I love this website, because it means a trip is in the works! We never make a move to Europe without checking in here first.
Multiple trips to London, but we have never ventured out into England. We are looking for a week to wander from London and back 7 days later to catch the plane home. No Ireland, that's a separate trip.
Where would you go in England or Scotland? We like small and quaint. We love history! I would love to stay in one castle, if possible.
Thanks!
Renting car or public transportation? Stay in one place and do day trips or move around?
Thanks for your reply! Have not considered the mode of travel, just the goal. Car works.
What time of year?
Weather makes more of a difference in some places (say, Scotland) than others.
My first trip to England was two weeks solo, and I traveled by train exclusively. I highly recommend places like Bath, Windsor, down to Canterbury. I also traveled up to Edinburgh and Inverness. One trip highlight was exploring Hadrian's Wall.
I have not been to Cornwall yet, but that is on my list for the future.
I really loved Cornwall. We stayed in St. Mawes. It was so beautiful and looked exactly like what you think Cornwall is supposed to look like. But in all honesty, I would find a way to see Highclere Castle - really loved Downton Abbey.
Does your week actually mean 7 days on the ground excluding arrival and departure days? It sounds like you may only have 5 days net.
Winter - stick to the cities such as York, Chester, Durham or Edinburgh. It’s a pity to waste half a day back tracking from Edinburgh to London. Take the train.
Summer - hire a car and get to see the countryside, coastline and smaller towns. I would try to focus on one area, rather than trying to cover half the country and spend hours driving. So many options! Take temporary membership of the National Trust for your dose of history.
Kent/Sussex - quick to get to from London. Visit Dover Castle, Canterbury, spend a night in Hever Castle, many world class gardens such as Sissinghurst and Great Dixter, Rye for cobbled street quaintness, Lewes for another castle and Anne of Cleeves House and the gorgeous local villages of Alfriston, Jevington and Rodmell.
Norfolk/Suffolk - gorgeous villages and coast around Cley next the Sea, take a boat trip out to see the seals, pretty National Trust properties such as Lavenham, Long Melford, Felbrigg and Blickling. Stay in The Tower at Blickling Hall. Look out for the Queen in Sandringham. Take a boat trip on the Norfolk Broads.
wander from London
Do you have to start from London or are you open to flying directly to Edinburgh?
Thank you all for your posts! This will be July. We do have six full days. Would prefer train, but only because we have never driven in England, not too hard I hope?
Can we focus on Scotland for a minute, someone recommended a train from London up there, he thought it was called the Flying Scotman or something of that sort? Where can we see the beautiful green hills of Scotland? Small village?
Again, thank you for your time in posting.
Can we focus on Scotland for a minute, someone recommended a train from London up there, he thought it was called the Flying Scotman or something of that sort?
There are two routes from London to Scotland:
London Kings Cross - Edinburgh
London Euston - Glasgow.
Once you get to Scotland, you can interconnect to a final destination.
A rail map of Britain is here. It shows all lines (except in the big cities marked in grey, not enough room), and it does not show all stations: http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/static/images/structure/css/nationalrailnetworkmap.pdf
You don't need a recommendation for a train, both routes have train every 30 minutes, so you just decide wher you want to go and when.
You can look up train times, and buy tickets, on the national rail site here. This links you to the company running the train: http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/
As a starter, I strongly recommed York as a stop-off, halfway between London and Edinburgh.
An "open jaw", fly into London and out of Edinburgh, or vice-versa, is a good option.
Second thoughts - 6 days, that is tight. No more than 3 places (2+2+2). Maybe not even that.
My plan now:
Thank you again.
Jennifer, your idea about sticking to the south of England grabs my attention. Could we do a "loop," let's say down to Dover and along the coast (Rye, Lewes), maybe over to Bath...all by train? That would be our preferred mode of travel. I would have to explore if we can get a rail pass of some sort.
Thoughts on a route? i loved the look of Rye!
Dover is so not what you are looking for.
Why not try this?
Train from London’s Waterloo Station enroute to Lyme Regis. You’ll get to Axminster where you will get off and then take a 25-30 minute bus ride to Lyme Regis.
Base there and take local busses to nearby Chartmouth where you can walk on the pier and beach from the TV series Broadchurch. ( think academy award winner Olivia Coleman and The always wonderful David Tennant.)
Portland Castle and Lighthouse
Seaton where you can take the electric tramway to Colyton
Abbotsbury Subtropical Gardens
And the whole of the East Devon
Area Of Outstanding Beauty. eastdevonaonb.org.uk
is a wonderful option to explore.
Where ever you decide to go have a wonderful sojourn!
Hi Marie,
We are going to England and Scotland in July as well (England 5 days and Scotland 6 days)
We are venturing out of London and driving to the Cotswolds to explore and then staying the night at Thornbury Castle in Bristol
From there we fly from Bristol direct to Edinburgh to save travel time
I personally cannot wait to explore the cotswolds
Penelope Keith has a 2 series Hidden Villages and (I think) rail voyages in England. Very inspiring. The Hidden Villages one is on PBS now.
For my 2 cents- Cornwall, Cornwall, Cornwall. We ( many years ago) took the train to near Penzance and after 1 night there, rented a car and explored. We drove back to Devon and returned the car near Plymouth and trained back.
Also- did love Canterbury and Kent- again trained to Canterbury for 2 days and rented car to explore the area. then trained back from Canterbury.
We spent a week in London and then had 5 days to explore. We took a train to Bath and spent two nights. There is a free tour of the town that is well worth it. We really enjoyed touring the Roman Baths. My wife highly recommends the Fashion Museum, it's good for a couple of hours. From Bath we rented a car and spent two days driving around the Cotswolds. Interesting, but I'm not sure if I ever need to go back. I wish I would have organized a guided tour of the region, I think that may of helped. I'm not sure though if I'd do a multi day trip to the Cotswolds if I had to depend on trains and bus. One side-trip from the Cotswolds was to Warwick castle. I loved knights and castles when I was young and so the 8 year old boy in me had a great day. I definitely overthought the driving before I got to England; it's not as bad as I had imagined. If you're a good driver in North America, you'll be a good driver in England, it does take some concentration that first day though to remember your lanes and turns when you're driving on the other side of the road. My wife and I made a good team as I pulled up to intersections and traffic circles, she would pay attention remind me of which way to turn; having a backseat driver was helpful in this situation. I'm confident enough now that our next trip to England we plan on renting a car and exploring the Dover and Southampton regions, maybe find a few castles.
York
Rye
Isle of Skye
Chester
Stonehenge, Salisbury, Winchester
Lake District
Bath
Cotswolds
The is some annual award for the Most Beautiful Village in England. These are the kings of small & quaint
Learn about The National Trust.
Whilst Cornwall is absolutely gorgeous it is not a place I would recommend for first time drivers in the UK who are a bit nervous primarily because of the abundance of narrow roads surrounded by tall hedgerows making visibility very difficult to spot oncoming traffic.
I like Claudia's suggestion regarding heading to Devon (or Dorset), plenty to see and do in the area and it's particularly pleasant during the summer. My kids (and I) love fossil hunting along the coast, you literally can't walk without seeing them although most are small ammonites you can occasionally find some impressive specimens particularly after a storm.
There's also Bath, Bristol, Chepstow, the Wye Valley and Forest of Dean. In this area you can stay at a castle, Thornbury Castle, a place where Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn spent some of their honeymoon, we'll be staying there tomorrow but as we'll have our children with us we elected to stay in the two bedroomed gatehouse rather than the former honeymoon suite! www.thornburycastle.co.uk
Of course there's the ubiquitous Cotswolds that is seemingly on every tourist's list. Sure the villages are attractive but there are equally attractive villages up and down the country, there isn't much to see and do in The Cotswolds other than wakling, drinking tea and browsing antique stores which is why I would suggest other locations nearby.
Currently at Thornbury Castle and all I can say is Wow! I'm not one to get particularly excited but if you're looking for a castle to stay in then this absolutely ticks the boxes. Dripping in Tudor history, fantastic accommodation (they even provide facecloths for you Americans 😁). Definately advocate the independent tour with a local historian, Valerie, who used to work at the hotel but is now retired. £10 per person and worth every penny. It's also a good jumping off point for The Cotswolds.
