Trip Report – England: Plymouth, Salisbury and London, with accessibility notes

Transportation (cont.)

I did use Passenger Assistance (passengerassistance.com) to book assistance on our rail journeys. Thank you, Nigel, for mentioning this service in other threads. This was a huge help for getting my son on and off the trains, since he needs extra time to navigate the platform/train transition. I would highly recommend this service if you have mobility challenges that might make your British train travel difficult.

With respect to the car, my husband did all the driving. He’s much better at the left-side thing than I am and this wasn’t his first rodeo, so he did fine. The narrow lanes in some areas were a bit nerve-wracking for both of us, and we did a lot of stop-back up-pull over-resume driving drills, especially on Dartmoor. The most mind-blowing part for both of us was a long stretch on the way back from Avebury where the road was 1 ½ lanes wide, curvy, lined with hedges and trees, and the speed limit was 60 mph! We barely made it to 30, lol. But we were glad to have the car, and it worked out well for this trip.

We used Google Maps to navigate and it worked fine for us. I did wish I had downloaded the map for the Dartmoor area before we left, as some places the coverage was spotty. Also, driving times were far in excess of the Google predicted times. Everywhere we went, drivers were slower than the speed limit (including us). My husband decided on the third day of driving that the posted speed was a challenge, as in, “bet you can’t do this!”

I booked through Enterprise several months ahead of the trip. They and Thrifty were the only carriers I could find with pick up in Plymouth and drop off in Salisbury. We were very happy with our Enterprise experience and I would rent from them again.

In London, we used Oyster cards for the tube and Thames Uber. Since we are usually juggling stuff around, navigating around my son’s mobility needs, usually somewhat distracted, I didn’t want to risk dropping or misplacing my credit card or phone. My son had his card on a lanyard that he wore every waking moment while we were in London. He’ll tell you that tapping in and tapping out was his favorite part of the whole trip; I truly think he would have been happy just riding the tube all day.

I used the TFL app to navigate transportation in London. It worked well for us. Note that if you need to take elevators vs. escalators in the stations, it will take quite a bit longer than the predicted journey because usually you are navigating to a couple or three lifts at each station and waiting for each of them to arrive, potentially with a line.

One more transportation note: be sure to allow time for disruptions and delays, which we saw frequently in London. On our way to LHR on our last day, we had planned an easy, no transfer journey on the Elizabeth line. But an interruption in service on the line had us go a different route involving changes and a longer journey. We had left early enough that it wasn’t a problem for us, but it’s something to be aware of if you need to get somewhere by a particular time.

Packing
We travel carryon only. I bring my RS rolling backpack which I use only as a roller (I cut the backpack straps off long ago). It is a nice, small size and I like the way it packs. I also carry my son’s eBags MotherLoad backpack with his stuff, plus my personal item, which is a Tom Bihn Maker’s bag. My husband wrangles his own eBags MotherLoad plus the stroller for my son. He also has a small, packable backpack that he sometimes carries with stuff and sometimes sticks in his MotherLoad. We’ve made a lot of trips with this bag configuration and it works well for us. It’s a manageable load that gets everything to our destination without checking bags. My husband and I are both road warriors from long ago and have seen too many things go wrong with checked luggage. Not wanting to open a hot debate here, but we choose to carry on.

Cash: We used zero cash on this trip. The only time it would have been absolutely necessary was if we wanted to use a locker in the changing room at the Plymouth pool; the lockers took a 20p coin. We opted to keep our stuff with us poolside, which was fine. Everyone, everywhere, every transaction, was tap to pay. I used my phone for everything and never visited an ATM.

Finally, on to what we did…..

Plymouth; weather 60’s daytime, 50’s nights, breezy, mostly sunny, a few light showers. Fantastic weather the whole trip!

Lodging: We stayed here https://www.booking.com/hotel/gb/grand-apartment-on-hoe-barbican-allocated-parking.html?aid=304142&label=gen173nr-1FCAEoggI46AdIM1gEaLMCiAEBmAExuAEXyAEM2AEB6AEB-AECiAIBqAIDuAKL-aPDBsACAdICJDJhZDFiZWVhLTQ5NTctNDMyMS05ZTIwLTQ0YzNlYTM4OTA2YtgCBeACAQ&sid=06551a602c2881aebabbe59d49798a65&dist=0&sbpricetype=total&type=total&
a 2-BR apartment near the Hoe and the Barbican that I booked in February. The location was perfect for walking to everything we wanted to do in Plymouth. However, the cross street was very, very noisy at all times of the night. With no A/C, we had to keep the windows open and the street noise was really disruptive. If visiting Plymouth again, I would look for something in the area but much further off the main street.

On our arrival evening, we walked over to the Barbican, which is a nice little historic district with tons of restaurants, bars, and excellent people-watching. Husband was very excited to see the Plymouth Gin Distillery, although we never made it for a tour or sampling.

Tavistock: We spent our first full day picking up the rental car in downtown Plymouth and then driving to Tavistock and across Dartmoor. This was a lovely day. First stop was Tavistock. We found street parking alongside the Pannier Market and then walked through the market, which was bustling on a Saturday. My son had fun checking out the first responder vehicles, which were there doing community demos and info sessions. Super nice folks. We headed to Molly’s Kitchen in the market to have lunch. It was excellent, very fresh and well prepared. I had crab and avocado on toast, husband salmon on toast, son mushroom quiche. All delicious. After lunch we wandered through the rest of the market, made some small purchases, and then headed back to the car. Public restrooms are available right outside the market.

Dartmoor: From Tavistock, we headed across the moor on the B3357. We stopped for a few short walks on the moor, saw sheep, ponies, cows. It being late June, the babies were everywhere, and we saw lots of adorable foals, lambs, and calves. We visited St. Pancras Church in Widecombe-in-the-Moor. It was absolutely lovely, with a piano player going in the church itself. We sat for quite a while, enjoying the music and the contemplation time. The driving to get there was quite exciting; I spent a lot of time in the passenger seat staring at the hedge we’d buried ourselves into to let oncoming cars pass. While we were walking in Widecombe, we saw pickup trucks and Land Rovers and wondered how they ever manage to drive anywhere… But it was worth the drive, and the main roads through the moor are much wider and easy to navigate. We left Plymouth at 10:00 and returned at 5:00 p.m. Definitely could have spent much longer on the moor, and I’d love to return someday for a walking/hiking vacation. Loved the views, loved the animals, loved the peace and quiet. Maybe my favorite day of the trip.

Plymouth (continued)

National Marine Aquarium: Prepurchased tickets online the morning of our visit. A very nice aquarium. Spent a couple of hours here on Sunday morning, very enjoyable for all of us. The largest tank wraps around and over the people area, so you can go underneath the sharks, rays, turtles, fish. Very fun to watch.

The Hoe: Lovely big park right on the water. We had such good weather, and people were all over the lawn, relaxing, picnicking, playing with dogs, biking. We enjoyed taking a break for a bit here, underneath the lighthouse.

Tinside Lido: AMAZING giant saltwater pool right alongside the water. My son loves, loves, loves swimming, so I had earmarked this as a “must-do” for us. I had emailed before our trip to ask questions about accessibility, figure out how we needed to get to the pool, make reservations, etc. The staff was wonderful, incredibly helpful. We had a very smooth, very enjoyable visit. The day we went was 60 degrees and super windy, so we were among the very few people in the pool (it was much warmer than our trips to the beach in Maine!!). The lifeguards had on fleece-lined trench coats. The swim was very refreshing, lol. My son had a ball, and the hot showers in the changing room after were amazing. Highly recommend this if you are in the Plymouth area in summertime.

Buckfastleigh Butterfly House and Otter Farm: We stopped here on our way to Salisbury; it’s about 20 minutes outside of Plymouth. I wanted an easy, fun stop for my son along the drive; this fit the bill nicely. We had a very enjoyable 90-minute wander, seeing lots of butterflies, turtles, a giant iguana, and tons of otters, who are rescues that cannot be returned to the wild.

Plymouth restaurants:
Harbourside: the BEST fish & chips we had the whole trip!!
Platters: very good; I had sea bass, husband fish & chips, son fish pie
Boathouse: had lunch. It was OK, not bad, not fabulous. Nice view over the harbor, great service.
Hook & Line in the Royal William Yard: outstanding! I had crab/avocado salad, husband seafood chowder, son scallops. Very, very nice rum bar; fell in love with Devon black spiced rum :-)

For the few times we needed a taxi in Plymouth, I used the Need-a-Cab app. It worked flawlessly.

Overall impressions of Plymouth: We enjoyed our stay. It is definitely a bit gritty, but people were SO friendly. We liked the walkability for the areas we wanted to visit, loved doing some of the low-key activities like the aquarium and the Lido. Absolutely loved all the seafood; some of the best food we had on the trip (and quite inexpensive).

A big thank you to Golden Girl and Mardee for your excellent suggestions for the Plymouth area as I was planning this adventure. Without your ideas, we never would have visited St Pancras church or swam at the Lido, which were highlights of the trip!

Plymouth area photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/197009824@N03/albums/72177720327307513/

Salisbury; weather 60’s/70’s daytime, 60’s nights, mix of clouds and sun, breezy and comfortable

Lodging: We stayed here: https://www.booking.com/hotel/gb/pear-tree-apartments.html?aid=304142&label=gen173nr-1FCAEoggI46AdIM1gEaLMCiAEBmAExuAEXyAEM2AEB6AEB-AECiAIBqAIDuAKmkqrDBsACAdICJGE3ZjlmNjgzLTFiY2ItNDAyNi05ZTk5LWY0NjM1ZGE3MDQwMtgCBeACAQ&sid=06551a602c2881aebabbe59d49798a65&dist=0&sbpricetype=total&type=total&
in a very nice, clean, spacious 2-BR apartment that I booked in February. Would definitely return. Around the corner from the train station, walkable to everywhere in Salisbury, great laundry facilities on the first floor, easy on-site parking.

Watermeadows: On our arrival evening in Salisbury, we took a lovely walk across the Watermeadows to the Harnham Old Mill Pub, about a 20 minute walk. Had a drink at the pub, planned to have dinner, but their kitchen was closed because of a staffing issue. We wound up walking back to town to eat there, but we very much enjoyed the walk across the meadows with the views of the cathedral and the sheep, and the pub was a nice stop.

Avebury: For our full day in Salisbury, we drove to Avebury to see the standing stones. I had emailed the staff prior to our visit to enquire about accessibility. They were WONDERFUL. We were directed to use the employee car park, which is much closer to the main entrance than the public car park. We were lent an e-powered wheelchair with giant lugged wheels that we could easily maneuver over much of the grounds. Without it, we wouldn’t have been able to access nearly as much with my son. He enjoyed the visit almost as much as we did, with his very cool transport, and we also saw a flock of sheep being sheared inside the stone circle. Very pleasant day for all of us, including lunch at the Red Lion right in the center of Avebury.

Stonehenge: The plan was to swing by on the way back from Avebury. We really didn’t want to spend the money on a full visit/parking/shuttle, since without a tour, you can’t really get close to the stones. I had researched and found the public footpath access that goes near the stones. We had planned to drive down the access road from Larkhill village, park along the road, and do the short walk over. But the road is now closed to vehicles about a mile away from the stones, which is too far to go with the stroller (dirt road). It would have been a great way to see the site if we didn’t have physical limitations. So we took pictures from the A303 on our way by and called it a day.

Salisbury Cathedral: Gorgeous. Loved our visit. My son was bored, but we had frozen in the pool for him in Plymouth, so it was payback time. We spent about 90 minutes inside. Loved the windows, loved the stonework, loved seeing the Magna Carta up close. They were doing restoration work on the outside, and it was fun to watch the workers on ropes up high doing their thing. I, as a Vermonter, loved seeing that they had temporarily patched part of the stonework with duct tape. In Vermont, duct tape and Bag Balm are the solutions to all life’s problems; I loved the affirmation of this fact.

Salisbury restaurants:
Coach and Horses: Excellent! Was recommended to us by the folks at the Harnham Old Mill. I had a Greek salad with falafel, husband a giant cheeseburger, son mushroom naan pizza. Great food, great service, great atmosphere. And I discovered Devon Mist hazy cider – ooohhh, yum!!
Ox Row Pub: pretty good. Nice location on the market square, great service, food good but didn’t wow us.
Red Lion Pub in Avebury: Good. Mighty convenient (right in the middle of the stones), very good food. We had steak and mushroom pies. Pretty slow service and high prices, but it’s in the middle of a tourist area, so….

Salisbury final impressions: We liked Salisbury a lot. Very walkable, nice old town feel, loved the Watermeadows park, lots of food options. We weren’t there for very long, but it was a nice stay.

Salisbury area photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/197009824@N03/albums/72177720327313419

London; weather 80s day, 70s night mostly sunny, one downpour

Lodging: We stayed here: https://www.booking.com/hotel/gb/mayfair-magic.html?aid=304142&label=gen173nr-1FCAEoggI46AdIM1gEaLMCiAEBmAExuAEXyAEM2AEB6AEB-AECiAIBqAIDuALpzKrDBsACAdICJDgxNTlhZDdkLTIwNjctNDk4MC1iOWNiLTQ4NWI1NWUxYTEwY9gCBeACAQ&sid=06551a602c2881aebabbe59d49798a65&dist=0&sbpricetype=total&type=total&
a 2-BR apartment in Mayfair that I booked in February. This was a great apartment, perfectly located near Bond Street Tube station (accessible with good connections), with an elevator, air conditioning, restaurants right outside, immaculate. It was breathtakingly expensive in my opinion, but I had a heckuva time finding lodging that met all of our needs and that didn’t cost a fortune.

SIX! I bought tickets a few months in advance. The show was a lot of fun, very energetic and sassy. It does help to know the history before you go; my husband, not a history guy, walked out with a lot of questions (“so, who are all the Katherines??”). It’s only a 90 minute show, so my son had a great time and it wasn’t too long or late for him.

Tower of London: One of my two favorite sites in London, along with Westminster Abbey. We arrived at 9:30 and stayed until 2:00. The poppies were so impactful https://www.hrp.org.uk/tower-of-london/whats-on/tower-remembers-2025/#gs.nnezys. Because of all the stairs inside the towers, my husband and I took turns going inside while the other waited on the grounds with my son. He wasn’t hugely excited by the Tower, but he did like the ravens, who obligingly flapped up very close to us. He is also an audioguide fan and amused himself listening to all the presentations. We ate lunch in the cafeteria, which was surprisingly good, given my expectations. Not gourmet by any means, but more than edible.

Tower Bridge/South Bank Walk: after leaving the Tower, we ducked under the bridge to wait out a downpour for a few minutes and then made our way across the bridge. Great views. We then walked for a couple of hours along the south bank, stopping for drinks and snacks along the way. Very enjoyable, with great views across the river. A nice way to spend the afternoon. We walked back across Westminster Bridge and then to Westminster tube station (we targeted our walks to end up at accessible tube stations).

London (continued)

Westminster Abbey: Such a treasure. One of my “wow” moments in life was my first visit 30 years ago when I saw Elizabeth I. It brought history to reality. This second visit was just as amazing to me and we spent about 2 hours inside. It was far more crowded than my last visit, but there wasn’t the designated “path” for visitors back then, and I like the current one-way direction better; it helped me organize my mind around what I was seeing, somehow. The building itself was fairly easy to navigate with my son in the stroller, and he was able to walk up and down the few steps with no issues – although once he had listened to everything on the audioguide, he was bored out of his mind, lol. We did go up to the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Galleries, which was really interesting, with lots of historical artifacts relating to the Abbey. I was impressed by the effigies, going all the way back to Edward III. And if the displays aren’t impressive enough, the views of the Abbey below are absolutely stunning.

London Eye: We hadn’t planned on riding, but my son saw it as we were walking on our first day and asked if we could. Since we’d made him suffer through the Tower and the Abbey, we decided to throw him a bone and do it. I bought tickets the night before for a 2:00 p.m. ride. We showed up at 1:00 and they let us on with no questions. The ride around is about 30 minutes. It was enjoyable, obviously with great views, and my son loved it, but on my own I wouldn’t have done it and I wouldn’t spend the money to do it again.

Mamma Mia the Party: My son is a massive Abba fan, so when I saw that this show was on, I grabbed tickets. It was a lot of fun! We took the Thames Uber boat to North Greenwich (stopping for a quick visit to Greenwich along the way), which was a great way to travel. The show was a combination dinner/musical production event, with the giant restaurant area inside the O2 decorated as a Greek taverna. The food was pretty good, the singing and dancing were great – they came out onto the floor and mixed in around the dining tables – and the crowd was extremely enthusiastic. A great time for all three of us.

Greenwich: We had just a little bit of extra time on our way to the O2 for Mamma Mia, so we got off the boat at the Greenwich pier and walked up to the Royal Observatory. I had forgotten since my last visit what an uphill walk that is! We did see signs for a disabled access, but the signs said it would be a 15 minute walk and we didn’t have much time. So up the hill we went. We spent some time in the museum, which had some hands-on, kid-friendly exhibits as well as a lot of informational signage for the adults. I had thought it might be boring for my son, but he really enjoyed the museum. We were there about an hour, along with the obligatory photos straddling the prime meridian line and a few minutes enjoying the view from the hill. A nice, quick stop.

Hyde Park walk: On our last day, I had made no plans other than brunch and afternoon tea reservations. After brunch on the Grand Union canal, we decided to walk from Paddington, down through Hyde Park, a brief stop at Harrods (we lasted 10 minutes inside, what a crush), continued the walk through Belgravia and admired all the expensive parked cars, past Buckingham Palace, and then over to Picadilly for tea. Whew! We really liked the walk, especially through Hyde Park. We stopped to rent a pedal boat, which my son loved; we saw horseback riders, baby ducks, lots of families out on a nice Saturday. We ended with a rest under a shady tree in Green Park before we headed off to tea. It was a very nice last day in London.

London restaurants:
Blacklock Covent Garden: Wonderful! Great service, bustling atmosphere, tho’ a little loud. It is down quite a flight of stairs. We had perfectly-cooked steaks, delicious sides, fabulous white chocolate cheesecake for dessert. And I got my first martini of the trip after striking out in Plymouth and Salisbury (seems like vermouth isn’t a thing); it was so cold and delicious :-)
Grand Bazaar on James Street, Mayfair, right outside our apartment: Turkish food. Excellent! I had simple grilled chicken thighs that were amazing, husband had lamb shish, son had flatbread pizza. Everyone was happy. The place was bustling every time we passed by.
Darcie & May Green, Grand Union Canal: Fantastic. Went for Saturday brunch. It’s a tied-up canal boat, which was fun. The food was really, really good. I had beans, hash, avocados, cheese, eggs with chorizo with chipotle sauce, fresh orange juice, really good coffee. Delicious!
Fortnum and Mason for afternoon tea. It was very good, both the food and the experience. Friendly wait staff who were patient about explaining “how it works” and helping with choices. Very elegant, with a piano player and beautiful furnishings/tableware, but not too stuffy. We were dressed casually but not sloppily (collared shirts for the guys, skirt and nice tee for me, husband wore shorts). We had a lovely experience and were surprisingly full when we were done! Did not need dinner later as we had expected. And husband and I concur that scones are better with the jam on top of the clotted cream.

Final impressions of London: We had a very enjoyable time, though we are not really “city people” and we get tired of crowds and noise pretty quickly. And it was very crowded – and starting to warm up quite a bit. We loved the public transportation, and as long as we planned ahead to get to the accessible stations, it was easy to move around with my son. People on the tube were very, very kind and moved quickly to make sure he had a seat when we boarded, so that was great. We did have one time when the elevator at a tube station was out of service and we had to take the escalator. We made it, but those escalators move FAST and it was a little nerve-wracking getting him to step on and off. We barely scratched the surface of all there is to do in London, but we are pretty slow travelers and we were very happy with what we did (and didn’t) do during our 3 days.

London photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/197009824@N03/albums/72177720327287051

Final thoughts: We had a great trip! It was a nice mix of things that were fun for the grownups, fun for my son, and fun for all of us. On the last night, my son said he wasn’t ready to go home yet; I think he wasn’t ready to give up his Oyster card, lol. I think we liked Plymouth and Salisbury better than London, but that’s par for the course for us; we definitely gravitate towards the quieter, outdoorsy places. And London was very, very expensive, which wasn’t a surprise, but it’s a big dent in the travel budget.

The food was amazing, with many memorable meals, especially the seafood in Plymouth.

Transportation had some challenges, and we definitely had to plan around accessibility, but it worked.

I loved seeing dogs everywhere – in restaurants, on the tube, in the parks, living the life. I wish we could have this in the US!

My biggest takeaway was the kindness of everyone we met and how accommodating people were with my son. At the Mamma Mia party, he was gifted multiple party favors and had many dancing partners. It made his day. This is something we’ve encountered all over the world, but it was especially notable on this trip. In my experience, it’s a close contest between Spanish folks and English folks for who’s the kindest; lucky us to get to participate in the battle!

Thank you to everyone who has posted on the England forum. I did a lot of research, and your information made the planning easy for this trip.

Happy travels!

Fantastic trip report. So glad your family had a wonderful, memorable 10 day trip in England!

It sounds so lovely of a trip, thank you for writing this up! Bookmarking and thoroughly enjoyed.

Oh wow did I enjoy reading this! And I really appreciate you sharing your accessibility experience. I fear our world is in ever more desperate need of more kindness in general, and of greater inclusion of people different than us especially; and it truly made my heart warm to read each instance of kindness offered to your family and every space made accessible to your son. It sounds like he had a blast (cathedrals and Abbeys excluded lol) and that you made some great memories. Thanks for sharing!

ETA PS. You have some really stunning photographs! (star eye emoji!)

Thanks for sharing your trip report. It's wonderful to hear first hand accounts of the kindness of strangers. So glad all 3 of you had an awesome holiday!

Great report. Loved your photos.

Great tips and photos; will keep these restaurants on file for later :-)

That man at the train station in Reading letting you on the Plymouth train nearly brought tears to my eyes. You never know at railway stations whether you’re going to encounter a gem or a jobsworth. I’m so glad you got a gem.

Great to hear about your Plymouth trip. I moved down here about four years ago and love it, grit and all. Harbourside, Platters and Hook & Line are three of my go-to places, and I have a season ticket for the Lido: I’m there shivering in the unheated water on the first day of the season every year and as many days as I can through the summer. The lifeguards would have been wearing DryRobes - a cult favourite here.

Incidentally the lido water temperature is gorgeous right now as we’ve had some good stretches of warm weather.

I love your can-do attitude.

Well done for even knowing about the Railair bus link to Reading! In fact their tickets are always valid same day if you missed the booked service (assuming there are seats) which makes it a very useful link for trains to the west. Sadly you don't have to go far on the internet to find people who should know about it but don't, see the "info" under Hotels+Flights on this https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/england/best-england-tour-2025 oh dear.......!

The reaction of the GWR man was not an exception, it was down to the way you approached him. There is a big problem of people buying the cheapest ticket of the day with full intent of just forcing their way onto a more convenient but more expensive train and this wears the staff down. Meeting someone who knew they were technically out of the rules but asking nicely probably made his day as much as yours.

What a delightful trip report! I really enjoyed reading it. So glad you had such a nice trip. Thanks for sharing it with us.

You write the best trip reports. Sitting down with my coffee now to read this!!! Thank!

I enjoyed this! So glad you experienced and then shared all the kindness shown to you and your son. It was refreshing to read.

Yes those ‘fleece lined trench coats’ are the famous (infamous?) DryRobes. Basically it’s cold here but we’re an island and everyone loves the sea. This is like a coat that you wear when you’re wet after surfing or swimming, but some people just wear them to the supermarket, which some other people find highly questionable.

You can find whole Facebook groups about it.

I’m glad to see you had another great trip with your son. I’m planning to take my daughter to see Six on a mother-daughter trip in August. I’ll be sure to introduce some of the history first.

Thanks for the great report.

What a great trip report.

The ‘good' weather continues and for the next few days much of Britain has heatwave warnings. London will certainly be up in the 30’sC. so it will be best to head for the coasts given a choice.

Mainland Europe has been very hot lately. It could well be that the British Isles experience a tourism boom with other places being too hot.

What great timing for your trip report as I'm working to finalize my August trip plans to London/Paris/Disney with my niece. Wonderful report and so well written, thank you for sharing your experience (and photos, wow!)

I'm so impressed that you're able to have enjoyable trips with your son.