england's west coast or east coast

It would help if you could provide a little more information about what you are looking for from the English seaside. Do you like pleasure beaches, roller coasters, kiss-me-quick hats, cotton candy and cramming 25 hours of fun into each day OR do you like beautiful scenery, oak beamed pubs with good food, quiet secluded bays and cultural heritage.

There is plenty of both types of English seaside resorts to be had on both East and West. It’s just that if you’re looking for somewhere like St. Bees in the Lake District you don’t want Skegness in Lincolnshire – and vice versa.

Thanks for your replies, let me be more specific. We are definitely looking for more of the natural landscape scenery than city kind of stuff. We love small village feel. I know that most of the east coast is Wales, we were trying to decide between the Devon area or the York area. We have 8 nights to spend in England and 8 in Scotland, but we want to spend a minimum of 2 nights wherever we end up so I thought it would be best to pick the east or west side of England.

You might also consider Cornwall-lots of great scenery there.

Hi Amber,
I answered a different post about the York area and have pasted the info here. If you like nature, a boat tour of the Farn Islands is great. There are puffins and nesting grounds of many bird species.

-We have a "sister college" there so I've visited several times. It is the North Yorkshire Moors area - beautiful scenery. Some good sites to see: York and York Minster, Durham and the cathedral there, Whitby, the Farn Islands and Innisfarn, the North Yorkshire Moors National Park, Scarborough, Robin Hood Bay,and many others. If you are Harry Potter fans, the area was used for many of the exterior scenes for the movies and the North Yorkshire Moors steam train is the one used as the Hogwart's Express. Whitby is one of my favorite places. It is on the North Sea coast and is the location from where Capt. Cook sailed on his voyage when he discovered Hawaii. It is also one of the places in the book Dracula. There is a great fish and chips place there called the Magpie Inn-

Devon and Cornwall are good places.

So are the North York Moors.

So is the Lake District. I can personally recommend 'The Queens' in St. Bees. It's a charming, low cost, B&B pub. St. Bees is on the coast and the Lake District has to be one of the most stunningly beautiful places in England, also it's very close to Scotland.

I loved Penzance and the surrounding area. I spent 3 days and travelled around by bus and absolutely loved it. I should have spent a week. I would go again in a minute. The train station, the TI and the buses all are in the same area with washrooms so easy to travel without a car. There were fares per day so I made good use of the bus. Plenty of B&Bs and places to eat. The countryside is beautiful - I was there in the fall. I loved the scenery of Lands End, St. Michael's Mount and went to St. Ives. I really enjoyed the Harry Safari tour as it got me out into the countryside off the bus route. I might try the walking trails next visit. If I come back in my next lifetime I want to come back as a gardener at St. Michael's Mount.

Gail

Hello Amber. If you will be in Scotland, you may prefer to go to northern England, not Penzance. At the East coast of England, Whitby or Scarborough is a good choice. Whitby is not very far from the Cathedral at Durham, and the Beamish outdoor folk museum. And visit the Howard mansion, and York. In York I liked the "Castle museum".

Don't miss the Yorkshire Dales: Leyburn to Hawes, then south to Skipton. Beautiful country, much prettier than the Moors. The Moors are gentler rolling hills, the Dales are more rugged and awesome. :-)