dpgates

We are planning a trip to the UK in mid-September 2018. We want to fly into Edinburgh and spend a few days there, then hire a car to drive down to London where we will spend another week. I have planned out a day-by-day of the driving route and would welcome any thoughts on it. Based on our experience taking a road trip through Somerset and Warwickshire last year, I think I have kept things reasonable. But the eyes are always bigger than the stomach on these things so please call me out if it seems too much is stuffed into to small a banger.

The route:

Friday
Leave Edinburgh
Drive to Alnwick; tour castle and gardens
Drive to Cragside House (Rothbury); tour house and gardens
Overnight in Rothbury
Saturday
Drive to Housesteads Roman Fort; tour fort and Hadrian's Wall
Drive to Studley Royal Water Garden; tour abbey, gardens
Overnight in Ripon
Sunday
Choral Matins at Ripon Cathedral
Drive to Harrogate; tour Royal Pump Room museum, have tea at Betty's
Drive to York; possibly attend choral evensong at York Minster
Overnight in York
Monday
Drive to Wollaton Hall (Nottingham); tour house and gardens
Drive to Cambridge; punting tour on the Cam, walk around the town;
choral evensong at King's College or St John's College
Overnight in Cambridge
Tuesday
Drive to London

Thanks in advance!

Morgana

Shame you aren’t visiting Holy Island, also known as Lindisfarne. You cross to the island via a Causeway which gets covered by the sea so you have to check tides. It’s a very special place.
Alnwick Castle, Alnwick Gardens AND Cragside are much too much for one day especially after driving down from Edinburgh. Either do the Alnwick attractions OR Cragside.
Harrogate is a lovely town (I lived there for 20 years) but I feel you are short changing York.
Personally I would skip Harrogate altogether and go straight to York which has 2 branches of Bettys.
The Pump Room Museum in Harrogate is very small and to be honest not that exciting when compared with some of the wonderful places you could visit in York.

PalenQ

Very packed itinerary with little time to taking side roads thru lovely country - you have a great resource in Morgana who lives in North Yorkshire - how about spending a few more days on that itinerary or as Morgana says cut back.

janisj

>>Alnwick Castle, Alnwick Gardens AND Cragside are much too much for one day especially after driving down from Edinburgh<<

DITTO!!

Your entire itinerary is very rushed.

bilboburgler

Can you punt in mid september in Cambridge? Just check.

historytraveler

I agree with the idea of skipping Harrogate and spending more time in York. Harrogate is a pleasant town, but there's sooo much more to see and do in York.

historytraveler

BTW, I believe you can punt in September.

PalenQ

I stayed in Harrogate several days once as a base for many neat places but the town, though nice, is not that nice for you on your rushed itinerary to merit a stop IMO - Fountains Abbey yes then head for York.

bilboburgler

Trouble is there is some lovely stuff near Harrogate and York.

PalenQ

If not wanting a car in London consider returning it in Cambridge if possible and taking train into London?

dpgates

MANY THANKS for all the responses! I truly appreciate it! I was afraid I was rushing things--it's a habit of mine. I am redesigning the trip now with the comments in mind.

Since several have mentioned York, what do you recommend?

janisj

>>Since several have mentioned York, what do you recommend?<<

York itself is one of the best medieval cities in England w/ the Minster, Shambles and some really wonderful museums. It is a small city so a couple of night 1.5 days could be enough.

Yorkshire however, is enormous - and just the Dales, the Moors/a bit of the coast would be worth another few days. MANY sites in the Dales - you'll want to check a guide book or two.

Morgana

Another idea would be to give up your rental car in York- no need for a car in such a compact city.
However keep the car if you want to explore more of North Yorkshire itself (Dales, Moors, coast etc)
If you keep the car try and find accommodation in York that has a car park or parking space.
Then when you are ready to move on take the train from York to London Kings Cross. This is a quick, frequent and direct route taking a couple of hours. Some trains are faster than others.
This would avoid the stress of driving into London.
Your plan for Monday (driving from York and visiting Woollaton AND Cambridge) is FAR too much anyway!!
Not sure how much you want to see Woollaton but Cambridge is an easy train ride and day out from London.
Apologies for any typos but Fodor’s is playing up with posting responses (seems a wide problem) and I’m not good at typing a lot on my iPhone!!

BigRuss

Where are you ditching the ride? You're daft if you're thinking of taking a car into London. Dump it somewhere like Cambridge or York or similar then hop a train to the big city.

janisj

I'd dump the car in York -- your pace is too fast anyway so getting as far as Cambridge would be a rush. I'd spend some time in the Dales, then drive to York and drop the car, stay the night in York car-less (giving you two half days to explore). Then take the train down to London. If you still wan to see Cambridge you can do it as a day trip from London - though I'd probably do Oxford instead myself.

PalenQ

and book train tickets if so say York-London well in advance at www.nationalrail.co.uk for sweet discounts (but also some restrictions) but better than just showing up - always possible to get on trains but pay a price for walk up tickets. Cambridge/Oxford to London same but savings may not be as great but check - trouble with day trips by train is you may not know when you exactly want to return and cheap tickets may be train-specific or off-peak. Check www.seat61.com for loads on booking your own online tickets - general info on British trains also www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com. From to Oxford buses may be better depending on where in London you are going. I'm with janis about liking Oxford a tad more than Cambridge.