Alsace Lorraine in France & Northern England

I'd say Alsace is chock full of adorable villages. Kaysersberg is doubly adorable, but besides Turckheim (also adorable), it's the only one I've been to. Colmar, the big city in the area with a major train station, has an adorable old city center. Check your airline price flying home from Paris. London apparently has a couple hundred extra bucks of fees when you depart from there.

Thanks Sam! I will look them up.

I loved the Alsace (we stayed in Eguisheim and loved it). However, it really is more German looking than French. Perhaps you could add an area with a more "french" feel to it if you really want to experience French villages as well. (Even the owner of the B&B where we stayed said "We are different here, not like the rest of France). Reims might make a nice stop.

If you're looking for ideas for northern England (it's a little hard to tell), here are some:

• York, no village but a walled medieval city with one of Europe's best cathedrals and lots of history.
• Durham, another great cathedral, one of the oldest, in a spectacular clifftop setting.
• Hadrian's Wall, beautiful countryside, lots of sheep, villages along it, Roman ruins and artifacts.
• The Yorkshire Dales (e.g. Swaledale from Richmond, or others), rolling hills and village-laden valleys.
• The Lake District, packed with villages, some of them packed with visitors, but great scenery and walking opportunities.

You have a decent chance of decent weather in May, but if you have a choice you might go to France first and then north. I didn't find any easy air connections between Alsace and northern England, you might have to fly through London, or to London and then train to York. A car would be best after that.