vikeduude

This will be our first trip to the UK and would love some help planning.
A few questions here:
#1 We plan to spend about 14 days in the UK (flying from the USA) after the tourist season is over in 2016 (Possibly September) Is the timing good regarding weather, crowds, and tickets?
#2 We have friends in London and family in Cheltenham. 4 of the days will be spent with them doing touristy stuff in their areas. Should we reserve hotels ahead of time in our other destinations?
#3 We would like to visit Oxford, Althorp estate, my husband's ancestral home in Ashbourne, Durham, Edinburgh, Liverpool and Caernarfon Castle in Wales, Minton in Shropshire (this could be scrapped), Cheltenham - 2 days to visit with family, Iron Acton (my ancestral town), Stonehenge and then about 3 days in London. Is this too much to pack into 14 days?
#4 Transportation .... I know we can do bus tours whilst in London and in Edinburgh, but what is the best mode of transportation for the countryside? If we do ride the train through the countryside, are there taxis in each town that can get you from the station to your tourist site? Would renting a car be better for us, since we want to stop in non-touristy random places?
#5 Would a day trip to Paris from London be out of the question, as far as time?
Thanks in advance for all your help!!

janisj

1) there is no really 'low' season in a lot of parts of the UK and especially so in London. So go when you want -- it will be just as crowded in Sept as most any other time (except <i>maybe</i> August)

2) Depends on where your other locations are. One should definitely pre-book if they have any sort of budget or want particular properties/types of accommodation.

3) >>Is this too much to pack into 14 days? <<

Yes (do you mean the Ashbourne near the Peak District or someplace else?)

4) For most rural areas a car is easiest. For just about ALL cities public transport is easiest. But before you decide, you need to refine/trim your itinerary a bit.

5) a day trip to Paris is easy -- but you don't have enough time for the places already on your list so, no.

Why not concentrate on just London, Cheltenham/the Cotswolds, your two ancestral areas and maybe one other place -- that would be a doable 2 weeks. BTW - Althorp is only open on Sundays in Sept so you need to plan around that

vikeduude

Casterne Hall is in Ashbourne, Derbyshire. I think that's the Peak District National Park.
Thanks for the heads-up about Althorp.

janisj

Yes - that is the Ashbourne I thought.

Casterne Hall is only open limited times in May, June, and July . . . from the website:

<blue>18th to 25th May, 1st to 12th June, and 24th June to 10th July - Weekdays only.</blue>

That is for 2015 but one can assume it will be similar next year.

vikeduude

So... if we fly into
- London - 2 days
- Oxford and Althorp - can we do that in 1 day and use London as our base for that night?
- Ashbourne, Derbyshire - day trip from London, possibly stay there overnight?
- Day trip to Edinburgh, Scotland , or should we stay overnight there?
- Travel to Cheltenham, stay for 2 nights with family and see the Cotswolds
- See Iron Acton family sites on the way back to London
- Do a day trip to Stonehenge with a bus tour group
- Do a day trip to Paris?
- London 1 more day... before we fly out

Does this look more reasonable??

nytraveler

No- most of those are NOT day trips rom London - just too far.

And you don;t have enough time to see most of these places. You have only 2.5 days in London - barely scraping the surface.

I would drop Paris - I love it but how long will you have there unless you take 6 am train out and 10 pm train back? How many days like that can you really enjoy?

Have a look at the train schedules for the places you are proposing - IMHO way too many hours in transit versus actually seeing/doing anything.

janisj

Your plan is all over the place -- no, you really can't do Althorp and Oxford in one day by public transport.

Northampton is about an hour from London by train and then you have a 20 minute cab ride or much longer bus ride to Althorp. Then you have to return to Northampton and nearly a 2 hour train trip to Oxford..

Ashbourne is also not a day trip from London. The nearest train stations are Derby (90 minutes from London) which is nearly 20 miles away and Uttoxetter (2.5 hours from London) and 15 miles away.

Edinburgh is NOT a day trip from London (4+ hours each way). To do a day trip you'd need to take the sleeper train up and arrive early in the morning.

Most of the places you want to visit are either very rural or nowhere near each other and most are a loooooong way from London. Using trains just won't be easy/convenient.

You are simply trying to do too much too far apart in too few days.

janisj

Oh -- from your other thread I now realize you are staying near Watford Junction, apparently because that is where your friends live. Watford Junction is not really IN London -- it is in a faaaaar northwestern suburbs -- much closer to St Albans than Big Ben.

So most of your journeys would take even longer.

vikeduude

It's hard to know since we've never been there just how long the transportation will take. I appreciate all your input! Maybe it would be better for us just to rent a car for the trips outside the city?

sheila

what are your absolute MUST SEES?

RM67

Either June or September would work well for you - a fair chance of decent weather, but outside the school holidays to minimise crowds a bit.

I would spend about 5 days in London/Watford with maybe one day trip to Paris in the middle - it is perfectly doable.

Then hire a car and drive up the country to Edinburgh or Glasgow - I would take maybe 4 days to do this, allowing you overnight stops at B&Bs in some of the places you've mentioned (eg Oxford, Liverpool, Wales) en-route. If you do this you will have to be prepared for the fact that it is a whistle-stop tour and you will probably get an afternoon/evening in each place before setting off again next morning. That leaves you 4-5 days in Scotland at the end. If you stay in Edinburgh and don't plan on venturing out to the highlands then you won't need a car there.

You need to fly open jaw to make this work - no doubling back at any point - and ensure your hire car has an agreement to drop off at a different location at the end of the trip.

bvlenci

There's no need to take a tour bus trip to Stonehenge. You can get there easily by train from London to Salisbury and bus from there. Allow some time for Salisbury, a charming city, and not easy to enjoy when stuck in a tour group.

I assume you're spending two nights with your family and then some other nights in London, in a more central location.

ESW

I'm with Janis on this one, especially as you have 4 days with friends and 3 days for London at teh end of the trip. You are attempting to do way,way too much in the time left. The UK may not look very big on a map but it takes a lot longer to travel between places than you might expect. You need to cut back drastically.

I'm intrigued - what is the attraction of Casterne Hall? The reason I'm asking is that there may be other places that would fit better into your itinerary.

I'm assuming Liverpool is the Beatles connection?

Caernarfon Castle is splendid but is a bit out on a limb. If you do Liverpool and are desperate to do a Welsh Castle, consider Conwy instead which is as good as Caernarfon and closer to Liverpool.

Don't even think about trying to push in Paris as well you already have way too much for UK. Save this for another trip.

If you are wanting to get to stop in 'non-touristy random places' you definitely want to hire a car. Even if thre is public transport it will take you a very long time to get to these places.

janisj

>>There's no need to take a tour bus trip to Stonehenge. You can get there easily by train from London to Salisbury and bus from there.<<

Except that the OP is not staying in London but at Watford Junction. It is a 2.5-3 hour train trip (twice as long as from Waterloo) to Salisbury so a very long day trip. They want to spend 2 days in Watford Junction (woefully inadequate for London) and two days in Cheltenham - leaving only 9 days for everything else. And if If they do plan a few additional days IN London -- then they most definitely do not have time for most of the other places on the wish list.

>>I'm intrigued - what is the attraction of Casterne Hall? <<

Apparently it an ancestral home per the OP.

<B>vikeduude:</B> sheila asks the most relevant question -- what are you must's in order of importance. ( I'm assuming Ashbourne and Iron Acton plus Cheltenham and London are all on the list but maybe not.) Then we can help you work out a plan that will work. What you are considering now just isn't doable.

vikeduude

In order of importance:
London
Cheltenham
Stonehenge
Iron Acton
Edinburgh
Oxford
Althorp
Casterne Hall - Ashbourne (husbands ancestral home)


Sounds like the plane from Luton to Edinburgh would be the best bet, and then stay in Edinburgh for at least 2 nights.

We've decided to scrap Paris in favor of Edinburgh.

vikeduude

We've also scrapped Durham, Minton, and Wales/Liverpool.

You're right, on the map it doesn't look like it would take long to get to the various places.
We're notorious for doing crazy road trips. One was Tennessee to California up to Oregon and back across the west in 2 weeks.
We thought maybe we could do the same thing in the UK, but weren't sure. We REALLY appreciate all this advice!!

sheila

Sorry to take so long to reply in substance.

So, as I read it you're flying in and out of London, you're here for 14 days, and you'll be based at Watford Junction for 4 days and two days in Chletenham.

A few of your must sees and not on the main drag, which means driving will be easier

These are your priorities in order:-

London
Cheltenham
Stonehenge
Iron Acton
Edinburgh
Oxford
Althorp
Casterne Hall - Ashbourne (husbands ancestral home)

This is what I would do, friends and family allowing

London 4 full days after arriving; commute by train in and out of teh city. Day trip to Ashbourne by car, taking in Althorp en route.Stay overnight. Fly to Edinburgh from Luton, overnight in Edinburgh, fly back next day. Drive to Cheltenham- stay overnight in Oxford en route. Day trip to Iron Acton and Stonehenge from Cheltenham. Train back to London and home.

I would also lose one of those overnights, if it were me. It's up to your sense of priorities if that means losing a destination or doing things at a mad rush.

I think, if you need to stay in London or Oxford you should book in advance. Everywhere else, I think you'll be OK.

vikeduude

Thank you Sheila!

calville

I recently returned from my first trip to the UK (besides Heathrow).
Of all the places we visited- Lake District, Cotswolds, N Wales- my favorite was the Peak District.
Ashbourne was also the home of some of my ancestors. It is a very picturesque, hilly town.
Bakewell was a bit too busy but a stay just outside would be great.
Buxton was attractive and less touristy.
The Peak District scenery was stunning- hills, sheep, stone fences.
Check out airbnb for local homes. I want to go back and base in the Ashbourne area for 7 days or more. The only drawback is a shortage of good restaurants nearby so we'd have to cook in. The Dining Room restaurant in Ashbourne gets good reviews.
Parts of adjacent Staffordshire county such as Bradley in the Moors was also stunning.

vikeduude

Trip report...
We ended up with 10 days in England.
The first day was spent getting sorted in our flat in Notting Hilll and having dinner with friends at their house in Watford.
The next two days were spent in the Cotswolds. We visited Cheltenham, Gloucester, Stanton, Stratford upon Avon, Windsor and Windsor castle.
The remaining days were spent in London, soaking up the atmosphere and seeing 2-3 sites per day.
We found that the traffic is so terrible in London that it eats into your time for sightseeing.
We would like to go back and see more of the English countryside. We absolutely loved it!