ma23peas

You'll be leaving when we'll be going! I have 4 tickets on specific flights for 4 members of my family (years of saving ff miles)...but I need to buy one for myself! The master planner has yet to get her ticket...I've followed the rates closely for 6 months (anal planner, and every penny saved is earned) The lowest from Atlanta has been around $530 and the highest around $900. I really believe they will have a lower flight within the next 3 weeks...I will let you know, I see you've already bought the tickets but if a sale pops up you can ask them to give you the lower fare if it's available and usually they'll pass it back to you as a voucher. You can check the seat availability on delta.com as an example...when there are still more than 50% seats available they offer specials if less than a 1/3 are available they usually don't...right now they're only 30% sold so good chances for a lower rate. Will let you know!

Have a great trip! We're doing 5 nights London and 5 nights Oxfordshire...can't wait!

Tara

getmeoddahere

ma23peas - get your ticket! You are going to wind up on a different flight than your family. Well that is my style anyway, do everything as much in advance as possible. We paid $865 from Chicago, but I splurged on the way to London and upgraded one notch so hopefully, it will be easier to sleep. It is our delayed honeymoon, after all.
Enjoy

Morgana

Hi
I do walks from the Pateley area all the while and can help you with suggestions and routes.
Let me know roughly how many miles you want to do in a day (bearing in mind it is hilly!!). I've got dozens of walking books covering the area and am sure I can assist. Are you just wanting to walk in Nidderdale or further afield?
By the way, the Sportsman's is great - beautiful setting, great walking area and excellent food.
M

Morgana

Me again!
I've just re-ready your post and have had a think about what you are planning to do.
The Sportmans Arms is great for 4 nights exploring the Dales, but it is pretty isolated and a LONG drive from Castle Howard, Rievaulx etc. If you plan to visit those places from the Sportmans it's going to take you forever. North Yorkshire is a huge county, and although some distances might seem shortish they take a LONG time to drive. Are you aware just how isolated and remote the Sportmans is? Pateley itself isn't much more than a main street with some tea shops, antique shops, fish and chip shop etc. It's very quiet and in the middle of nowehre!
I don't want to mess up your plans if they are settled, but if you want to see Castle Howard, Rievaulx etc (which are miles from the Dales) then you are far better off staying a couple of nights in York and visiting from there. Then just stay at the Sportmans for 2 nights and do your Dales exploring from there.
M

annhig

Not sure how much you'll be able to see at the 'bailey - there's a separate public gallery which you might have to go into, rather than into the building through the main doors, unless you can use your experience as lawyers to blag your way in! and even if you do, not sure whether you would be able to get into any of the actual court rooms.
AS an alternative, why not go to the Royal courts of Justice in the Strand - where it meets Fleet Street. You can just walk in the front door [past security of course] and then ask at information to see if there are any big criminal appeals or libel cases on. They are usually the most fun. The criminal appeal courts are upstairs on the right at the furthest end away from the front entrance, if you get what I mean. You should be able to slip in at the back of any of the court rooms so long as it's not a cause celebre.
Then cross the road and walk down past the pub into the temple, and wander round to the temple church. [very interesting, Dan Brown not withstanding]
Finally, have lunch in Middle Temple Hall [don't tell them I said this] where if you are reasonably well dressed you will pass as barristers doing paperwork for the day, or in the restaurant attached to inner temple. This would a make a great half day, especially with your professional interest.

getmeoddahere

annhig: I love your advise about lunch. We really want to see a trial in action. I don't care if its civil or criminal. In the US, anyone can walk into court and sit in the gallery and observe, so long as you mind your manners. Is it different in the UK? Also what is the difference between the Old Bailey, which has been repeatedly recommended and the Royal Courts?

Morgana:
Great advise. It is so hard to use the internet to find out realistically how far things are from each other. So I'm waffling again. Stateside advice has been to see the Villages of Richmond and Reeth and to spend at least some time in the Lake District. Richmond and Reeth do seem like a distance from Pately Bridge. I can always cancel my booking and make other arrangements. I was drawn to the Sportsmans because of the view.

annhig

The "Old Bailey" is the Central Criminal Court, and as such the judges there [about 20+ courts, not all of them looking like the ones used in Rumpole, though the one they used in that looks suspiciously like Court 2] hear the most important/serious cases in the country, as well as a few minor ones too. I've never been in as a member of the public [you might have guessed that by now] but my understanding is that thre is a separate public entrance to the opublic galleries of each court. how much you can see I don't know. Also, most cases, apart from sentences, last an inordinately long time, and it would be hit or miss whether you saw something interesting.
The Royal Courts is where all the appeal cases are heard, [not the house of lords which is the equivalent of your Supreme Court which is heard in a committee room at the Houses of Parliament]plus "High Court " cases, including all the big civil actions. THe reason I suggested it is that if you got into a Criminal appeal court, you would probably hear some legal argument and the judges' judgements; so you would get to hear in effect a whole case.
I don't know if there is a web-site for visits to the Bailey; the London tourist Board ought to know how to go about visiting it, if that 's what you want to do.
I'll be happy to try to answer any more questions yopu've got; but I haven't practised in London for about 10 years so my info may not be too up to date.
I'm sure you'll have loads of fun. Good luck!

Morgana

Hi
Richmond and Reeth are lovely but very different. Richmond is a town rather than a village and is worth a visit - the Castle is superb. Reeth is tiny - a cluster of houses round a village green. Beautiful - but you could walk around it in 10 minutes - and that's walking slowly! Reeth has wonderful walks surrounding it though, and it does have a tiny museum called the Swaledale museum which is fascinating.
I think the reason you can't settle on your Dales itinerary is because there isn't a right or wrong place to visit or walk in. It's all lovely so everything you read/see pulls you in one direction or the other. I think you are going to have to be ruthless and decide what you definitely want to see in Yorkshire, and how many days you want to spend walking. Then once you have established that, work out where is best to stay.
I don't want to put you off the Sportsmans - I think you would love it but it is too remote as a base for 4 days. It's in a stunning area (you even drive across a narrow little bridge to reach it), surrounded by the green hills of Nidderdale and in superb walking country.

getmeoddahere

I was happy to read another poster's trip report where she mentioned working and reworking her itinerary for years! Now I don't feel so bad.
My latest revision for any comments:
London is still the same
Leave on Wednesday and take the train to Kendal, rent a car and drive to Grasmere. Stay in Grasmere for 2 nights. Explore at our leisure
On Friday, drive to Richmond. Stay for 2 nights. Explore Swaledale.
Sunday drive to York. Explore York. Monday, either explore Yorkshire around York or take the train back to London for our last night. That decision depend on advice from my fellow posters. Can we realistically make a 4:30 flight out of Heathrow if we wake up in York that morning. I know the train time to london is 2 hours, but then switching to get to Heathrow, etc. It sounds do-able to me, but I don't want to be exhausted before our 7 hour flight. The other alternative, to stay in London overnight might waste a lot of time with checking in and checking out. I don't want to lose that last day.

Anyone?

Mimar

Yes, you can get to Heathrow from York to catch a 4:30 flight. It's easiest if you take the tube from King's Cross station. But you need to allow plenty of time for tube stoppages, etc. I'd find it a bit nerve-wracking myself. But I get uptight about this kind of stuff.

janisj

Sure, you could make it from York to LHR in plenty of time. But if it were me I'd spend the last night in London anyway.

For a 4:30 p.m. flight you'd want to be at LHR by about 2:00 p.m. Giving you an hour from Kings cross means leaving there by 1:00. That means you'd have to be on the 10:31 train out of York arriving at 12:43. Therefore checking out of your hotel by 10:00. Leaving no free time at all in York that day.

Instead I would take a 7:35 or 8:05 p.m train arriving at Kings Cross at 9:45 or 10:18 p.m.

This way you still have a full day in York and more than 1/2 a day to spend doing something fun in London.

getmeoddahere

Thanks. We will stick with the plan of staying in London that last night. I don't like being overly hectic, especially on the homeward journey.