Hi, my partner and I have 12 days in the UK and I would love to hear advice from travellers and locals. We fly into Stansted from Kuala Lumpar, having departed Gold Coast Australia, on the 4th July at 3.40pm. We have aplace tostay in London and the plan is 4th and 5th in London and the 14th and 15th in London flying out on the 16th. That leaves 8 days to fill My must see's are Bath, Skipton, York and either Oxford or Cambridge ( I love history - castles, cathedrals etc) his is Scotland and anything to do with war. We are planning on hiring a car and making our way up to Edinburgh. I would love to visit North Wales for the castles. Should we fly to Edinburgh and drive back to London? Or is it feasible to drive to Bath, head to North Wales and make our way up? I realise I am going to be cramming things in so any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Tips for budget travel would be a bonus.
Cheers

To maximize your time, if you can, try to fly straight from Stansted to Edinburgh, then work your way south, ending by returning the rental car outside London and spending your last four days there, rather than two and two as you have it now.

You might consider a train down to York, then pick the car up there. The rest that you want to do is possible but depends on how much driving you want, you wouldn't have much time on the ground. I think after York and Skipton (?), I would focus on Bath and Oxford or North Wales castles but not all three.

Here's what we got done in 13 days last summer, with 4 nights (3 and 1) in London and 9 on the road. We spent one night in 9 different places on our road trip; it was a bit busy, but not hectic, but we couldn't have squeezed in much more. We also love castles, cathedrals, and history--(overview in case you don't want to read: after 3 nights in London, we got car at LHR, drove to Oxford (night), to Shrewsbury (night), through Wales to Conwy (night), through the Lake District to Carlisle (night), along Hadrian's Wall all day to Durham (night), to York (night), through Lincoln to Dartford (free night in hotel there), through Canterbury to Dover (night), saw Bodiam Castle and Battle on way to LHR (night) before early flight. We had between 2 and 8 hours in every place we wanted to "see" and had to be satisfied with glancing at some stuff (Cotswolds, the Lakes) out the window of the car.)

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-and-wales.cfm

Perhaps consider a few changes: PROBABLY better to stay around London first, get over whatever jet-lag you might experience, especially if you are going to get a car and drive.

Might consider the open-jaw flying idea. You don't say if your tickets are already purchased but kinda sounds like it. So if you could do as Cath above says, you might save time--although because we made a loop, we saw stuff on west (bit of Wales) and east (York, Lincoln, Dover) so a loop worked for us.

As you plan your routes, whatever mapping server you use (like googlemaps), ALWAYS add 50% to time; I just about doubled the times suggested in planning our route and that way we we never felt pressured or too rushed. We did not encounter any major accidents or delays, but such often occur.

If you want to "cram things in" go for it! That's what many would have said we were trying to do with our trip and would have not enjoyed our busy-ness. But it's your trip. I do sorta doubt if you can include all things you say in 12. I couldn't fit Scotland in. You might not be able to fit Wales in. CHOICES! Ah me! (If you continue to get feedback on this thread, probably some will advise against a lot of driving--listen to what they say, know that driving in the UK is TIME CONSUMING, but if you want to see lots of places and plan wisely, it IS possible, fun, rewarding, safe, etc., so go for it! Just about my only regret in the trip we took was that I really wish we'd had about 2 more days so we could have gone to Scotland, but we had FF tickets and we couldn't, so....)

Nonsense, Karen, about driving in the UK and you are probably advertising as well.

Advise against driving in the UK? I've seen some very stupid things written on here but that has to top the list!

Tamjack - I'm sure I can help with your North Yorkshire side of things.
Could I ask 'why Skipton'? please? The castle?
When you say your partner is interested in 'war' do you mean any particular period? For instance there's an absolutely fascinating museum called Eden Camp nr Malton but it's about war from 1939 - not much use if you partner adores medieval history!
www.edencamp.co.uk
There are lots of old Abbeys in this part of the country for example Fountains Abbey, Rievaulx Abbey and Whitby.
http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/d...rievaulx-abbey
http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/d...s/whitby-abbey
You mention York (don't miss the Minster) but Durham also has an amazing cathedral and a castle too. It's an easy train ride or drive from York.
www.durhamcathedral.co.uk
Also, if you visit Fountains Abbey then Ripon is close by (about 3 or 4 miles) and also has a beautiful cathedral.
www.fountainsabbey.org.uk
www.riponcathedral.org.uk

dangerous to drive in the UK? most of us manage it without mishap!

Karen - just posting once with what is blatantly an advert is a dead giveaway - could do better!

Morgana - thanks for all that info. We have a yorkshire trip coming up at the end of April, so it'll come in useful. BTW - any tips for somewhere to stop near Grassington?

Annhig - happy to try and help. (Thank goodness Karen's absurd post has been zapped!)
When you say 'a stop near Grassington' what do you mean? There's not a lot near Grassington except hills and fields, lol.
Are you looking for a rural farm stay somewhere close by?
Or somewhere a little larger like Skipton?
Grassington isn't big but it has a 'main street' (don't get too excited!) with a few little shops, tearooms, pubs and cafes etc, that sort of thing. And it probably has quite a few bed and breakfasts in and around it. It's popular becuase it has a very large car park on the edge so people always know they can park up and explore the village or head off across the hills somewhere for a walk.
Pateley Bridge isn't far away - not as touristy as Grassington but probably bigger. We have been house hunting in and around Pateley and often park up near Roslyn House which always looks lovely and has glowing reviews on tripadvisor. It's right in the centre but just off the main road through.
www.roslynhouse.co.uk
http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_R...e_England.html
Great location too as Pateley has some beautful walks surrounding it, especially some fascinating ones up to the old lead mines in the hills.
Another thought - just outside Grassington is the tiny village of Hebden and it has the Clarendon Hotel in it which does rooms. But basically you are in the middle of nowhere!
http://www.yorkshirenet.co.uk/stayat...otel/page2.asp

Hi Morgana,

thanks so much for all that. we are combining a visit to Grassington to watch DH's beloved Redruth RFC play Wharfdale, with a few days in the Dales, so need somewhere to stay in the area.

I'll have a look at your links, and come back to you, if I may?

Of course - will do my best to help.
However, work gets in the way from Monday to Friday so might not always be able to respond very quickly during the week!

no probs!

ps - what do you think of Harrogate as a base?

Well, I live in Harrogate so I am going to tell you it is full of lovely people!
It would take you a good 45 mins to drive to Grassington from Harrogate. It's not far as the crow flies but the roads aren't fast for various reasons.
It IS a really nice place and probably doesn't deserve its 'blue rinse brigade' label. It's not 'in the Dales' though, but it doesn't take long to drive to Nidderdale, the nearest Dale to the town.
They do say 'there's Yorkshire and there's Harrogate'!!
It has good shopping, lots of nice restaurants and cafes, and also it is a floral town so it will start to look very pretty in April. You can also taste the spa waters, go to the Pump Room Museum, or visit the recently furbished Turkish Baths.
You can get to York or Leeds fairly quickly by train although avoid rush hour morning and evening when the trains become famously overcrowded. There's also a good bus service to Leeds but not currently one to York. Leeds has fabulous shopping!
Harrogate is within easy reach of Fountains Abbey (about 20 mins by car).
Loads of Hotels and B&Bs to suit all pockets.

Thank you so much, lots to consider and I know this trip is going to come around before I know it. And for the record I missed Karen's post but get the gist - and we are actually excited about driving and made a conscious decision to do so. Its all part of the adventure

well, Morgana, it turned out that DH wanted to stay in Grassington, [why didn't he just say that to begin with?] so we are booked into the Bridge End Farm B&B as they were one of the few to have a single room for DS, who flatly refuses to share with us, due to his father's snoring. [why don't I get that choine?] . They claim they are only a 5-10 minute walk from the village centre and the pubs - we will see.

now i have to find somewhere in Wales for the sunday night - not an easy job as I am just discovering. we may yet end up under the pier at Aberystwyth!

Bridge End looks great and it's a lovely area. I think the 5-10 estimate is accurate although of course it's hilly because it's North Yorkshire!
As for snoring - my husband swears by Flents, lol.
Grassington is a good base. If you walk right to the top of the high street, then turn left, it's the start of a lovely walk up across the fields to an old ruined farm called Bare House, and then back down and along the Dales Way. Wonderful views although Bare House always creeps me out.
http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/leisure/c...90.Grassington
There are also fascinating walks around the old lead mines.
If the weather should be unkind then you are close to Stump Cross Caverns.
www.stumpcrosscaverns.co.uk

morgana - that walk sounds just the ticket.

thanks!