Stamford, Skipton, Shrewsbury, Chichester

when is the trip? Did I miss that?

Stamford isn't exactly on the boundary fence of Heathrow. That's quite a slog on arrival day. The train line through Stamford is east-west and you will approach from the south. I guess you'll do something like Elizabeth Line to Farringdon, tube or Thameslink one stop to Kings Cross St Pancras, Kings Cross to Peterborough, for the Cross Country coming from Stansted? If you are doing that be aware that that Cross Country service is notoriously late running. I 'twere I, I think I might hunker down in London for the night.

What attracts you to Oakham? Smallest county collecting? The signal box that the one in the kits is modelled on? Rutland Water? Lands' End outlet store? Horseshoe Museum? (I'm in Oakham and Stamford fairly frequently)

I see Spring next year, missed it. Around either of the May Bank Holidays or Easter?

These are all really easy drives; we were in our 50's when we drove everywhere in England, Scotland and Wales. The Ms are just like our Freeways. The National Trust UK includes parking with their Pass. We loved being able to drive right up to that Castle, and staying at Farm B&Bs. If you not able to drive yourself I can understand. We loved the freedom and the serendipity driving allows.

Well, I am definitely going to want your trip report after this trip. I have nothing to offer about the first three places, but my trip report from 2024 about Chichester might help - less so for my information and more so for all the wonderful comments.
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/chichester-a-week-off-the-well-trodden-path
And CWsocial’s on Arundel, which is nearby: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/3-perfect-days-in-arundel-england

Edit to add: I had 4 Canon Lane booked for myself till we found a great 2 bedroom apartment!

I really have a fondness for Chichester and 4 Canon Lane. I first visited in 2018 and again in 2023. Bishop's Garden was absolutely peaceful and relaxing and a a perfect place to sit and enjoy in the evenings. Perfect location for going to Weald and Downland and for a day trip to Portsmouth.

I enjoyed Trading Post Coffee for breakfast and the Cloisters Kitchen for a light lunch. I'd avoid the Real Eating Company

I hope you have a full weekend while in Skipton, as that is when the buses run deep into the dales, and also when Malham has it's best service. Saturday is also the best day to get to Ripon as there is the Saturday only bus 59 to Harrogate (then the 36)- a pretty scenic run.
If there for a week you might also get the chance to go to Clitheroe in East Lancashire- on the hourly 280 bus (bound for Preston). I think TTM is going there in October- so hopefully will do a TR.

To Shrewsbury the easiest way is train to Lancaster, then train to Crewe, then train to Shrewsbury. The Skipton to Lancaster line has always lived in the shadow of the S and C- but is pretty scenic in it's own right. There is a new collection of walks between stations on the line- all good walks. You can pick them up at Skipton Station.

One stop from Skipton is Gargrave where there is a superb fish and chip shop, who cook in beef dripping- The Flying Yorkshireman. The bus from Skipton also stops right outside.

At Shrewsbury the tour bus to Ironbridge is being permanently withdrawn in a few weeks time. Patronage has collapsed since a regular service bus was introduced by Select buses- the 96.

Select also run the 436 to Bridgnorth for the Severn Valley Steam Railway- https://www.selectbusservices.com/_files/ugd/8e2b7f_9d2acd20e4084b5d86a310d19146e556.pdf

Oh and Lancaster station will shortly have a keenly awaited Indian Restaurant on Platform 6, which will well complement the pub on Platform 3!!

Nigel- We're used to that kind of "slog" on arrival day. We have gone straight to York, Oxford and Moreton-in-Marsh from Heathrow on arrival days. This won't be that much different, 1 hour+, once we get to King's Cross. And we like train travel.

We arrive after Easter, late on the Monday of Early May Bank holiday and leave before Spring Bank holiday.

Oakham, no, not checking boxes- I have read some very positive articles and blogs about the villages in Rutland. We are aware that transportation might be challenging but would hope to get to Rutland Water Visitors Centre -Lyndon as well as Barnsdale Gardens and Rutland County Museum. However, we are open to other suggestions or locations. Definitely in the explore and discover phase of planning.

Kathleen- Thanks for the info about the drives but we rented a car in Northumberland in May this year and decided it was a one and done, lol.

We enjoyed Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, but just walked out onto it rather than take the boat ride. Ludlow was nice to walk around for a short while as was Shrewsbury. I think Shrewsbury has more to offer than Ludlow.

In a couple months we intend to visit Blists Hill Victorian Town in Telford by Iron Gorge. While in Skipton we intend to visit some All Creatures sites along the B-6160, up to St Michael & All Angels Church and the farm used as Helen’s house. We will have a rental car that will make certain sites easier to reach.

Near Chichester are the Dockyards at Portsmouth, Arundel Castle, and Portchester Castle.

TexasTravelMom- I have read and was inspired by your Chichester trip report! Also, CW's report. I will definitely report back.

VAP- Thanks so much for your response. Just the kind of positive experiences I was hoping to hear about. Portsmouth is not currently on the itinerary but the other place you mention are. Taking notes of the restaurants that you enjoyed (and didn't enjoy). What was it about the Real Eating Company that you didn't like?

Stuart- Yes, we are in Skipton from Friday to Friday so a whole weekend. As always, I appreciate your details about getting from one place to another on public transportation.

jaimeelsabio- Thanks for sharing your experience with the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct as well as Ludlow and Shrewsbury. We hope to visit which ever sites are open and accessible to us when we go to Ironbridge Gorge. I think I heard that some of them are closed right now during a transition to National Trust?

Without a car, we will just go where the buses (or occasional taxi) takes us in the Dales. We really enjoyed seeing the big Drover's Arms sign up on the Devonshire Arms when we were in Grassington.

Portchester Castle had not hit my radar. Going to look it up.

Katiecem - at the time it was the quality of service, they opened late and they were out of many of their menu items. At the time back in 2023 they had 4 bubbles on Tripadvisor and now about a 2.8
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g186406-d17605804-Reviews-Real_Eating_Company-Chichester_West_Sussex_England.html

When in Shrewsbury, consider taking a 21 minute train ride to Welshpool & then walking just over 1 mile to >https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/wales/powis-castle-and-garden

This little steam railway also goes from Welshpool:>https://wllr.org.uk

Also consider going from Shrewsbury on the train to Barmouth (seaside town on the Welsh coast). On present schedules, train leaves Shrewsbury at 9.27 & arrives Barmouth at 12.01. Return train leaves Barmouth at 14.55 to get you back to SHR at 17.20. The route is very scenic.https://www.thecambrianline.co.uk/map https://www.barmouth.org.uk

Also when in Shrewsbury - consider a day trip to Chester which is around 55 minutes by direct train. https://visitcheshire.com/locations/chester

Note that it is over a 5 hour journey from Shrewsbury to Chichester. (I would have chosen somewhere nearer to a route from Shrewsbury to London such as Cardiff which is 1 hour 45 minutes from Shrewsbury with at least one direct train per hour). Yes, Chichester is a nice place and I enjoyed going to the creek at Bosham and to Arundel and Portsmouth Harbour.

By the way somewhere else from Skipton I don't see mentioned much on here is Ingleton.

It's known especially for White Scar Cave and it's waterfalls trail, but has a lot of very fine limestone country walking. Through bus 580/581 every two hours from Skipton via Settle. About 70 minutes from Skipton- the bus just changes number in Settle.
The bus actually extends all the way to Lancaster via Kirkby Lonsdale.

With the extension of the 567 to Ingleton (from Kendal) this year it is also a viable option from the Lake District for the first time in many a long year.

Somewhere I wasn't aware of until recently in the Chichester area is Boxgrove- both the ruins of the Old Priory and the current Priory Church- but it has the bus #55 from Chichester every 30 minutes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROtM6ZCa6pY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2MZOsW5KAU
(note the American connection in the Priory Church)

On doing a forum search I see that CWsocial mentioned Bignor Roman Villa as a possible day trip from Arundel. While easiest by taxi from Pulborough Station (5 stops from Chichester) there is a bookable Flexi bus in connection with the fixed 99 bus from Chichester- https://compass-travel.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/43/2025/02/Bus-Service-9999-flex.pdf

Katie, you should be running your own tour company - this is very good and gets away from the "guide book index".

Travelling by train this plan may justify a Britrail Pass. Some of the transfers between locations might benefit from a deeper study rather than simply do what the App tells you.

Skipton to Shrewsbury, National Rail is saying go to Leeds, then go to either Manchester or Birmingham. Leeds is a confusing hassle best avoided and Birmingham New Steet is the depths of hell!!! But if you specifically add Lancaster as a route it suddenly finds convenient connections and reasonable journey times. Skipton to Lancaster is via a pretty line that doesn't get as many tourists as it should, at Lancaster there is an easy transfer to a train to Crewe, which is reasonably easy for connections and has more trains to Shrewsbury than Manchester. Or you could go to Leeds and then direct to Chester - and from Chester the train to Shrewsbury has it's own viaduct alongside the "other" canal aqueduct.

Shrewsbury to Chichester. The App will push you to go via London - which is a bad idea because you have to change stations there and cross by Underground. But with a bit of prodding it will agree that you can go via Newport (south Wales) and Southampton which is another very pretty ride with simple connections and only a little longer than the London idea.

The other route I was looking at for Shrewsbury to Chichester, avoiding the Underground was Shrewsbury to Birmingham (preferably on the West Midlands trains services), the hourly Avanti fast train Birmingham to Watford Junction, then the hourly Southern service to East Croydon (as far as Clapham Junction) around West London, for the direct service to Chichester.
Watford Junction is normally a 14 minute or so connection and Clapham Junction is either a 7 or 37 minute connection.

There are through Advance Fares from Watford Junction to Chichester starting at £9.95 with a railcard, and through Advance fares Shrewsbury to Watford Junction from £11.95- so £22 for a 5 hour + journey.

If on a through Advance Fare it doesn't matter if you miss the connection at Clapham Junction.

Newport to Chichester is as low as £18.95 with a railcard, hourly (change at Fareham) (3 hour 30 journey), and Shrewsbury to Newport Advance is £11.05- so £30.

James- Thank you for the Barmouth and Welshpool ideas. I will look into those. We spent 4 nights in Chester this year and loved it but I'm excited to see some new places. We have also spent time in Cardiff in 2019 and 2023 and if I lived in the UK or was able to travel there 2 or 3 times a year, I would definitely return to Cardiff. Shrewsbury to Chichester will be a long travel day, but, hey, someone else is doing the driving and we can read, walk around or play cards if we aren't enjoying the scenery.

Stuart. Thanks for the Ingleton and Boxgrove suggestions. Also, Bignor Roman Villa. Yay, more research to do!

Edited to add: Oh, good to know there is another route from Shrewsbury to Chichester that avoids the underground.

me.crewe. Lol, thanks. I do love planning. We have used Britrail passes several times and I have already done the calculations based on current train route prices and it makes sense to get them again. And this year the Britrail mobile passes worked on the turn stile tap screens most of the time unlike previous years .

Thank you for the suggestion about Lancaster. (i think that route was how we ended up stranded in Helifield this year when we meant to get on the Settle-Carlisle train).

Yes, I see the route through Newport to Chichester and will definitely be fine with adding a little train time to avoid Birmingham and/or London.

Good to read that you are exploring new places.

I would favour the non London route. Shrewsbury to Newport (change trains); Newport to Southampton or Fareham and finally on to Chichester. (This route goes via Bath and Salisbury).
If using the following website - click Advanced options and then put Via Newport in order to get that route. Play around with dates to see how the fares vary for one way advance tickets:>https://trainsplit.com/

Portchester Castle had not hit my radar. Going to look it up.

Definitely look at visiting, it's a fantastic small castle with plenty of interesting history and situated in a great location overlooking Portsmouth Harbour and all the naval ships moored. I visit quite frequently as it's a 15 minute drive from my house and my dog enjoys the walk along the foreshore and I never fail to be impressed by it.

If you do visit then you might be interested in the nearby Royal Armouries museum at Fort Nelson (the Victorian forts along Portsdown Hill are a uniquely interesting sight in themselves). It's free to enter and well worth exploring. https://royalarmouries.org/fort-nelson

From there you're only a few minutes drive from the picturesque village of Southwick where the D-Day landings were planned and operated from. You can enjoy a pint and a very good lunch at the Golden Lion, a favourite haunt of Eisenhower and Churchill to wind down after a day's work.