Too much in this itinerary?

Are you planning to take in the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh.? It's the largest performing arts festival in the world, and it takes over the town for most of August. I love it and think it's great fun. And the evening Tatoo is a "must see" IMHO, if tickets are still available. Just an FYI.
Have a great trip !

We rented a car in 2017 and drove around England and S. Wales for four weeks. It was wonderful, except driving in and around London. Traffic anywhere near London is terrible. The orbital that goes around London is a parking lot quite a lot.

You need to consider HOW long it will take you to drive from point A to point B. You can do it on Mapquest or other similar internet sites. Believe me it will take you longer to go from point A to B than you think., especially in southern England.

Also, most importantly, you don't plan to spend much time in many of the places you listed.

For example,
You plan to drive from Norwich to Oxford, then drive through the Cotswolds, then on to Bath for evening on Day 6.
This plan is not practicable. First, driving from Norwich to Oxford you will be in the London are and that drive will take quite a lot of time. Parking in Oxford is terrible, you will have to park in the lot just west of the city to go into Oxford to see that city. You will need at least 3-4 hours just to do the simple walking tour, without doing anything more. Then you plan to drive through the Cotswolds (do you plan to stop at all and see places in that scenic area?) We spend two FULL days exploring the Cotswolds and its cities and towns.

Then you plan to drive to Bath. To see the places you list just for Day 6, you need at least 3-4 days.

Another example, York is wonderful, we spend three nights there and three days. I takes four hours just to do the tour of the Minster.

Also, Cornwall is going to have heavy traffic and you will need 3-4 days to see its sights.

Thank you for responses so far. I will definitely check out Fringe Festival! I know we have too much but it’s so hard to cut things. Hubby can only get 2 weeks vacation so we will just have to save some of this for another year after he retires!

I'm afraid that to make this trip at all pleasurable you need to ditch probably half of your plan. As far as I can see between London and Edinburgh you have 11 one night stays consecutively. Your husband is going to need to love driving in the Uk because that's virtually all he will be doing.

To see anywhere at all properly you need two nights to allow one day to stop and actually see what you came for. I would not recommend that you leave any of your days outside London and Edinburgh except maybe day 10 when you drive from somewhere unspecified in Wales to Stratford-on-Avon.

It's difficult to suggest what to leave out because we don't know you or your interests. For instance , is there a particular reason to go to Hastings? What do you plan to see in the half day you have to see Wales? I can't see that Cornwall makes any sense at all, especially in August when it is essentially full (I know, we will be there for two weeks, but not straying much from the beach we will be staying by). It will take the best part of a day just to drive there from Bath, let alone hoping to see Stonehenge, Exeter and Dartmoor on the way. What is the point of visiting York? You won't get there until lunchtime from Stratford and plan to leave in the afternoon to go to the Dales.

If it were my trip I would drop Hastings, Canterbury, Cornwall, Wales and Stratford at least.

Dalmally Agricultural Show is on 6 September, so effectively that means you will be fleetingly in Cornwall on the Bank Holiday weekend. If the weather is anywhere near decent the county and the roads will be packed.
I am struggling to make that work effectively just to see Tintagel.
The holiday parts of Devon will be equally packed.
On Day 7 a somewhat better plan would be to head straight for Cardiff and South Wales, maybe a better one to head straight for York, which is hardly a car friendly city. Harrogate or Knaresborough could be better alternatives.
Most of the Scottish section doesn't even need a car, even Dalmally
Methinks this plan needs a degree of rethought.

I’d agree with the suggestion to drop Hastings, Canterbury etc (at least), the problem with going to Norwich is that it’s not really anywhere near anywhere else you’re going and Gt Yarmouth is not far off the most eastern point in the country. There are no motorways (UK term for highways) in Norfolk so it isn’t an easy place to get around. Do you have ancestry reasons to go to both Norwich and Yarmouth?

Regarding Oxford- parking inside the ring road is a nightmare and the one way system is little better. There are 4 (maybe 5?) “Park and Ride” car parks dotted around the outskirts which are well signposted. Best to park in one of these and get the bus into the centre.

The title of your post says it all! This itinerary looks like you want to spend most of your vacation in a car. This itinerary will go by in a blur and you won't remember much about your trip Every time you check in and out of a hotel you willl use up a lot of time that can be better spent. It makes no sense to go to Edinburgh on Days 12 and 13 since you have to end your trip there to fly home. Your itinerary is worse than the worst rushed group tour and they have experience in maximizing the time, plus a driver to drop people off so they can sight see while the driver parks. Now to specifics:

If you are flying overnight, like most people, Day 1 you will be lacking in energy and focus. Unless you are staying far outside the city, you will not want to pick up the rental car until you leave London.You also may want to consider that trains are often faster than driving(You will likely spend a good bit of time looking for places to park) and many of your sites can be reached easily by train.
You should prioritize sights based on your interests, not on other people's must-sees.Maybe start with the genealogy and family sights want to see and then rank the other sights on your list and try to fit in your top ones. I've been to Oxford(I prefer Cambridge as a day trip from London), Stratford, and Canterbury and I don't think I would have missed much if I'd never seen them. Day 7 looks close to impossible to me. If you're going to the Yorkshire Dales because of All Creatures Great and Small, I would go there and skip the Cotswolds. The Cotswolds are pretty but I think they're rather boring. As someone else already said, the city of York is one of the top sights in England. To further muddy the water, the St. Fagan's Museum of Welsh Life, a day trip from Cardiff, is one of my favorite sights and I would allow 6 hours to see it. Don't schedule yourself so tightly that you have to shortchange a place that you discover you really love.

Good luck to you as you go back to the drawing board.

Thanks everyone- great advice.

And do not even think of driving to Cornwall for a day or two in August. Especially if it’s the weekend. British families head to Cornwall for a week or two, so they’re prepared for the hours-long traffic jams on every major route to the county. Gives them time to recover before the hours-long traffic jam on the way home.

I agree with everyone here- I can appreciate wanting to see a lot, especially when you have limited time, but you will spend most of this trip in the car. I would try to stay at no more than four bases over two weeks and do as much as possible by train. If it were me I think I would cut out everything in the west/southwest and concentrate on what's between London and Edinburgh. Hopefully you will get to come back another time and see the rest!

I was exhausted just reading this. Don’t underestimate driving times in the UK. Distances may not look far on a map but will take you a lot longer to cover than you might expect. August is peak holiday time and roads will be busy. If using google maps add 25% to their driving times and then add on time for stops, food and comfort breaks, finding somewhere to park etc.

You need to establish your priorities and cut out all the extras. Cut Hastings, Canterbury and Wales for a start. Think seriously about Bath and Stonehenge . Which is the priority here?. Use these days generated to build in extra time in Cornwall for example and also for a night in the Yorkshire dales and another night in Norfolk. .

You need to rethink Days 6 and 7, which are unrealistic. The drive from Norwich to Bath is going to take around six hours without any stops. You plan to visit Stonehenge from Bath and then head to Cornwall doesn’t make sense as you are back tracking on yourself. The drive is going to take the best part of 5 hours (and you are thinking about a stop in Exeter or Dartmoor on the way). You aren’t going to have much time to see much.Either forget Bath, heading to Stonehenge and then spend the night in say Salisbury. Next day head to Cornwall.

OR forget Oxford and the Cotswolds and head direct to Bath. Even so, you won’t have a lot of time there.

Scrap the idea of heading to Wales after Cornwall (you won’t have chance to see much there anyway).You’ve expended a lot of time and energy to get to Cornwall, so make the most of it and allocate another night there. .

Day 10 has defeated me - you are in Wales and planning to drive to Stratford upon Avon and then to York and also do the Yorkshire Dales... Cardiff to York alone will take good part of six hours to drive, so how much do you think you will actually see? Start again. From Cornwall Had toward Stratford upon Avon for the night - that will give you chance to see something of the Cotswolds. Next Day head to York. Do you intend to spend any time exploring York? I’m not quite sure how the Yorkshire Dales fit into your itinerary, although they could be done as a day trip from York (which would need an extra night in York...) Depending on how many nights you still have to play with, somethi ng may need to give here.

York to Glasgow via Hadrian’s Wall is going to be a full day, especially if you have any plans to stop along the Wall.

It would make more sense to visit Loch Lomond from. Glasgow rather than from Edinburgh. Think about stopping in Glasgow rather than relocating to Edinburgh until the last day . Do Edinburgh as a day trip on the train from Glasgow. Stirling and falkirk can be done just as easily from Glasgow.

Lots of great advice here from those more well-travelled than I. However, based on my UK travel (6 trips?) which has included Cornwall (family history); south Wales; southwestern Scotland (family heritage--have been as far north as Inverness); Canterbury; Peterborourgh surrounds for family history; Suffolk; and out to Great Yarmouth as that's where part of my maternal lines last touched soil...
I heartily agree that the family history locations sound like priority for you. My husband and I have loved seeing all the tourist must sees but the areas with connections (or even believed connections) to heritage have been some of our favorite adventures. I found I could have spent more time than I did, just soaking in the imagined essence of my ancestors. The serendipitous events and encounters (including with self---the surprising emotional sparks and surges) are the ones we remember and cherish as they are the most personal and they touch us on a visceral level. Allow time to walk on the beach at Great Yarmouth, visit the statue of Nelson---perhaps the last vision our ancestors saw. Visiting the churches and walking the streets---a visit to a piece of your heart you may not have known before.

Have a great time.
Cheryl

I would save Oxford, the Cotswolds, Bath, Stonehenge, Cornwall, Exeter, Wales, Stratford and Canterbury for another trip or two...or three.
Spend some time in London (3 days will give you but a taste) and head towards Great Yarmouth catching cute villages along the way. See Cambridge instead of Oxford this trip. Then head towards Scotland. I'd make a Hadrian's Wall a priority over York which you can reach easily by train from London on another trip. Allow yourself time to soak in the delights of Scotland. Allow time for ancestry stuff. Relax in a pub and imagine your ancestors raising a pint (or a cola!) with you.

What a lovely way to celebrate your 30th Anniversary!

Wow this is quite the ambitious itinerary! I love seeing someone really dive deep into their family history like this.

Just a heads up on the logistics - Day 6 looks pretty packed going from finishing Norwich, driving to Oxford, then through the Cotswolds AND making it to Bath by evening. That's a lot of ground to cover especially if you want to actually enjoy the Cotswolds scenery (which you absolutely should!). Might be worth considering staying somewhere in the Cotswolds that night instead?

Also Day 10/11 is going to be brutal - Stratford to York, then Yorkshire Dales, then Hadrian's Wall, then all the way to Glasgow? That's easily 8+ hours of driving not counting stops. You'll be exhausted by the time you hit your anniversary dinner!

The roundabouts and narrow country lanes can be tricky at first, especially when you're jetlagged. Might be worth doing some virtual practice before you go, just to get comfortable with things like judging distances on the left side. Tripiamo has some solid prep materials for driving on the "opposite side".

One tip from someone who's done similar ancestry trips - call ahead to those churches in Great Yarmouth area. Some have specific visiting hours or the person with graveyard access might only be there certain days. Would hate for you to drive all that way and not be able to see what you came for!

Your husband might like driving but he's going to be doing A LOT of it. Maybe build in some buffer time for getting lost or just needing a break?