Brighton to Bakewell, and London In Between.
Jun 7th, 2009, 12:21 PM
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 5,613
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Brighton to Bakewell, and London In Between.
As we sat on the curb at Borough Market sharing a bottle of cider and eating a toasted cheese sandwich hot from the grill, a sense of profound well-being came over me. Could there be a better sandwich, a better city or a better market anywhere? I doubted it.
Background: Blame it on the Janes.
For years, my older daughter MC and I had been talking about getting out into the English countryside. Lizzy Bennett jumping from a stile into the mud, Blandings Castle dreaming in the moonlight, and the greenness of it all; we’ve always wanted to walk those footpaths for ourselves. At her Christmas break from first year at college, snuggled up watching Jane Eyre, MC said once again that we really needed to go, and I once again replied that yes indeedy we most certainly did, someday.
The idea took hold, the pound wavered, British Air came through like champs. Kind Fodorites offered advice and encouragement. Family trip to Yellowstone would have to wait. The news would have to broken gently to my husband and younger daughter. They took it like good sports, and I began the planning process that brightened the late winter. Someday suddenly seemed possible, and we ran with it.
Getting There:
The decision tipping point was British Air’s most excellent sale on tickets. I had browsed kayak.com and asked them to keep an eye on London flights. They sent an email advising of BA sale. The days with the best fares narrowed down as we dithered, but fares stayed low for days allowing a two week window soon after her final exams. BA sweetened the pot with the offer of two free nights in London with our roundtrip airfare from ORD.
Amtrak got us from St. Louis to the Chicago Loop, and light rail to O'Hare.
British Air treated us very well at every step of the way. They are my new airline heroes.
Places to Stay: We Were Very Very Happy with them All
BA provided a list of hotels, and we chose to stay at the Fraser Place Queen’s Gate, near Cromwell Rd. tube stop on Picadilly Line, for our two free nights. http://london-queensgate.frasershospitality.com/
We’d never stayed in that part of town, we liked the idea of a kitchenette, the V&A is just down the street, and breakfast was included.
Fraser Place was over our austerity budget, and we like to stay in or near Bloomsbury, so we looked to move east after our two gratis days. My basic unit of hotel price is the NMS8, based on the basic Northfield MN Super 8 where we stay when visiting MC at college. The HI Regent’s Pk on Hotwire bid was a little less than one NMS8 unit. No breakfast, but --ahem-- in London. On Carburton St., handy to Regent’s Park, Great Portland, and Warren St. tube stops, and quite a few bus lines.
http://tinyurl.com/m8tamy
For our countryside segment, I pulled up a map of Great Britain, saw a green area in Derbyshire surrounding the a town of Bakewell. Quick internet search reveals that this town has restaurants, B&Bs, and some large country homes nearby. I posted a question and got encouraging Fodorite responses. I sent MC an email at college with links to Bakewell, Chatsworth, and Haddon Hall. Her response was a series of OMGs, with, if my memory serves, several exclamation points. Bakewell it is. We chose Everton B&B, across from a park a few minutes’ walk from the center of town. http://www.evertonbandb.co.uk/
The basic price for a few days’ stay is well less than one NMS8.
We needed one night in London before flying out. Why not see what Priceline could get us in the 5 star department? We bid 2 NMS8 units, and got Grosvenor House on Park Lane, newly refurbished and overflowing with creature comforts. Oh, the sheets. The sheets. http://tinyurl.com/6baa8k
Background: Blame it on the Janes.
For years, my older daughter MC and I had been talking about getting out into the English countryside. Lizzy Bennett jumping from a stile into the mud, Blandings Castle dreaming in the moonlight, and the greenness of it all; we’ve always wanted to walk those footpaths for ourselves. At her Christmas break from first year at college, snuggled up watching Jane Eyre, MC said once again that we really needed to go, and I once again replied that yes indeedy we most certainly did, someday.
The idea took hold, the pound wavered, British Air came through like champs. Kind Fodorites offered advice and encouragement. Family trip to Yellowstone would have to wait. The news would have to broken gently to my husband and younger daughter. They took it like good sports, and I began the planning process that brightened the late winter. Someday suddenly seemed possible, and we ran with it.
Getting There:
The decision tipping point was British Air’s most excellent sale on tickets. I had browsed kayak.com and asked them to keep an eye on London flights. They sent an email advising of BA sale. The days with the best fares narrowed down as we dithered, but fares stayed low for days allowing a two week window soon after her final exams. BA sweetened the pot with the offer of two free nights in London with our roundtrip airfare from ORD.
Amtrak got us from St. Louis to the Chicago Loop, and light rail to O'Hare.
British Air treated us very well at every step of the way. They are my new airline heroes.
Places to Stay: We Were Very Very Happy with them All
BA provided a list of hotels, and we chose to stay at the Fraser Place Queen’s Gate, near Cromwell Rd. tube stop on Picadilly Line, for our two free nights. http://london-queensgate.frasershospitality.com/
We’d never stayed in that part of town, we liked the idea of a kitchenette, the V&A is just down the street, and breakfast was included.
Fraser Place was over our austerity budget, and we like to stay in or near Bloomsbury, so we looked to move east after our two gratis days. My basic unit of hotel price is the NMS8, based on the basic Northfield MN Super 8 where we stay when visiting MC at college. The HI Regent’s Pk on Hotwire bid was a little less than one NMS8 unit. No breakfast, but --ahem-- in London. On Carburton St., handy to Regent’s Park, Great Portland, and Warren St. tube stops, and quite a few bus lines.
http://tinyurl.com/m8tamy
For our countryside segment, I pulled up a map of Great Britain, saw a green area in Derbyshire surrounding the a town of Bakewell. Quick internet search reveals that this town has restaurants, B&Bs, and some large country homes nearby. I posted a question and got encouraging Fodorite responses. I sent MC an email at college with links to Bakewell, Chatsworth, and Haddon Hall. Her response was a series of OMGs, with, if my memory serves, several exclamation points. Bakewell it is. We chose Everton B&B, across from a park a few minutes’ walk from the center of town. http://www.evertonbandb.co.uk/
The basic price for a few days’ stay is well less than one NMS8.
We needed one night in London before flying out. Why not see what Priceline could get us in the 5 star department? We bid 2 NMS8 units, and got Grosvenor House on Park Lane, newly refurbished and overflowing with creature comforts. Oh, the sheets. The sheets. http://tinyurl.com/6baa8k
)
Jun 7th, 2009, 03:28 PM
#8
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 5,613
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Thank you, all!
MC and I share a lot of interests and some strong points (pretty good at directions for instance), but the poor dear has inherited some of my qualities that make us less than a dynamic duo at times. Flexible, yes, but on the indecisive side. A tendency to dawdle that can be unfortunate when trains run on time. That sort of thing.
I'm glad we could make this trip before the kinds of entanglements that would make her unwilling to spend so much time with her old ma.
janisj, your trip leadership might make you eligible for sainthood. You might want to check..
MC and I share a lot of interests and some strong points (pretty good at directions for instance), but the poor dear has inherited some of my qualities that make us less than a dynamic duo at times. Flexible, yes, but on the indecisive side. A tendency to dawdle that can be unfortunate when trains run on time. That sort of thing.
I'm glad we could make this trip before the kinds of entanglements that would make her unwilling to spend so much time with her old ma.
janisj, your trip leadership might make you eligible for sainthood. You might want to check..
Jun 8th, 2009, 06:20 AM
#10
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 5,613
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Tickets and Reservations
MC is a dancer and we both enjoy (most) opera, so we checked the Royal Opera House for whatever looked good. http://www.roh.org.uk/ They’ll send an email when the next season’s tickets go on sale, so we snagged the best cheap seats by jumping right on it. The website slows down a lot that day or two.
I had to wait until 12 weeks before our trip to book train tickets to Bakewell by http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/ . The process was a little mystifying in spots, since I had to go to the appropriate train companies’ websites to book and pay. The 1 hr 45 min trip there cost 69 GBP standard class, and 16 GBP to return first class by Virgin. When it seemed we had missed our train and I checked the machine at St.Pancras, last minute round trip standard class for the next train was even a little cheaper than that. A great bargain and part of a very well run public transport system.
CW helped me find the website for the Major General’s Review, a tech rehearsal for Trooping of the Colours. http://www.changing-the-guard.com/sched.htm
To attend the following week’s Colonel’s review, you send £10/ticket. The Trooping of the Colours, complete with royalty birthday person on June 13 this year, is £20. (Setting up the grandstands, paying guards to look at our tickets and direct us, sweeping up after the horses and so forth must add up.) If you miss tickets for the Horse Guards Parade, they all march and ride out towards the Mall for further parading. Payment must be by mail and on a cheque drawn on UK account in GBP. Luckily for us, the Major General’s Review is on the house; fill in a request and mail to The Brigade Major, HQ Household Division, Horse Guards, Whitehall, London SW1A 2AX in January or February. Very much worth it. Just addressing an envelope to such a person was worth it. I enclosed an international reply coupon but later realized that hadn’t been necessary.
(The elusive IRC, needed for Ceremony of the Keys: you stand in line at your local US Post Office, and the clerk tells you they haven’t any. Not much call for them, and they expire in a year, so not worth the trouble for postmaster. No way to call individual PO’s to inquire. Clerk suggests a more international-travellery part of town. You and your daughter ride your bicycle over there, wait in another line, are told that they USUALLY have them, but are clean out just then. Sympathetic clerk gives us secret phone # to a PO not too far out of our way home, we wait in another line, and voila.)
Otherwise we wanted to keep our commitments to a minimum so we could choose our Brighton day based on the weather. I wanted to see a West End show, preferably The 39 Steps, and Fodor’s sources correctly thought we’d be safe waiting to book.
Following another Fodor’s tip I made a reservation for Friday afternoon tea at the Cavendish Hotel, two for a bargain £20, but we ended up finding something better to do that evening, so I cancelled. Our final reservation was breakfast at the Wolseley for the last morning in town.
MC is a dancer and we both enjoy (most) opera, so we checked the Royal Opera House for whatever looked good. http://www.roh.org.uk/ They’ll send an email when the next season’s tickets go on sale, so we snagged the best cheap seats by jumping right on it. The website slows down a lot that day or two.
I had to wait until 12 weeks before our trip to book train tickets to Bakewell by http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/ . The process was a little mystifying in spots, since I had to go to the appropriate train companies’ websites to book and pay. The 1 hr 45 min trip there cost 69 GBP standard class, and 16 GBP to return first class by Virgin. When it seemed we had missed our train and I checked the machine at St.Pancras, last minute round trip standard class for the next train was even a little cheaper than that. A great bargain and part of a very well run public transport system.
CW helped me find the website for the Major General’s Review, a tech rehearsal for Trooping of the Colours. http://www.changing-the-guard.com/sched.htm
To attend the following week’s Colonel’s review, you send £10/ticket. The Trooping of the Colours, complete with royalty birthday person on June 13 this year, is £20. (Setting up the grandstands, paying guards to look at our tickets and direct us, sweeping up after the horses and so forth must add up.) If you miss tickets for the Horse Guards Parade, they all march and ride out towards the Mall for further parading. Payment must be by mail and on a cheque drawn on UK account in GBP. Luckily for us, the Major General’s Review is on the house; fill in a request and mail to The Brigade Major, HQ Household Division, Horse Guards, Whitehall, London SW1A 2AX in January or February. Very much worth it. Just addressing an envelope to such a person was worth it. I enclosed an international reply coupon but later realized that hadn’t been necessary.
(The elusive IRC, needed for Ceremony of the Keys: you stand in line at your local US Post Office, and the clerk tells you they haven’t any. Not much call for them, and they expire in a year, so not worth the trouble for postmaster. No way to call individual PO’s to inquire. Clerk suggests a more international-travellery part of town. You and your daughter ride your bicycle over there, wait in another line, are told that they USUALLY have them, but are clean out just then. Sympathetic clerk gives us secret phone # to a PO not too far out of our way home, we wait in another line, and voila.)
Otherwise we wanted to keep our commitments to a minimum so we could choose our Brighton day based on the weather. I wanted to see a West End show, preferably The 39 Steps, and Fodor’s sources correctly thought we’d be safe waiting to book.
Following another Fodor’s tip I made a reservation for Friday afternoon tea at the Cavendish Hotel, two for a bargain £20, but we ended up finding something better to do that evening, so I cancelled. Our final reservation was breakfast at the Wolseley for the last morning in town.
Jun 8th, 2009, 11:56 AM
#12
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 5,613
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Off we go.
BREEZING THROUGH THE WINDY CITY
We only ever go through the Chicago Loop while changing trains, and in between I always forget what a vital city it is, dynamic and full of delightful vulgar public art.
One of the visual themes of our trip was Children Splashing in Fountains. Millennium Park just north of the Art Institute has Crown Fountain, two large monoliths covered with glass bricks. On the facing surfaces huge LED photos of different Chicagoans purse their lips every few min and spout water. Children screech and run under, then splash in the shallow pool in between. Just beyond is The Bean or huge silvered Cloud Gate: walk through, become funhouse reflected and disoriented.
The Art Institute has just opened a new Modern wing. http://tinyurl.com/lgw8vg
Beautiful soaring architecture. We were unwilling to spend the $18 apiece to walk in, though, (reasoning cheaply that Chicagoans could visit our free art museum compliments of local taxpayers and should be willing to reciprocate) admired it from the lobby.
UNFORESEEABLE
MC accused me this morning of meaning to start a Fodor’s thread about the film we watched on the flight home, "In the Loop." I indignantly denied any such intention, but will go ahead and mention it here to get it out of my system. I loved it. It’s full of amusing invective that I could possibly get away with here at home, depending upon my tone of voice, once I check the definitions online. (“Seaside donkey” for instance seems safe enough.)
The word “unforeseeable” figures in the plot, so I will probably be slipping it into conversations for the next week or so. One benefit of travel is the chance to form new favorites in various categories, and this is my new favorite profane political satire film. The trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RT3z67v_22k
Unforeseeable for us was how interesting UK politics would become, and how interesting it might have been to slip into Parliament and listen in. Cabinet ministers resigning daily, new revelations of creative PM accounting, denials and partial admissions. I’m glad it was a money scandal and not the hanky panky kind, because I never can get that interested in the sex lives of others. Taxpayers’ outrage at paying for bogus mortgages I can grasp.
London especially is full of the written and spoken word. Walk down the streets and someone will put a tabloid in your hand. People stand outside pubs after work and talk to each other for hours. The daily papers are full of wit and intelligent analysis, mostly over our American heads. They care about words; maybe my new favorite thing about England.
BREEZING THROUGH THE WINDY CITY
We only ever go through the Chicago Loop while changing trains, and in between I always forget what a vital city it is, dynamic and full of delightful vulgar public art.
One of the visual themes of our trip was Children Splashing in Fountains. Millennium Park just north of the Art Institute has Crown Fountain, two large monoliths covered with glass bricks. On the facing surfaces huge LED photos of different Chicagoans purse their lips every few min and spout water. Children screech and run under, then splash in the shallow pool in between. Just beyond is The Bean or huge silvered Cloud Gate: walk through, become funhouse reflected and disoriented.
The Art Institute has just opened a new Modern wing. http://tinyurl.com/lgw8vg
Beautiful soaring architecture. We were unwilling to spend the $18 apiece to walk in, though, (reasoning cheaply that Chicagoans could visit our free art museum compliments of local taxpayers and should be willing to reciprocate) admired it from the lobby.
UNFORESEEABLE
MC accused me this morning of meaning to start a Fodor’s thread about the film we watched on the flight home, "In the Loop." I indignantly denied any such intention, but will go ahead and mention it here to get it out of my system. I loved it. It’s full of amusing invective that I could possibly get away with here at home, depending upon my tone of voice, once I check the definitions online. (“Seaside donkey” for instance seems safe enough.)
The word “unforeseeable” figures in the plot, so I will probably be slipping it into conversations for the next week or so. One benefit of travel is the chance to form new favorites in various categories, and this is my new favorite profane political satire film. The trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RT3z67v_22k
Unforeseeable for us was how interesting UK politics would become, and how interesting it might have been to slip into Parliament and listen in. Cabinet ministers resigning daily, new revelations of creative PM accounting, denials and partial admissions. I’m glad it was a money scandal and not the hanky panky kind, because I never can get that interested in the sex lives of others. Taxpayers’ outrage at paying for bogus mortgages I can grasp.
London especially is full of the written and spoken word. Walk down the streets and someone will put a tabloid in your hand. People stand outside pubs after work and talk to each other for hours. The daily papers are full of wit and intelligent analysis, mostly over our American heads. They care about words; maybe my new favorite thing about England.
Jun 8th, 2009, 12:05 PM
#13
"<i>London especially is full of the written and spoken word. Walk down the streets and someone will put a tabloid in your hand. People stand outside pubs after work and talk to each other for hours. The daily papers are full of wit and intelligent analysis, mostly over our American heads. They care about words; maybe my new favorite thing about England.</i>"
That's it - you've hit it on the head !
My little group preferred watching tape-delayed American Idol at night over heading to the pub to actually converse . . . .
That's it - you've hit it on the head !
My little group preferred watching tape-delayed American Idol at night over heading to the pub to actually converse . . . .
Jun 8th, 2009, 08:27 PM
#15
Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 191
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I am really enjoying your report. Bakewell sounds like a place we should visit. For one of our countryside trips we enjoyed Cradley in the Malverns. Thank you so much for your effort to write your report!!!!
Jun 9th, 2009, 02:26 AM
#16
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 12,582
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
In the loop is a fillum version of The Thick of It a britsh TV comedy/satire. Youtube is your friend, but I will warn you that it is possibly the most sweary thing ever commited to video. And most of it in a scottish accent that will baffle you.
And it's reckoned to be pretty accurate...
And it's reckoned to be pretty accurate...
Jun 9th, 2009, 04:42 AM
#18
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 5,613
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
BRITISH AIR IS MY NEW FAVORITE AIRLINE
Where have they been all my life? Apparently flying here and there taking good care of their customers.
The reason we were able to watch very sweary Scottish-accent videos that might not go over so well with the masses: each seat has a screen with a menu of classic and recent release films, TV shows, spoken word, music of all kinds.
Attendants walk through every half hr or so with trays of water and juices. The food was very good. Did I mention they gave us two nights in a lovely London hotel? (this offer may vary, according to global financial crises) I will use them in the future fates willing.
Where have they been all my life? Apparently flying here and there taking good care of their customers.
The reason we were able to watch very sweary Scottish-accent videos that might not go over so well with the masses: each seat has a screen with a menu of classic and recent release films, TV shows, spoken word, music of all kinds.
Attendants walk through every half hr or so with trays of water and juices. The food was very good. Did I mention they gave us two nights in a lovely London hotel? (this offer may vary, according to global financial crises) I will use them in the future fates willing.
Jun 9th, 2009, 06:53 AM
#19
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 5,613
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
SOUTH KENSINGTON FROM OUR STUDIO ON CROMWELL RD.
Fraser Place Queen’s Gate is a short walk from the Gloucester Rd. tube stop, convenient to Heathrow. Our 1st floor studio apartment had 15 foot ceilings, a bay window onto a balcony overlooking Cromwell Rd, loft bedroom, and a basic closet style kitchenette. We were delighted with it. A very good continental breakfast was included, served in a large bright dining room on the ground floor.
Proximity to the Victoria and Albert allowed us a few short visits and minimal museum fatigue (A state characterized by diminishing degree of attention due to sensory overload, leading to physical exhaustion and decreased motivation and interest. Studies show that it generally sets in within 45 min).
Another antidote for that malady is the café set up in V&A's large central courtyard. More children splashing in the pool; we decide we would bring our children over often if we had any and lived nearby. If not, I’d come anyway, sit and watch. I am a sucker for a certain kind of looking counter man who asks with a French accent whether madame would like anything else with her tea, so I went for the asparagus tart. Lovely.
I’d just finished directing a group of teenagers in Antigone (very well received, thank you), and was feeling legitimately Theatrical. We looked through the new theatre exhibit and enjoyed it very much. (“Richard Burton wore that tabard!” a woman whispers to her husband.)
http://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/the...ume/index.html
I don’t suppose in my day I had any more princess fantasies than the next little girl, and I don’t crave that sort of adornment, but I loved the Jewellery Gallery at the V&A. They keep it dark, with lighted cases to enhance the glittering of diadems and whatnot. http://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/fas...ery/index.html
Why stand in line at the Tower to be whisked past the Crown Jewels, when you can stand with your nose pressed against the glass and admire bangles, rubies, sprays, stomachers. There’s a slide show with photos and paintings showing how they were worn.
Don’t miss the amazing cast rooms, either. Or the British galleries, or or…..
Next door to the V&A, the Brompton Oratory is well worth a visit. There was a service in a side chapel, so we were extra quiet. I particularly admired the carved wood confessionals labelled with the various priests’ names, wondered if there was any competition among them for the particularly fine ones.
Fraser Place Queen’s Gate is a short walk from the Gloucester Rd. tube stop, convenient to Heathrow. Our 1st floor studio apartment had 15 foot ceilings, a bay window onto a balcony overlooking Cromwell Rd, loft bedroom, and a basic closet style kitchenette. We were delighted with it. A very good continental breakfast was included, served in a large bright dining room on the ground floor.
Proximity to the Victoria and Albert allowed us a few short visits and minimal museum fatigue (A state characterized by diminishing degree of attention due to sensory overload, leading to physical exhaustion and decreased motivation and interest. Studies show that it generally sets in within 45 min).
Another antidote for that malady is the café set up in V&A's large central courtyard. More children splashing in the pool; we decide we would bring our children over often if we had any and lived nearby. If not, I’d come anyway, sit and watch. I am a sucker for a certain kind of looking counter man who asks with a French accent whether madame would like anything else with her tea, so I went for the asparagus tart. Lovely.
I’d just finished directing a group of teenagers in Antigone (very well received, thank you), and was feeling legitimately Theatrical. We looked through the new theatre exhibit and enjoyed it very much. (“Richard Burton wore that tabard!” a woman whispers to her husband.)
http://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/the...ume/index.html
I don’t suppose in my day I had any more princess fantasies than the next little girl, and I don’t crave that sort of adornment, but I loved the Jewellery Gallery at the V&A. They keep it dark, with lighted cases to enhance the glittering of diadems and whatnot. http://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/fas...ery/index.html
Why stand in line at the Tower to be whisked past the Crown Jewels, when you can stand with your nose pressed against the glass and admire bangles, rubies, sprays, stomachers. There’s a slide show with photos and paintings showing how they were worn.
Don’t miss the amazing cast rooms, either. Or the British galleries, or or…..
Next door to the V&A, the Brompton Oratory is well worth a visit. There was a service in a side chapel, so we were extra quiet. I particularly admired the carved wood confessionals labelled with the various priests’ names, wondered if there was any competition among them for the particularly fine ones.
