York to Yorkshire Dales to Lake District to Cotswolds to Heathrow in 6 nights with car in May

Have you calculated the travel miles?

IMHO you’ll be spending most days looking at scenery from the interior of the rental.

The Dales and Cotswolds are large areas.

As an example the in Yorkshire Dales National Park is Malham Cave. From there to say Stow on The World in the Cotswolds is a 4.5 hour drive. One needs to factor in traffic as well your comfort on driving on the “other side.”

Bletchley Park is an easy train ride from London. I was surprised how intriguing Bletchley was. Spent over four hours there.

Since you are choosing to drive research travel times between all the destinations you are wishing to see and explore.

That's quite a drive.

Parking is free at Bletchley Park.

I agree with the others, too much driving in a short time. It would be better to stay in London and take day trips out of the city or choose areas where your driving time will be lessened. 6 nights is only 5 days of sightseeing.

We're interested in British history (castles and churches!) and literature (Wordsworth!) and are fans of All Creatures and British TV. We are thinking we could spend Saturday night in the Dales, two nights in the Lake District, and then head to the Cotswolds.

I agree that you have very little time for all those places. I would suggest visiting just the Dales after York, skipping the Lake District then heading back to London. That will give you time to see some of the places in the Dales that have a connection to ACG&S, like Thirsk and Grassington. Yorkshire is very beautiful but places are spread out a bit, and trying to rush it defeats the whole purpose of being there.

If the Cotswolds are a must, you could stop in Bath for one night on the way back and plan a Mad Max tour of the Cotswolds villages. https://www.madmaxtours.co.uk/tours/tour-2-the-heart-of-the-cotswolds

Apart from anything else you may struggle to find a one night weekend stay in the Dales. You certainly do in the Lake District. Two night Minima are increasingly the norm.

That is an ambitious itinerary and you are trying to cram two weeks into six days. Blenheim and Bletchley Park deserve a full day each...

I agree about the length of your drive in so few days. You may want to lop off at least one of the areas you mentioned.

That said, if you like churches you might consider Durham Cathedral, an amazing Norman building in a dramatic clifftop setting. I think it's in the same league as York Minster and others. That would take you farther north than your plan suggests, though.

I agree that you are trying to cover too much territory in too little time. Check National Trust UK site to see what is available in each region. National Trust also has couples admission passes available. Also, British Heritage and others. Castle Howard is a Palladian style house on a great estate, just north of York. Check the Treasure Houses of England site, they may have some 2 for one tickets available. Since you plan to drive back from York you can visit Chatsworth, my favorite! These are places with art and furnishing and gardens shown in situ. Durham Cathedral is not that far north of York. Fountains Abbey is close to York. The Beach Villages of Yorkshire are quite charming. Check to see where the Castles are located. Plan a trip to Wales for some of the best Castles and the Cotswolds for your next trip.

Hi Lorraine -

I agree, it’s going to be a heck of a lot of driving. Not necessarily in the northern end, but I can’t see a way of avoiding a long slog down the M6/M5/M42/M40 towards Bletchley, Blenheim, and/or The Cotswolds. Also, if your flight home departs Heathrow at 1.00 pm on the Friday I’d definitely want to be in or nearby the airport on the Thursday night.

To be frank, I don’t see how you can do all of Cotswolds, Blenheim and Bletchley in the time you have, so some tough decisions may need to be made!

In the north, on leaving York, head north to Thirsk - the Herriot Museum is in the original ‘Skeldale House’. From Thirsk head west(ish) on the A61 towards Ripon and continue on the B6265 through Pateley Bridge to Grassington. Overnight here or nearby if you can. Grassington is home to the current ‘Skeldale House’ and on the opposite side of the square the Devonshire Arms doubles as Darrowby’s ‘Drovers’ (exteriors only!).

Leave Grassington on the B6160 to head up Wharfedale passing through Kettlewell and Buckden and Cray (increasingly small settlements, all with a pub(s)!) to climb out of the valley towards West Burton and Aysgarth, heading west now on the A584 to pass through Hawes (interiors of the ‘Drovers’ shot inside The Green Dragon at nearby Hardraw) and subsequently Sedbergh (another potential overnight stop) or press on to Kendal, then Windermere and on the A591 to Grasmere and all things Wordsworth, especially Dove Cottage which is on the A591 just outside the village. Wordsworth family graves in the Grasmere Churchyard.

Then to leave the Lakes, retrace steps through Windermere to take M6 south towards The Cotswolds. That will be a long, somewhat tedious drive south, requiring diligent navigation as you switch motorways to circumnavigate Birmingham (always a bit of a trial, even for non local U.K. residents!). This, once near Birmingham, is where you’ll definitely have to make some decisions. Staying in or near Oxford may give you a shot at Blenheim and a taste of The Cotswolds. But……don’t skimp on the car rental, you’ll be seeing a lot of it!

Hope you can plan something that fits most of your requirements, if not all. If you are visiting this May, you’ll need to get a bit of a shuffle on with your accommodation booking and Stuart (isn31c) is right about the two night weekend bookings. It’s not impossible to get single night weekend accommodation but there are fewer options to be sure. Feel free to give me a shout if you need more info on the northern end - my route is merely a suggestion, you may find an alternative that you prefer and that’s equally appropriate.

Have a great trip!

Ian

Thank you so much for all your suggestions and advice! You're making us rethink our our itinerary. As we review, I'm sure I'll have another question or two. Really appreciate this group!

Will just add if you want to see "Helen's" house in the new series, it's in Yockenthwaite. If you get out of the car, walk across the bridge and you can go to the left on the public path. Go a few fields to the thing that looks like a stone circle but which is actually the foundation stones to an Iron Age Hut. There is also a ford across the river there that was probably also used in the Iron Age.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/f91dEZcaFsSTj3rBA

Lot of very good stuff from ianandjulie above.
The Green Dragon was shut for a while but I believe has reopened
Hawes is a superb spot for an evening .
White Lion top end if Wharfdale always has had a good reputation.
Wharfdale is just about the grandest of the lot esp after Kettlewell
The Old Hill Inn over at Chapel- le--Dale is also very worth making tracks too

Hi again - forgot to mention that Ripon has a Minster which is far bigger than you’d expect for a town of its size, near Ripon are the extensive ruins of Fountains Abbey and Hubberholme (just beyond Buckden, near the head of Wharfedale, a left turn off the road you need to be on) has a church with a complete rood screen (unusual feature, most of them were removed, way back when…)

At this point though, I may be trying to get a quart into a pint pot as my Grandad used to say!

Ian

The Green Dragon was shut for a while but I believe has reopened.

It is, Richard, but with limited hours. The owner is retiring and (maybe?) selling it but they are keeping it open to a certain extent. Here is his comment from their Facebook page posted 5 days ago:

After our wonderful and varied 23 year journey in Hardraw, Yvonne and I are looking towards retirement. Rest assured as soon as we have definite news we will share it, in the meanwhile we will continue running the waterfall business on a daily basis (sensible weather permitting) from 10am until 4pm, and open the pub weekends: 12am until 5pm, daily February half term.

The Church at Hubberhulme has pews by the Mouseman