studley

I found a site advertising b/b rooms it is called The Royal foundation ST Katherines London
Does anyone have information,or stayed there,?
We are ladies travelling from Australia want something clean and in a good area
will not have a car.
Any suggestions would be great

jamikins

From what I can see they are located at Limehouse. The area itself is nice enough, although borders on some not so nice areas. The issue is that you will not be in walking distance of any sites, and there are only a few places to eat in the area. You will be relying on the DLR to get there so will need to transfer at Bank or Tower Gateway to get to any site. Its a bit out of the way and for that reason wouldnt be my first choice.

What is your budget?

PatrickLondon

Years ago I went there for an office away-day conference, since a colleague was connected with the then Master. It's the modern inheritor of a very old-established religious (Church of England) foundation (moved out there when the St Katharine's Docks were built). 1950s/1960s accommodation and meeting rooms beside Limehouse DLR station; in its own grounds, squeezed within some major traffic routes and interchanges, next to a small park. It's certainly clean and safe, but Jamikins's assessment is about right: is the balance of price/travel time/access to whatever you're looking for in London right for you?

http://www.rfsk.org.uk/

There are some riverside pubs within walking distance, including Gordon Ramsay's The Narrow, and the Grapes, and a range of Indian/Thai restaurants on the main road, whose quality I know nothing about, as well as some rather depressing-looking takeaways. There is a long local social history (this is the London of "Call the Midwife"), but generally the area is just plain workaday/ordinary residential, with a lot of recent would-be upmarket redevelopment in the area, which has still left a fair amount of scruffiness waiting to be sorted out and spruced up.

studley

Thank you all for your replies, I can see why priced low Position is very important
We will be coming early Sept would like to be close to London at least 3 days to do
History research at genealogy building.
Any suggestions, hoping to find something for 3 adults 150 to 200 max AUST Dollar per night
Then hope to do day trips Sussex cornwall Devon Stratford on Avon so could stay outside city
maybe B/Bs apartment.
We will only have about 31/2 weeks, thought about attempting Ireland/Scotland before we depart

jamikins

I would start my search in London with www.londontown.com or doing a search on this board. There are lots of threads about this. Also you might consider renting a flat/apartment which will allow you to eat in and have more space. Again, a search here will give you lots of ideas and advice on areas. Try to get a place within the borders of the circle line (yellow line) on the tube map.

You are trying to cover a lot in 3.5 weeks. I personally would plan a week for London, and then spend the other 2.5 weeks doing Sussex (Rye is lovely), Devon and Cornwall, maybe including a stop in the Cotswolds as well. Trying to get to Ireland and Scotland may be a bit much but if you prioritise and allow enough time for travel you can decide what the most important areas for you will be.

I would recommend renting a car once you get out of London to allow you the most flexibility...

PatrickLondon

When you say "genealogy building", what do you have in mind? You can do a great deal online from home. For other things, you might find the Society of Genealogists in Clerkenwell useful, but not necessarily essential. A great deal depends on what you're looking for. It might be accessible through an online site, or you might have to go to a county records office up the other end of the country.

Gordon_R

Maybe it was a slip of the keyboard, but you surely realise it's impossible to do "day trips" from London to Cornwall/Devon given the distances and travel time involved. I have no idea what "150 to 200 max AUST Dollar per night" equates to in our money, but you'll definitely find that your pounds go a lot further once outside the London area.

annhig

Then hope to do day trips Sussex cornwall Devon Stratford on Avon so could stay outside city>>

what Gordon said.

with 3 1/2 weeks, you could certainly see some but not all of these places, but not by day trips. one option would be to get a train to Stratford [or Oxford or wherever] for a cotswolds stay, then drive down to Cornwall, back via Devon to Sussex, returning your car to Gatwick.

a trip like that might be comfortably accomplished in 2 weeks or so.

whether you would need to book ahead or could "busk" it would depend on time of year and how much you like to have your plans fixed in advance. B&Bs ought to be available for from £35-50 pp per night.

if you'd like more details about Cornwall [where i live] Devon or sussex, just come back with your queries, and I'm sure we'll all try to help.

janisj

You are talking approx £100-£135 a night. The top end of your budget could be just doable for a triple. A much better option in your price range is to rent a flat.

For example (I'm not necessarily recommending them for you but just as one example) these 1-bdrms sleep up to 4 are well w/i your budget. http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~hamlet_uk/

That would require staying a week in London- though there are other properties/agencies that rent for shorter periods.

dgassa

If you're interested in a B&B and not a hotel I used At home in London to find a B&B in Central London. Haven't stayed there yet, but so far the service has been seemless and they responded to all my questions. We have reserved the B&B in Belgravia.

http://www.athomeinlondon.co.uk/

GBbabe

By genealogy building, do you mean the National Archives? or maybe the London Metropolitan Archives?

If you are headed to the National Archives, I suggest you look for a B&B in or around Kew and Richmond, because the journey between Limehouse and Kew will be looooong. I know, because DH and I did it in 2011! DH also had to go to the London Metropolitan Archives and Guildhall, so we stayed in the Docklands. But the days spent at Kew, were long, long rides on the DLR and tube.

studley

Gordon thank you for info, as you can see I know little about travelling around England
I do mean stay in central London to research at the National Archives, maybe do as much as possible on line, interested to see where the families lived etc I know Sussex Devon are places
they resided also Sutton.
Spend some time in countryside love to stay in thatched cottage, hoping to come Sept 2013

PatrickLondon

I second Gordon's comments on the National Archives - I live a little further east from Limehouse, and I can tell you, it would take you a good hour and a quarter or so to the Archives. Even from central London it's a long trek, and you will need to know exactly what you're looking for, and what documentation you need to take to access any records. You need to check their website for details of entry requirements, and have a look at their catalogue - it would be a great shame if you went all that way to be disappointed, and end up, in effect, doing little more than using their access to Ancestry and Find My Past, which you could just as well do without leaving home.

www.nationalarchives.gov.uk

Gordon_R

Actually it was GBbabe who made the point about the location of the National Archives at Kew, but good advice from all.

janisj

studley: >>I know Sussex Devon are places they resided also Sutton.<<

Sussex (East or West?) and Devon are big areas -do you have any more details/specifics?

Also Sutton? Which Sutton? And maybe Sutton '<i>what</i>'.

There are probably 5 or 6 plain old "Sutton's" . . and likely 25 or 30 Sutton-something-or-other.