have visited Wales, the Lake District, Hadrians Wall, York, and much more, all by train (with short taxi or bus rides where appropriate. Wales was a separate trip, but we combined the other three very successfully by taking the train to Penrith for a 3-night stay near Keswick, then train via Carlisle to Haltwhistle near the Hadrians’s Wall path for 2 nights, and onward from Haltwhistle to Newcastle, changing there for the train to York.

Our Keswick time was in a lovely HF Holidays country house right on the lake (Derwentwater), a mile outside town. HF Holidays is a member-owned cooperative with country houses all around the UK, offering all-inclusive short holidays (room, meals, guided walking or sightseeing, and transport) so it is very easy. Their shuttle met us at the Penrith train station and returned us there afterward. Here is an example of their program offered in Sept. 2024:

https://www.hfholidays.co.uk/holidays-and-tours/3-night-northern-lake-district-tread-lightly-guided-walking-holiday?format=pdf&vid=3442

From Penrith we took the train to Carlisle, changing there to the local train eastward to Newcastle, which stops at Haltwhistle and Hexham for access to Hadrian’s Wall. We stayed 2 nights at a lovely bed and breakfast in Haltwhistle, walked a section of the path (to Steel Rigg) one day, and used the AD122 bus to reach a further area to the east for a visit to the Roman Fort at Housesteads, which is fascinating.

https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/housesteads-roman-fort-hadrians-wall/

With only 12 days for this trip, you may was to limit Hadrian’s Wall to a one-night stay, and with your interest in history I suggest you focus on Housesteads and the wall in that area. There are numerous places to stay in the villages of Haltwhistle and Hexham, or you could stay in a pub or b and b close to the path, such as the famous Twice Brewed Inn:

https://www.twicebrewedinn.co.uk/

This schematic map will show you the train stops between Carlisle and Newcastle, together with the route and stops of the AD122 local bus, which is designed specifically to serve Hadrian’s Wall sites.

https://www.visithaltwhistle.com/ad122-bus

From Hexham it is is an easy train ride to York.

The Visit Haltwhistle website is way out of date about the AD122 bus timetables. It now runs all year round, but is only two hourly, not hourly, all year. Ticketing details are also well out of date.

You might have hoped they would keep their website up to date, but sadly not.

For the foreseeable future if you click through from that web page to the timetable you won't find it as all buses in the area are cancelled (until potentially Christmas) due to a regional bus strike. By the start of 2024 the timetable should be back on stream.

My apologies. But I wasn’t posting it for the timetable; only for the little schematic map that shows the train stations and bus stops that facilitate car-free travel along Hadrian’s Wall. They will in any case need to look up current schedules closer to the date of their trip.

James above offers you a very interesting plan but has outlined a route that will use all of your available time visiting 4 places that you haven’t expressed an interest in and using up all of your 12 days.

I would plan to fly direct into Manchester rather than London. The latter might be cheaper to fly into but it’s about 250 miles away from where you want to be with the added hassle of having to get into London to catch your first train. Manchester has a station in the airport with direct trains to North Wales. From there come back on the same train to Warrington Bank Quay and change for a train to the Lakes as Isn31c suggests. Where you get off depends on where you base yourselves. Then Hadrian’s Wall and York or vice versa. Then fly to Paris from either Manchester, Leeds/Bradford or Newcastle for your Normandy trip and then back home from Paris.

As-the-crow-flies distance notwithstanding, Normandy doesn't actually pair very well with England/Wales. It will take more time than you expect to combine the two areas on one trip. I'd consider holding off on Normandy until you have time for a trip to northern France. There's a lot to see in that area, and it's not like you couldn't use the time you're thinking of spending in Normandy to see other parts of England and Wales.

Penrith isn't really in the Lake District. It is however on the main west coast line from London Euston to Scotland. But the stop before, which is Oxenholme has connection to the only rail line in the Lake District, which is the short line to Windermere. It's then a mile or so the Bowness on Widermere. Or there are buses that take you further towards Ambleside and Keswick.
If you were going to Keswick specifically, you would be better going from Penrith by bus. Bus stops are right outside the stations above.

I always advise against squeezing in Normandy with visits to anywhere else. It is not a "side tour" kind of place. I also advise anyone visiting Normandy to have a car and spend a few nights at least. Trying to visit this area without these two things would be extremely difficult.

Thanks to all of you for your helpful responses. I am beginning to see that Normandy should be a separate trip and my research, along with your comments indicates that there is more to see there than I first realized. I also appreciate your comments regarding train travel to Northern England. Joe.