where to spend Chrristmas in England??

London without a doubt. Sucks in July but it beautiful in December. Less crowds, tree in Trfalgar, etc. Sure, the weather isn't great...but it's London...it never is!

I'd suggest staying in London. England tends to shut down over Christmas; in London there'll be more places open. It's a beautiful city to wander around and it'll be much quieter than usual. And lots of churches!

We love London in Dec. but have not been there at Christmas itself. The Christmas markets are wonderful fun- even the regular markets are great! Just plan to be well organized ahead of time- London transport really shuts down! And I mean totally according to posts on this board. If you are staying at a larger hotel with a resturant- make Christmas Eve dinner and Christmas lunch and/or dinner reservations when you book the hotel. There will be lots of special services ahead of time- check out St. Martin's in the Fields (lots of music) and St. Margret's chaple just outside Wesminster (it is small but very lovely). I imagine that York or Bath or Edinburgh or Windsor or..... will also have great things going on then, too.

We spent Christmas and New Years in England 2.5 years ago. We spent 4 days in London and rented a cottage in Snaiton, Yorkshire which is a few miles from Pickering and convenient to York. We had the best Christmas ever. The owner of the cottage decorated for us and we had Christmas Dinner at a Guesthouse close to Scarborough. We found plenty of things open and so much to do. One of our favorite memories is of climbing over the fence at Reiveaux Abbey and walking around the ruins in the snow. It was magical. My grown children say it was the best Christmas they ever had. We had New Years at a coaching inn in the Dales and loved it. We were the only Americans we talked to for over two weeks. I will be glad to give more names if you need it but I found everything on line. One more thing, we spent boxing day riding around the Moors, saw a real fox hunt (can't really hunt foxes anymore) and spent that evening at the pub in our village with all the residents of the village. What fun! I'm jealous. We plan to take the whole family and go back next year: new husbands, grandchildren and all.

I've spent Christmas in London 3 times. Both St. Paul's and Westminster not to mention the smaller churches have services. A midnight Xmas eve mass at St. Pauls' remains one of my favorite memories. Public transportation does not exist on Christmas Day. No buses, no tube and only rogue and very expensive cabs. Be prepared to walk. London is a very walkable city. If you get up bright and early Christmas Day the annual Peter Pan Cup race is held at 7am at the Serpetine in Hyde Park. Great silly fun and then stroll around Hyde Park. Great people watching. Make certain you have made dinner reservations for Christmas. Many Pubs, and some restaurants, accept them and if your hotel has a restaurant you can make a reservation there. I enjoy the pubs where families gather with their traditional hats and poppers. Although people claim the entire city is shut down many of the ethnic shops, restaurants, etc are open.....just like any other day. Just don't expect to go into museums, shop, etc. Perfect day to explore neighborhoods, visit the lovely parks, see decorations, and people watch. Lastly, be sure to attend a traditional panto. Depending on how the banking days fall closures may happen after Christmas as well although in 08 many more stores we open and jammed with after Xmas shoppers on the 26th

We spent Christmas in York in 2005. It was lovely! Festive, adorable, and a real community through Christmas Eve. Christmas(and Christmas Eve) had the services in the York MInster Abbey. Christmas Day we had dinner at the Monk House, but I am sure there are may other places. As most other places are closed on Christmas we went to the cinema later in the day. York is a beautiful tudor village and Christmas just adds to it. This year we are spending Christmas in London, or Hanwell to be specific. I'm sure which ever you choose will be lovely.

Err... sorry to be pedantic, but it's York Minster, not York Minster Abbey, York isn't just Tudor, infact a lot is mediaeval, and we are a bit bigger than a village! York is a city of some 125,000 inhabitants.
Glad you enjoyed your Christmas though!
York is beautiful at Christmas!

Leonie, I had to chuckle at your comment. Whenever I refer to York as medieval, my daughter, who is now completing her Masters at a UK university in early modern history, argues with me that it is largely misidentified, and is really much more Tudor. I don't care which it is, it is lovely. But the historical center is what I found interesting, not the environs per se as we didn't venture that far out. I'm sure it is a lovely city all round, but I wouldn't know that. As far as York MInster is concerned, I didn't bother to check the name in my journal, to me it is irrelevent, because it is a beautiful church whatever it is called ( A rose is a rose by any other name). How fortunate you are to live in such a lovely city! How fortunate was I to have visited York at Christmas!

The Rick Steves London 2010 book has a section on spending Christmas and New Year's in London. It starts on the bottom of page 359, in the Entertainment chapter.

cool

Nearly every church in the country will have the traditional midnight mass, even small town churches. (You will find some vicars cover about seven churches, so only one or two of those churches will have a service at midnight - with a "spare" clergy covering the second.)

Wells is a lovely smaller city, although the midnight mass is usually full there.