Hi -you'll get much more response over here

To answer your questions we need a bit more info from you.

Are there any places you definitely want to visit? Have you narrowed it down to any particular cities/regions.

Do you plan on renting cars (outside of London of course) or do you want to use public transport exclusively?

A month is great --but you could spend a month just in London (or Scotland, or Ireland, or a few parts of England).

Or you could do a general overview trip w/ 1 week London/1 week in a small part of rural England/1 week for Edinburgh and a few days in rural Scotland/1 week for a tiny bit of Ireland.

Or -anything in between.

So we need a little more info before we can give useful advice. We can help you refine/smooth out a plan. But you do need at least some basic ideas.

"and take photos of Big Bend,"

That made me chuckle, thanks.

Having once studied at an Alpine, Texas university, "Big Bend" made me chuckle too!

You have plenty of time to read up on the British Isles and come up with a shortlist of places that interest you. The more information you give us, the more you will get back.

Big bend is now the Jubilee Tower or some such Big Ben is actually the Main Bell in the Tower that strikes the Hour. school out. with a month you will be able to see a fair bit of the UK (includes Northern Ireland) and Ireland (republic)Find the cheapest place to fly in and out from (might be Dublin over London) then decide the order. Getting between the two Islands can be costly with minimal baggage allowance unless you Rail and Sail. Decide any must see places. If you are under 25 car hire might be extortionate but there are good transport links even here in Ireland. With out a rough time for your visit I can't list any cultural festivals but not necessary at this early stage. Read a few of the forums for longer (10 days+) trip reports and you might get some ideas. There are a few decent guide books out there but Rick Steves Ireland is on my burn before reading list.

Romantic. Orkney has to be one of the most wonderful places to visit. The accent is so calming, the views stupendous, the "Otters crossing" sign so lovely. If you read some of the stories and then maybe visit some of the farms that have been inhabited since before the Pharaoh's (little island joke there "faroe") started to build the Pyramids. There is an old barrow which has viking carvings in it left while a gang waited to carry out a raid (it was a monument then) oh, my what a lovely place.