My husband and I will be on the Best of England tour starting in Bath, Sunday, May 24. Anybody else? Tour ends in London and we plan on spending a week on our own afterwards. Any suggestions? I'd like to visit Highclere Castle. My husband would like to go to Dover.
Posted by
US Pacific Northwest
10344 posts
Do you have reservations to Highclere Castle?
Posted by
OP
Outside LA
16 posts
No, we need to do that. We need to see if there are tours from London that include transportation and tour. We have no wish to drive.
Posted by
US Pacific Northwest
10344 posts
You can use the Search box to find other recent posts on Highclere.
But, I think you may not be able to go there on this trip, I think the 2015 reservations were gone in the first few hours they were available.
Maybe not, take a look at the recent posts.
Posted by
Seattle, WA
359 posts
Might be too late for tickets to Highclere so check asap. Dover is easy to get to by train.
Posted by
US Pacific Northwest
10344 posts
Dover--it's challenging to get a good view of the cliffs without being on the water (the Channel). Even if you could get on top of them, you're looking down a cliff and it doesn't really end up being what you imagined.
Use the Search box to find the recent post here that discusses how to get views without going on the water.
Or take a boat.
Posted by
Texas, California
70 posts
Highclere is sold out. Day passes "may" be available.
Posted by
OP
Outside LA
16 posts
Thank you, Scott, Ann about Highclere being sold out. You snooze, you lose. There is a castle in Dover we thought might be worth seeing. There's also Canterbury cathedral, just don't know how easy it will be to get around without a car.
Posted by
Carmel, CA, USA
2455 posts
blumes5, what do they say about "almost"? Only counts in horseshoes, or something like that. I will arrive in London on May 24, spend the week there, then join the Best of England Tour in Bath on May 31. Seems like we'll be in the same land, but never actually in same place. Would have been nice to meet you. Enjoy!
Posted by
OP
Outside LA
16 posts
Larry in Carmel, hope you have a great trip. Yes, it would have been nice. We'd planned on the tour one week earlier, but had to change because of a concert on the 17th.
Posted by
Land of La
8667 posts
http://www.walks.com/Standalone/Canterbury_Tour/default.aspx
Might be the easiest way to see the Cathedral. London walks are great. Have taken many over the years. Always enjoyable.
Posted by
Olympia, WA, USA
6502 posts
Dover is an easy train from Victoria, maybe 90 minutes or so as I recall. That train didn't go to Canterbury, though, we had to backtrack by local bus. No problem as we had a couple of days in Dover/Canterbury after a long stay in London. And it was 2008 so connections might be different now. I certainly don't recall any "Javelin" train that the London Walks people use to take you to Canterbury. They do very good walks though so I'd recommend that tour just based on their reputation -- and Canterbury's.
If you are in Dover you can easily spend a day visiting the castle, including the tunnels in the cliffs used in WWII. The problem is that, as another poster noted, you don't get much of a view of the cliffs since you're basically on top of them or alongside. There might be some kind of boat ride to see them, short of taking the ferry to France (overkill unless you're going there).
Dover Priory is the station you want, close to downtown. The town itself had so much WWII damage there's little of interest to see, but it is nice to walk on Dover Beach and think of Matthew Arnold's poem. And the castle is fine. Probably best to taxi there from the station, it's a pretty long walk and mostly uphill. Maybe you could walk back down if you allow enough time.