aussiedreamer

So we find ourselves starting our trip to UK 10 days early, which puts us in London the week of the Royal Wedding!! Yikes. We arrive on the Tues (5th trip to London) and have booked hotel for Tues & Wed nights. We will then pick up a car and 'get out of there' for a week. We will be back in London over the next 7 weeks or so.

Our <i>dilemma</i> is we have previously spent a month driving the UK, so we are finding it a bit harder to narrow down where we should go. The other part of the equation is our DD & her BF live in London and want to join us for the weekend, so we are all trying to work out where we can go that its 'easy' for them to get to by train.

I was thinking DH & I could head off on the Thurs maybe towards Oxford and then spend the night somewhere in the Cotswolds? We seemed to have missed out on a really 'special' village there last time, so would love a suggestion. Then spend Friday driving towards Snowdonia National Park for the weekend, DD & her BF have not been into Wales yet, DH & I have only had a quick stop in Betwy-y-Coed. I'm sure they could catch a train 'somewhere' nearby that we can collect them on the Saturday and drop them back on the Monday afternoon. As Monday is a Bank Holiday we will have to get organised soon. Dh & I could then meander back to London over the next two days.

Our likes are beautiful villages with nice pubs, Dh has a thing for bridges and walking, so any 'old' bridges and lovely walks, ruins etc would be just lovely. (If it helps, some of our favourite things last time were, Tintagel Castle, Devils Bridge-Wales, Hadrian’s Wall & one of the oldest Clapper bridges in Darmoor N/park) We also love B&b’s especially farm stays.

I hope this isn’t too vague,
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di2315

Hi ad

Have you considered Bath? Plenty to see and do, and nearby villages with interesting pubs. You could then travel down through Frome, across through Salsbury, & down to Portsmouth - full of Naval history, although I won't recommend the B&B we stayed in, unless you are keen to experience antiquated past-its-use-by-date Victorian splendor!

St Thomas Church in Portsmouth is well worth seeing, as is the sea front with ginormous vessels sailing so close to the sea wall.

Happy travels, Di

MissPrism

Shrewsbury is a nice little town and on the Welsh border.
It's accessible by train with only one change at Crewe.

alanRow

"which puts us in London the week of the Royal Wedding!!"

And a little religious event called "Easter".

nona1

You ever been to East Anglia? Suffolk/Essex borders? Near to London, lots of pretty villages, ancient sites etc, not too bad for them to get to from London by train.

texasbookworm

We drove rental car from LHR to Oxford (left car in B&B lot and took bus into town), spent day and night, then on through the Cotswolds (too quickly) to Shrewsbury, spent most of day and night, then through Wales to Conwy. Would loved to have stopped along the way in Wales for the night but thoroughly enjoyed the Snowdonian scenery and a castle ruin, and then Conwy. If you want to see what we did see Chapters 6-8 of my TR from last summer http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-and-wales.cfm

Oxford--well, what can I say--it's a gem.

We loved Shrewsbury, too--had the Cadfael connection which you may not know, but it is a good destination. Lots of areas around it we didn't get to see, too.

And I long to go back to Wales for more; if I ever return to the UK on my own (well, with hubby, I mean--I'm going as a group leader for some students on a tour this June but just in England) Wales will be my first choice.

flanneruk

If you've half-decided you want to go off to Snowdonia via the Cotswolds, it's hard to see any good reason to try persuading you different.

Pickup stations for daughter would be, usually, Moreton in Marsh, Evesham, Pershore, Worcester, Ledbury or Hereford (though note that the last train westward leaves London at 1921, and after that they have to change to a bus at Oxford. Return service to London is also a mess after around 2000 - and it stays a mess till early June) or Wolverhampton: Shrewsbury itself is a bit trickier since Deutsche Bundesbahn chickened out of its direct service a month or so ago.

"We seemed to have missed out on a really 'special' village there last time,"

Not sure there is such a place. Everywhere's pretty in late April: nowhere's gobsmackingly wonderful. Only you know what you mean by "special": to some of us on this board, Cotswold villages - all of them - are just ordinary. Since the Blue Mountains are the precise Australian translation, even down to the motorway number you get to get there of the Cotswolds (70 miles from the Big City, decent train, scattered settlements - only bigger hills and more flies of course,it being Oz), it might help if you revealed what about Katoomba fails to meet your brief.

caroline_edinburgh

"As Monday is a Bank Holiday we will have to get organised soon"

Book *all* your accommodation asap - lots of British people will be on holiday then, with it being the English school hols plus two four-day bank holiday weekends (which can be made into an 11 day hol for the expenditure of only 3 days' annual leave).

hetismij

As for bridges - quite apart from numerous lovely old stone bridges there are of course the Menai Suspension Bridge and the, sadly much modified, Britannia bridge to be admired in North Wales, along with the Conwy suspension Bridge.

aussiedreamer

Fantastic thank you all. Yes we have been to Bath, and loved it. I will map out all your suggestions and get booking. As we have not been to Oxford we will definately go there and then head to Wales, which was the 'kids' first choice. hetismij, its the 'lovely old bridges' that he really enjoys.

I'm presuming London has the same Easter holidays as us Friday - Monday? As we arrive on the Tues its "ONLY' the school holidays and that pesky wedding!!!

I will start looking for a nice B&B near Oxford, maybe outside and then concentrate on the weekend accommodation.

Thanks again.

texasbookworm

We liked Pickwick House B&B (the small hotel with nice rooms and good breakfast type) right outside of Oxford on London Road; we drove there from the rental agency at LHR and then caught a bus at a busstop about 5 minutes or less away. (This allowed us to make stops by C.S. Lewis's house and burial site along the way, if you are interested). Had the biggest parking lot of any place we stayed and the only room on the ground floor out of the 11 places we stayed last summer (there are rooms upstairs, we just had one on the bottom floor), good breakfast, nice showers, pretty back yard, good beds.

annhig

I'm putting in a bid for Cornwall, aussie - it's usually lovely here that time of year and shouldn't be too full of tourists. 2nd choice - the Brecon Beacons and mid-wales.

faithful to ny own recommendation, we're off to yorkshire!

aussiedreamer

I know annhig, remember we've done the Cornwall 'thing'. You helped me so much on that trip. DD did also mention Brecon Beacons......ahhhh soooo many great choices.

annhig

oops aussie - i remember that now.

the brecon beacons would be lovely - we drove across the top when we had dropped DS off at uni in Jan and had we not been speeding to paris, we'd definitely have stopped. it's stunning and not at all overcrowded.

annhig

or what about Northumberland?

DH and i were thinking about going there to follow his rugby team, but her decided that March was too early togo that far north.

Even over royal wedding weekend, it's unlikely to be very busy.

aussiedreamer

ahhhhh too much to think about!!! I will have a good look at brecon beacons. We stayed at the most amazing B&B in Llandrindod Wells a few years ago and I would love to take the 'kids' there. We've got a lot of 'stuff' going on here at the moment and I have to keep making myself focus on the planning of this trip, we leave in just over 4 weeks!!

thanks as always annhig

ps. you've really got me thinking, I just emailed the B&B for availabiltiy, that may be enough to make me decide thanks again.

annhig

hi aussie - never been to l/wells - could you post the details of that B&B?

aussiedreamer

Happy to, it was perfect. The owner is a chef and the dinner was awesome, and we found it really reasonably priced. She's emailed me back to say they have vacancies.

I'm so confused............

http://www.brynhirfarm.co.uk/

annhig

mmm aussie, looks nice. very nice.

i can understand your dilemma.

toss a coin?

VolCrew

Between Cornwall (out of the way) and Brecon Beacons, I would vote for the latter.