Cardiff, London, Keswick, York & Oxford HELP leave in 4 weeks.
 

So for anyone who doesn't know ;-) my future son-in-law has been selected to play for Italy in the Rugby League World cup. Yes he is Australian with Italian heritage, so its a real achievement for him. It was only announced on the weekend, so we have four weeks to get this plan together.

The games will be;
<b>Cardiff</b> - Opening ceremony, Aus vs England & Wales vs Italy, Millennium Stadium Oct 26.
<b>Workington</b> - Scotland vs Italy Nov 3
<b>Halifax</b> - Tonga vs Italy Nov 10

The plan so far;
Depart London Oct 24, arrive London Oct 25. Meet up with dd & her in-laws, collect van & drive to Cardiff. Dh will be fine to drive, he's done it plenty of times before and we are flying B/class so will be reasonably well rested.
3 Nights at the Future Inn Cardiff, appears to be a walkable distance to stadium & Castle. <red>Love some 'must dos' for our short time here?</red>

Depart Cardiff Monday Oct 28 and head back to LHR to drop van off, dd's in-laws will be flying to Spain from here. Dh, dd & I will catch a tube into London for 5 nights, <red>still trying to find an apartment that wont break the bank?</red>
This will be trip number 6 or 7 for us, so it will be all about shopping (both daughters getting married next year) and wandering.
Saturday Nov 2 collect hire car and drive up to Keswick, its a 30 minute drive from there to the game in Workington. Dh & I will stay here for 4 nights, <red>still to determine which B&B.</red> Dd will probably head to Leeds to spend some time with her fiancé. This will give us 2 full days (arrival day, game + 2) to explore the Keswick area,<red> love to hear suggestions?</red> Interests are long walks, food, wine, photography & great scenery.

Depart Keswick Nov 7 for York, all the times we've driven in the UK we've never been here. We'll stay here for 4 nights, <red>again suggestion of what to see & do would be great?</red> We will travel to the third game in Halifax from here.

Depart York Nov 11 & drive to Oxford (again this is another place we've never been to). We will just have the one night here (I know, its not enough.......but I may not be back this way for quite some time) and then drive to LHR the next morning for our flight home at lunch time.

So there you have it, can't wait for your feedback.
AD

Hi Aussie,

Congratulations. We spent a weekend at the Lake District last year. TR here:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...e-district.cfm

We are low-impact outdoorsy types so we did a couple of walks. First one involved walking up Catbells, down the other side and partially around Derwentwater. We used the boat/ferry to start and complete the circumnavigation. Not sure of the hours in November.

The other walk was flatter around Lake Buttermere. Calm day made for a lot of cool reflection photos.

Hopefully that helps. B&B (hopefully mentioned in the blog as don't recall at the moment) was fine though I don't recall it standing out.

Good luck.

A quick word of advice for wherever you decide to visit - check opening times. You will be travelling at the exact time that some stately homes, castles etc are 'put to bed' as they describe it for the winter.
Ok, some info about your Yorkshire days -
York itself is a beautiful city and you could easily spend a couple of days exploring it. Leave the car parked up for this as it's very walkable. Attractions depend on your interests of course but the Minster (Cathedral) is surely a must see.
The National Railway Museum is a short walk from the station, free to get in, and excellent.
www.nrm.org.uk
Other York highlights are -
The Shambles, a network of tiny, picturesque lanes
Walking the ancient walls
Castle Museum - excellent depiction of a Victorian street amongst many other exhibits
York has two branches of the famous Bettys Tearooms, Yorkshire institutions. Occasionally dismissed as 'tourist traps' you will find them full of locals (including me as I love to go there). They do anything from brunch to afternoon tea to full meals. I am slowly working through the entire menu.
www.bettys.co.uk
If you didn't want to sit down then you can take cakes and savoury items away. Yorkshire favourites include Parkin, Curd Tart and Fat Rascals.
They also do beautifully packaged coffee, teas, biscuits etc which I often give as presents to family and friends. Excellent if you are looking for items to take back home as gifts.
As far as exploring the area, I could give you enough suggestions to keep you going for weeks, but I'll give you the highlights and you can do some research.
You have two National Parks within easy reach, the North Yorks Moors and the Yorkshire Dales. Very different but both areas of great scenic beauty, perfect for walking and exploring.
www.yorkshiredales.org.uk
www.northyorkmoors.org.uk/
Other highlights -
Fountains Abbey, World Heritage Site which includes Studley Royal Watergardens
www.fountainsabbey.org.uk
Castle Howard - magnificent 'treasure house' but check opening times
www.castlehoward.co.uk/
North Yorks Moors Railway - steam train across the Moors to Whitby
www.nymr.co.uk
Whitby itself and Robin Hoods Bay
www.whitby.co.uk/
This is just a taster of the area - please come back to me if I can help further.

Re Keswick: We did the Catbells walk, which is lovely.

Also did a short walk (1.5 miles) to Castlerigg Stone Circle (think Stonehenge, but on a much smaller scale). We have some beautiful photos from that walk too.

Here is a link with photo, that also puts you onto a Keswick tourist site.

http://www.keswick.org/what-to-do/at...-stone-circle/

Best congrats to your SIL, I'll try to watch some of Italy's games if they are on a free channel!

The weather in the Lakes might not be conducive to walks so there is Wordsworth's Dove cottage, open in Nov., Beatrix Potter's Hill Top Farm (believe only the garden and gift shop are open in Nov.) and her husband's solicitor's firm in Sawery. I didn't check on whether it's open; it houses rotating exhibits of her watercolors.

I loved Blackwell, arts and crafts house, in Windermere. It is also open and has a nice little café with great home made soups for chilly days.

http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/hill-top/opening-times/

www.blackwell.org.uk

Meant to add, if you are looking for a B&B in the Lakes I can recommend Sandhills Farm a few miles outside Keswick. We had a wonderful time there, and you can walk from the farmhouse down to the old church and the lakeside.
It's run by a lovely lady (who will greet you with tea and home made cakes), the rooms were warm and comfortable and the breakfast gorgeous.
This is a quieter area of the Lakes too.
The only thing that might go against it for you is that it is a rural location (although only just off a decent road, and you won't be getting snow on your visit). By rural I mean there are no neighbours and definitely no shops/pubs within walking distance.
So if you want the quiet life and you have a car it's perfect.
http://www.sandhillsfarm.co.uk/

Elm House B&B in Pooley Bridge isn't far from Keswick and I cant speak highly enough about it. It is on the edge of Lake Ullswater. Whitehaven isn't far from Workington, if you want a pleasant Town as a change from glorious scenery in the Lakes. There are some lovely walks in this part of the Lakes and people have already pointed you towards Cat Bells - which has lovely views.

Thank you all so much, this is exactly what I was hoping for.
I will be researching all your suggestions.

You might also find these trip reports useful - an Australian lady and her son in England last month. They spent time in the Lakes and in York and the surrounding area.
http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTop....html#52692385

I have just stayed in two of the locations you are thinking of and have two B&B's to recommend. Just north of York about 12 miles we stayed 3 nights at Hazel Wood Farm. Couldn't ask for a nicer place and host in Netty.

http://www.hazelwoodfarm.net/

In Grange about 4 miles from Keswick we stayed at Bybeck B&B, another winner in my book. http://www.bybeck.com/

You can read more about them on my blog. We are currently on our UK trip and just left the Lake District two days ago, so my information is current. You can't go wrong with either B&B

www.gassawaysadventures.blogspot.com

Nice blog dgassa -- sounds like you are on quite a trip!

Thanks Indy Dad. Climbed Mt snowdon today, following in your footsteps

Not before breakfast I hope! Well done, dgassa. Which route?

Thanks for the ideas, we've booked, Cardiff - London - Workington - Keswick (Stonegarth B&B) & Halifax.

Still to do 3 nights in <b><red>York</red> (Hazelwood looked great, no availabilities for our dates)</b> and one night <b><red>Oxford</red> (something really nice for our last night in the UK?)</b>.

Morgana; thanks again for all your info, I've researched and saved loads from your links. :-)

Indy Dad,

Got and early start after a light breakfast and went up and down the Miners route. We arrive at the summit in the fog, wind and light rain. While resting in the station house the skies cleared for about 30 minutes and we had some great views to the west. I should be posting on the blog tonight or tomorrow. Iv'e been following your blog for sometime now, using it for ideas for this trip.

Glad I could help, dgassa. Sounds like a wonderful trip.

(sorry for hijacking your thread, aussiedreamer)

Lol no probs :-)

Hi morgana , we've arrived in York and thanks to your information we 've got a rough plan for the day.
We'll meander all over the city today, minster, walk the wall, the shambles and castle museum,stopping into the large Betty's (I've already scoped it out ;-) )
We spent a great day driving in the Dales yesterday, so may head to Fountains Abby and surrounds tomorrow.
The weather has been very kind, if not a tad chilly.

Hi there and welcome to North Yorkshire!
You had a great day weather wise yesterday for November, believe me. The Dales would have looked beautiful in the sunshine - looking forward to the trip report.
I know some of the Castle Museum is off bounds as they are preparing for a major WW1 exhibition for 2014. But don't miss the Victorian street in the museum, and also the prison cells.
My only advice to you is to do the outdoor things in York whilst it is not raining. It's been a very wet autumn so far.
I went to Fountains a couple of weekends back as they floodlight it in the evenings for a short period. Unfortunately this has now stopped, but the place is still stunning at any time of day. The walk from the Abbey up to Studley Water Gardens is one of my favourites.
Enjoy Bettys. There are several branches and I'm never out of them!

A bit misty over in West Yorkshire this morning, Saturday looks like it will be very wet. Save musuems for Saturday unless you end up at a match