GPS with no street numbers!

We just use street numbers... really. Actually, as far a GPS or google maps go it's generally easier to use the post code.

I'm not sure why you're finding lots of B&Bs that don't give their address but it's not a "British tradition" at all. I can understand giving those sort of directions as well as an address - after all not everyone is navigating using a GPS.

The only thing I can think of is are you using a third party booking site to find places? Sometimes these hide details about sites so you can't use them to search and then book directly and they lose out on their fee. Maybe try a different site?

I'm looking at the primary websites of the hotels, not 3rd party sites. Give me some time and I'll post some examples...

Certainly, turn by turn directions and maps are naturals to put on the websites, but you'd think street address would be standard too, and I'm sure it usually is. It's just that some of the places I'm interested in won't get that specific!

I think you must have just been unlucky! That has not yet happened to me.

Are they literally giving no address or are they showing something like this:

Pat's B&B

High St.

Bourton-on-the-Water

GL54 xyz

If the former then it's just a badly designed website, if the latter then you have all the information you need. UK post codes are unique to 5 or 6 houses (or one large or isolated building) and are all the information a GPS or google maps needs to plot a route.

I threw these together in 15 minutes. I could find a lot more. It seems most of the places I am looking at don't give a street number. Of course, that's probably not the case, but it seems like it.

Yes, probably just poor web design. I can understand just saying "on the square, Stow" as perfectly good directions in the case of a small square. They've probably given those directions to people for several hundred years. But in a GPS world, you can't enter something like that to even find the square in the first place!

Chester House, Bourton-on-the-Water

Chipping House, Wotton-under-Edge

Cross Keys Cottage, Stow-on-the-Wold

The Old Stocks Hotel, Stow-on-the-Wold

Stow Lodge Hotel, Stow-on-the-Wold

All of those site give a full address. I guess the confusion is that they are using house names rather than numbers? Lots of cottagey places in the country use names rather than numbers - I guess you're seeing it a lot in Cotswold B&Bs 'cos they're trying to up the "quaint" factor.

Just use the post code and your GPS will take you right there. Same for google maps etc. For instance enter "GL12 7AD" into google maps and it will route you right to the Chipping House B&B.

"All of those site give a full address..."

Well, there's the difference, and what I was asking about. In most places I've been (Italy, Sweden, France for example) a full address would include something like "412 Park Street" or "Park Street 412".

"Just use the post code and your GPS will take you right there."

I'll have to check that when I get home. My GPS always asks for city name first, then street number, then street name. I'm not sure where I'd put a postal code, but we'll see. It's probably there and I haven't needed it before. Thanks!

We ran into a similar situation in Scotland. Our Garmin GPS used the UK postal code with no problem. One other trick we learned when going to a small town was to just select any location that the GPS knew about, such as a museum, gas station, or grocery store, then go to that location. From there, just ask for directions. Or call the B&B and ask for further directions, since you'll most likely be at a spot that they know of.

"One other trick we learned when going to a small town was to just select any location that the GPS knew about..."

Yep, done that before with my Garmin. If it just gets me to the town, I can usually find the place on my own from there...as long it's a town and not a city!

But it's sure nice to have to-the-door service when you can get it.

My English friend's address is just Station road, no number. It is a very small village though and Station Road is not very long. The house does have a name though and she doesn't live in the Cotswolds!
I find this common in the country.

We drove to Tetbury last November (on a sunny warmish day) and wanted to go to the Highgrove Shop which just had a street name, no number. We had no trouble finding it. And Tetbury is much larger than many other villages. But usually in most of these places there are only a few roads.

What is wrong with following the directions given by the hotels/B and Bs? People have been doing that for years!!!!!

A lot of places in country areas do just have a name rather than a number. My friend once received a birthday card from a friend who had lost her address. On the envelope it just had the words "the cottage with the blue and white door" and the name of the village on it!

"What is wrong with following the directions given by the hotels/B and Bs? People have been doing that for years!!!!!"

Sorry to make you shout exclamation marks, Maryann. I've just been there done that with "following the directions" and, while it works, at some point we usually end up spending time parked at the side of a road, or slowing way down and getting honked at as we try to get our bearings and figure out which of the driveway-looking roads to the left is the correct left turn for us to take.

The GPS generally just takes us right to the door we're looking for with no worries about making a wrong turn, wrong decision, or going the wrong way down a one-way street.

We like it that way! Less stress in finding our destination, more time to relax and enjoy the views.

I've found things so much easier now that Google Maps talks to GPS units. No worries about finding actual addresses and entering them manually, just through some words into the search, find the right place, then plug in the GPS unit. It's so nice to be able to google search the name of a store and a city, then quickly dump it onto the GPS unit via a USB cable.

How about the old fashioned way... get directions from the hotel and write them down. :)

"How about the old fashioned way... get directions from the hotel and write them down. :)"

I believe I responded to this sort of question a few posts up the list...

Luddite n. One who opposes technical or technological change.

You can use Google maps most effectively in locating specific places.

No one I know in England uses GPS and we always find our way.. Silly to travel without a good map and directions from the place you are going. We were driving somewhere and suddenly came upon a village where my friend said there was a good shop but we had no idea of its address. But we found it with a minimum of delay.

I regard GPS as a Boy toy!!! I will concede that it is probably useful in places like the Italian countryside but I had no problem navigating around Portugal with just a map. I have been traveling to the UK for over 40 years and the only time I had a problem was when traveling with my late husband who would not ask directions in that typical male way!

I am not against modern conveniences if I feel they are necessary and are going to add something useful to my life. No one I know here at home has a GPS either and my brother just returned from a driving trip to Germany and he thought having a GPS was entirely unnecessary.

Maybe it is a generational thing ...perhaps some have to have the latest gadgets or have no sense of direction or common sense or have to have instant gratification? Even when I was 20, I was able to find a B and B in Edinburgh (not centrally located) and this was before the internet, cell phones, etc.

I just regard this as a non-issue....just google ahead of your trip to determine exact location. That will solve the problem when your toy doesn't work.

Maryann, above you used quite a few insulting terms: "silly", "no sense of direction", "no common sense", "must have instant gratification", "your toy", etc.

I'm not sure what brought this on, but if you're disturbed by GPS topics perhaps you should not click them.

This was not intended to be a discussion on the value of GPS technology. My question was answered early on, with explanation that in UK they use postal codes rather than street numbers to identify an address. The rest of this conversation is pointless. Everybody should do what works best for them.

Dear Patrick:

I did not use those words in an insulting manner but as a matter of fact. If you take umbrage at such language, I apologize. I still maintain that it is quite easy to find places in England without a GPS..
use Google ahead of time and buy a good map. Years of experience have proven this fact.

MaryAnn

The first place you listed suggests not putting in the post code as it will take you to the wrong town.

Why not just put in the street name or even the name of the house. It will get you close enough. Some of these "streets" are only a few houses long.

And remember....you can't expect it to be like home or anywhere else. Its' the UK and that's how they do things...and they've been doing them a lot longer than there's been GPS.

"The first place you listed suggests not putting in the post code as it will take you to the wrong town."

Yeah, I saw that. Actually, the postal code takes you to the right place (in Google Maps) but it's labeled with the wrong city name. A Google problem, no doubt.

"Why not just put in the street name..."

Of course. I've done that many times when the GPS didn't recognize a street number I entered. But it's nice to get as close as you can.

"And remember....you can't expect it to be like home or anywhere else. Its' the UK and that's how they do things...and they've been doing them a lot longer than there's been GPS."

Certainly. It's because of the differences that I've been to Europe so many times. I'm not criticizing any differences. I love the differences (and usually think their way is better than how we do it at home). I'm just getting them clarified so my trips go reasonably smoothly!

My question was answered early on, with explanation that in UK they use postal codes rather than street numbers to identify an address.

Just a slight correction, we use street numbers just like anywhere else in the main. A very, very small percentage of houses use a name instead of a number but these are the proverbial exception that proves the rule. Patrick's just unlucky he's been looking at "quaint" B&Bs in the countryside which pulls up a disproportionate number of house names.

Most British people are likely to input postcode rather than addresses into their GPS but that's mainly because it is less typing than the full address.

I totally agree that all this anti-GPS stuff is Luddite nonsense. I know some Americans like to keep some romantic idea about Europe but we are in the 21st century and many of us use GPS every day.

Peter, Thanks so much for the postal code info. I had the same question about addresses. I think we will be able to navigate much more simply now.

I think google maps will show you lattitude and longitude, and many gps will let you put those in.

We didnt find ours particularly useful in finding non addressed stuff, BUT (big but) once you DID find it, the GPS was awesome, as no matter how lost you got, you could always find your way back again.

We found Garmin maps pretty up to date with almost every little dirt road or side street.

"once you DID find it, the GPS was awesome, as no matter how lost you got, you could always find your way back again"

Yes, that's a great plus. Once you find "home" and set the location, you can wander down as many side roads as you wish, pay no attention to where you are, and when you're done exploring, just tell the GPS "take me home" and it will get you there. I love it!

I call our Garmin "Our Lady of the Car". She tells us what to do and we do as we're told. If we don't, we picture her rolling her eyes as she says "recalculating" with a tone of slight impatience in her voice.

When my husband bought out GPS several years ago, I considered it his "toy". I became a TOTAL convert - even though I had no trouble being the map reader and navigator before, this has made it MUCH easier!

The lady on my Garmin is a right bossy so-and-so. I often have arguments with her when I am driving! I think GPS is a valuable addition to your British map books, especially if you are driving on your own and especially in areas where there are roads where you are not allowed to stop. I would still be driving around and around the North Circular if it wasn't for my GPS!