Another England Itinerary Question! Ten Night Honeymoon Next May..........
 

Hi!
Thanks in advance for reading this post. My new husband and I will be in England for 10 nights next May. Five nights will be in London--I had the great fortune of living there briefly; but, he has never been, so I'm hoping this will be a good--although short--introduction. We also will be spending 2 to 3 nights in the Yorkshire dales. The question is where to go the other 2-3 nights that would fit into the trip. We are thinking of arriving in London, traveling straight to Yorkshire or the as yet undetermined location or vice versa then ending our stay in London. We decided we don't want to rent a car; but, I'm really not sure if that's practical given the fact that what we want is something "off the beaten path." I just generally think of rail as being the best way to travel. We are interested in scenery and history (yes, it's ridiculous to say history because any which way you go in England, you will find it..........) We are not interested in shopping, seeing other tourists, fancy hotels. I'm thinking more of a B & B type situation (no more than 100 pounds/night) . We love food and drink--but that doesn't mean fancy restaurants. One crucial requirement is that we go to a very old, quaint, pub. I did look on the National Trust website and it is truly amazing; but, the dates were not easy to work with--some had minimum stays/ only had availablility on days that we weren't there,etc. The most attractive locations to me on that site were the ones truly in the countryside. We have been intested in going to Rye; but, I don't have a clear picture if that would be better just for a day trip or to actually stay. I know I'm not providing much guidance; but, I think of London as the hustle bustle part of our trip and the rest of it as the relaxing, enjoying scenery, long lunches-in-pubs-before-seeing-an-old-abbey-or-castle part of our trip. ANY suggestions, advice or thoughts is very much appreciated!!
Hillary

ooh, hillskip, fitting london, Yorkshire dales and Rye into 10 days in some sort of sensible order might be a bit of a stretch, but let's see how we go.

May I ask how you are going to manage the Dales without a car? I'm sure that it can be done, but it'll make your lives a lot easier to have one. there are castles and abbeys in Yorkshire aplenty, and pubs, and B&Bs - if you are interested, you can find out where we stayed by clicking on my screen name and reading [a bit of] my TR. but 2-3 days might be a little too short a time really to make the best of going there in the first place.

I think that I would be inclined to limit the trip to the Dales and London - plenty to see in both and they could hardy be more different.

The Dales really do require a car. There are some local buses but they aren't geared to touring at all really. Maybe Morgans will see your thread (she lives in the area) and have some suggestions for a car-less Dales.

If the Dales/Yorkshire are musts -- I would not fly into London and then schelpp across all of London to catch a train. I'd preferably fly into Manchester and home from London (or vice versa). If you <i>must</i> fly into London then an option would be to land at LHR and immediately fly up to Leeds or Manchester. You'd probably be in Leeds well before your train would be leaving Kings Cross.

As annhig says, Rye isn't an easy match w/ the Dales. Why Rye particularly? It is a nice place but not convenient to you other 'musts'. There are many other scenic/historic/'quaint' towns you could maybe fit in easier. (sorry for using the Q word)

I'm actually embarrassed to tell you about Rye! I found some article about the 10 oldest pubs in England and the one that sounded the most interesting was the Mermaid Inn in Rye Then, since it's on the coast, I figured it might be "different" from the Dales so that we could get a nice perspective. Why the Dales? My family originally comes from there and since I have heard it's so beautiful (and seen the pics), I thought it would be the perfect place. We certainly don't have to do either. This trip is a work in progress!

As far as driving, the original plan was to land in London and then just drive north without necessarily having a set plan. That, however, was too loose for me. I need some type of a plan. If it would be better with a car, then we can do that too--I was just a bit nervous about the whole driving aspect (other side of road, different rules, etc).

Your ladies input REALLY helps!

Rye is lovely but there are fabulous pubs all over the UK and Rye is a bit challenging to get to from London.

Look up The Good Pub Guide for examples of great pubs in the Dales!

>>Then, since it's on the coast<<

It WAS on the coast at one time but is now about 2 miles inland.

>>As far as driving, the original plan was to land in London and then just drive north <<

That ins't such a terrific idea. No matter where you go - it is best to have the first day car-less. Driving on jet lag and on the 'wrong' side of the road is a recipe for disaster. Get a good night's sleep and get a bit acclimated before you jump behind the wheel.

this is one of my trip reports from last year http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-trip-ever.cfm

It is looooong but you can skip down to the June 24 entry >>Saturday: Beamish and on to the Dales<< where my 3+ day stay in the Dales starts.

I would do London first (get over jet lag before try to get a car). Then to York the city by train, quite lovely and historic, for a couple of days then rent the car in York and return to York (train back to London and fly home) or to Manchester or Leeds (and fly home from there).

On our trip we found it easy to rent a car at the train station in York and then drive out to the country. But be sure to read up about driving on left and that the car itself is a mirror image of a US car with the steering wheel on the right.

And if you are looking for another guide to pubs see www.fancyapint.com. You can search all over based on different criteria and with pretty blunt reviews.

laurie_ann's itinerary is probably how I'd do it too. I'd fly open jaw in to London and home from Manchester. Get London (and the jet lag) out of the way, then a 2+ hour train ride to York - one night in York. Then collect a car and spend the rest of your time in the Dales, then drive to MAN, drop the car and fly home.

I like it!