Please help with 12 days in England!

Old Jan 22nd, 2017, 12:16 PM
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Please help with 12 days in England!

Got a great fare on Norwegian Air for the end of May, so we're (husband and I, age 60) flying into Gatwick on May 22 (arriving noonish on May 23) and out on June 4 at 1 p.m. So we have about 11 days (not including the travel days) to enjoy ourselves on our first trip to England. We like historic sites, esp. related to the Roman occupation and the Viking raids, but we worry that trying to get up to Lindesfarne and Bamburgh and Hadrian's Wall is impractical this trip. Also, I'm wary of moving around too too much and wasting a lot of time in trains and cars, but trying to go everywhere is so tempting! I don't know what to do! But I need to book rooms pronto. We are fairly frugal. Preliminary itinerary:

May 23: Arrival in London 12:45 p.m., pickup rental car at Gatwick, drive to Bath, or train to Bath and rent car in Bath the next day

May 24, 25, 26, 27: Stay in or around Bath, but visit (in car) Stonehenge, Cotswolds, Oxford? and anything else around there (fill in later)

May 28: Back to London (train or car, depending what we decided) and stay in London till we leave on June 4. While in London, see the sights there as well as maybe make day trips up to York and across to Paris

Does anyone have any insights about this plan? Does it sound doable or is there something big I'm missing? I'm really anxious to at least get the big picture so I can book accommodations at a reasonable price...

Thank you thank you thank you!
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Old Jan 22nd, 2017, 12:27 PM
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While in London, see the sights there as well as maybe make day trips up to York and across to Paris>

Check www.nationalrail.co.uk for discounted London to York fares - save a ton over just showing up

Ditto London-Paris day trip - www.eurostar.com -book several months out and pay a fraction of full fare.

For info on trains check www.seat61.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com.

Yeh I'd pick up (or collect as Brits say) the rental car at Gatwick and head west- not far the first day after an all-night flight but could easily get to Salisbury -neat town too.

Then drive via Stonehenge
Avebury Circle
Cotswolds
Bath

Oxford is best done as a day trip from London -congested for cars.
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Old Jan 22nd, 2017, 12:28 PM
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Cla - well done on grabbing that fare - where will you be flying in from? if it's the US, driving to Bath on the day you arrive could be a bit of a stretch. Normally I'm all for stay in one place long enough to really get to know it, but in this case, I'm going to suggest that you break up your time outside London into two sections, starting with Salisbury or Winchester, both of which will be a lot easier to drive to from LGW than Bath, and will enable you to explore more or less the same area.

Anyway, I would suggest 2 nights in Winchester, [which as well as being a beautiful city is also close to the lovely area of the Chichester basin,] or Salisbury [which is equally lovely and gives you access to the New forest] and then moving onto Bath via Stonehenge, and staying for the next 3-4 nights, then return your car and get the train back to London.
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Old Jan 22nd, 2017, 12:55 PM
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Thank you PalenQ and annhig--that's just the type of suggestion I was looking for. After a long flight and driving under unfamiliar conditions, the shorter the drive the better.
Annhig, we are flying from Oakland, CA.
Maybe Oxford will fall by the wayside if it is better as a train trip. York seems more important.
Thank you PalenQ for the train links. I'm definitely hoping to make the reservations in advance as I know train travel can be pricey.
You are awesome! Thanks again!
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Old Jan 22nd, 2017, 01:17 PM
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Rather than driving anywhere the day you arrive, (jet lag, stick shift, other side of the road), I would take a National Express coach or a train. There is a direct coach to Oxford, so you could start there.

http://www.nationalexpress.com/home.aspx

Definitely recommend reading the very useful info on trains and cheap tickets at seat61.com
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Old Jan 22nd, 2017, 01:28 PM
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I'm not quite sure why you think trying to get up to Lindesfarne and Bamburgh and Hadrian's Wall is impractical this trip, especially as what you are planning isn't really going to allow you to see much of this...

Have you thought about getting a connecting flight to Newcastle when you arrive, or else getting the train.

Base yourself somewhere like Alnwick/Rothbury and you are within easy reach of Hadrian Wall with all its Roman sites. Tide times permitting, Lindisfarne is easy to do from there as is Bamburgh. You also have the marvellous Alnwick Castle with its stunning gardens. Cragside, the home of wealthy industrialist Lord Armstrong and the first house to be lit by electricity is also well worth visiting and the gardens and grounds are pretty good too. There are the ruined castles of Warworth and Dunstanburgh too. And don't miss Durham Cathedral, possibly the best Norman cathedral in the country and set high above the River Wear. Durham itself is delightful as are Crook Hall gardens.

Spend a few days in York on your way south. Explore the Minster, walk along the walls and discover Barley Hall, a reconstructed medieval merchant's house. Spend a day exploring the North York Moors from here with the ruined Rievaulx and Byland Abbeys... Some of teh villages are as attractive as those in the Cotswolds but without the tourists.

Drop the car off here and then get the train back to London...
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Old Jan 22nd, 2017, 01:30 PM
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For frugal accomodations, take a look at Travelodge www.travelodge.co.uk and YHA hostels www.yha.org.uk . We used both on our first trip to the UK in 2007 and were very pleased with our rooms.

The only YHA hostel we didn't care for was in Bath. The building is gorgeous, but the private double room we booked had bunk beds.

Lee Ann
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Old Jan 22nd, 2017, 01:41 PM
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OK -- for Romans and Vikings the biggies would be Bath, the Wall, York and London (there are many other of course but you don't have the time.

What I would do is fly or take the train north as soon as you arrive at LGW. The train would be easier than you might think. Train from LGW to Kings Cross and then train north -- I'd go all the way to Newcastle to get all that long trave out of the way on your already let lagged first day. Stay the night in Newcastle and pick up a rental car the next day. Stay Three nights in the area (either in Alnwick or along the Wall) that would give you the best part of three full days for Lindesfarne, Alnwick, Bamburgh, and Hadrian's Wall.

Four nights down . .

Then drop the car and take the train to York and stay 2 nights. that accounts for 6 nights.

Then train to London and stay the rest of your time. Rent a flat. Do a day trip to Bath by train, and a day trip to Oxford by bus or train if you want - but spend the bulk of your time in London. Train to LGW - fly home.
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Old Jan 22nd, 2017, 11:32 PM
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Agree totally with janisj about going straight to Newcastle by train (DON'T drive off an overnight: no flights from LGW to Newcastle. painless connection at Kings Cross/St Pancras via direct Thameslink train from LGW)

But if you're short of time (you are) and your interests are Roman and Early Christian Britain, Alnwick is a third-rate, overpriced, garden with an even duller stately home. Durham Cathedral, OTOH, is an essential part, historically and aesthetically, of any visit concerned with the period. And it looks quite different from almost all other great European cathedrals.

The visually and archaeologically arresting bits of the Wall are 30-40 miles inland from the A1, at Corbridge, Chesters and further west. It's a false economy of time to limit yourselves to the few bits scarcely visible close to the A1 and the sea.

Don't forget that getting to Lindisfarne requires detailed planning around tide times, and might not necessarily coincide with your plans.
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Old Jan 23rd, 2017, 12:22 AM
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"Raids"! The B@@@@@@s stayed in the north and their decendents invaded again from the south.

If only we had had a wonderful wall
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Old Jan 23rd, 2017, 12:47 AM
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I'm with flanner about Hadrian's Wall. And guess what, there's a train service from Newcastle to Carlisle that runs reasonably close to the Wall, so you could stop for a night or two at Haltwhistle, which is within easy walking distance of the Wall. Or there is bus AD122 between Newcastle and Carlisle, which runs even closer to the Wall and stops off at Vindolanda.
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Old Jan 23rd, 2017, 05:52 AM
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Agree about Durham. The only time I have rented a car in 15 years of travel was for Hadrian's Wall. Enterprise picked me up and dropped me off at the Durham train station and rented me an automatic. I spent two nights in a B&B near Chester's Fort, and headed back to Durham, where I spent another night, via the Beamish Open Air Museum.
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Old Jan 23rd, 2017, 06:53 AM
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If you're flying into Gatwick, you're not too far from a couple of Roman sites, Bignor Roman Villa and Fishbourne Roman Palace, near Chicester. We did both while staying in B&B in the pretty little village of Bosham (thatched roofs, a church part Saxon and part Norman).

We've made a study of Roman ruins in Britain and there are lots of them. Certainly the Roman baths in Bath are among the most memorable but the mosaics at Fishbourne are very good. Too bad half the site was obliterated by a subdivision.

Chicester/Bosham would be about an hours' drive from Gatwick, not excessive for after an overnight 8 time zone flight.
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Old Jan 23rd, 2017, 08:08 AM
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Hexham I found to be a great smaller town base for Hadrian's Wall.
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Old Jan 23rd, 2017, 09:24 AM
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>>Chicester/Bosham would be about an hours' drive from Gatwick, not excessive for after an overnight 8 time zone flight.any driving after an overnight and likely sleepless flight is a terrible idea.
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Old Jan 23rd, 2017, 10:09 AM
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I think it is a personal thing - some folks sleep like logs on overnight flights others don't get a wink.

What janis says makes sense for most folks but maybe not all.

But I guess to error on the side of caution is always the best.
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Old Jan 23rd, 2017, 11:56 AM
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>>Chicester/Bosham would be about an hours' drive from Gatwick, not excessive for after an overnight 8 time zone flight.

there are very very frequent direct trains Gatwick to Chichester-taking less than an hour - save a day's car rental and don't worry about driving jet-lagged!
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Old Jan 23rd, 2017, 12:09 PM
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No one has explicitly said to drop the idea of a day trip to Paris, so I will say it. There is too much to see in England to try to add Paris to this trip.

Also, second Hexham as a great base for Hadrian's Wall and an interesting town in its own right. But IMO it's too far north for this fairly short trip. York is as far north as I would go on this trip.

BTW---on our first trip to the UK, we drove from Gatwick to Canterbury without a problem. So, while I would not want to drive from Gatwick to York, driving an hour or so on arrival is doable.
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Old Jan 23rd, 2017, 12:16 PM
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>>What janis says makes sense for most folks but maybe not all.>So, while I would not want to drive from Gatwick to York, driving an hour or so on arrival is doable.can be doable -- but do realize the Brits treat driving while impaired by other factors such as lack of sleep as they would drunk driving.

It is almost always possible to arrange an itinerary that does not require driving on one's arrival day.
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Old Jan 23rd, 2017, 12:25 PM
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National Express coaches go to a lot of the places you might want to reach on day one, if the trains don't.
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