caseya

We're planning a 7-8 day drive around England in June this year as part of our first trip to Europe (Paris and Rome/Venice also included). Thinking of visiting the following areas - Yorkshire, Lakes District(recently added after suggestion from this site), plus Cotswolds/Oxford and Bath. We're aiming to see a good mix of scenic places (for me) and historic places (for my travel companion). I'm hoping to get some advice about the following:

Are B&B a good choice for accomodation? Does anyone have some good ones to recommend?

Are there any other areas which are better options?

annhig

yes - B & Bs are a great way of seeing the country - ranging from places on farms and and quite basic establishments to some very swish properties.

you could start by googling "B & B" in your chosen areas. you could also look at the web-sites of the various tourist boards on those areas, too.


In June, you could also try travelling "on spec" - as it's before the school hols, you should be able to get in reasonably easily in most places.

Good luck with the planning,

Best wishes, Ann

nona1

It depends what you means by 'good'.

If you are looking for the cheapest option then the chains of motel/hotels like Travel Inn are the best bet as you get perfectly nice clean if characterless rooms from £15/£26 on their special book in advance deals. And they are all over the country.

caseya

Thanks Ann. I'm new to this site but it seems an excellent source for first hand advice. Its sometimes difficult to know what to ask.

I have started looking up B&Bs in the areas we're looking at visiting and there's certainly may to choose from. I was wondering if I did need to pre-book them in late June (possibly early July) - maybe I could just pre-book ones that sound really special. Is 50 -60 gbp an average price for 2 people (one room)?

Ann, when do the 'holidays' start that you were referring to?

Another thing, if we're thinking of heading to the Lakes district from London on the first day (do the longish drive first), can anyone recommend a good place to hire a car out of London (to avoid the London traffic). We're used to the big wide open spaces in Oz - not much into driving in traffic. We'd be returning to London via Cotswolds then Bath.

caseya

nona1, I was looking at B&B because I like to stay in places with some character (without being too overly ornate and fussy), rather than the 'characterless' rooms of some of the hotel chains. I'll keep the hotel option in mind if we're stuck - I hadn't heard of that chain.

MissPrism

B and Bs can vary a lot from a woman renting out a spare room to places that are like mini-hotels.
One thing to remember is that the relationship is a bit different. You are not so much a customer as a paying guest. The plus side is that you will usually get much friendlier service and being local, the owners will be able to point you towards local attractions that you might otherwise miss.
The minus side is that you shouldn't be too demanding.
I remember a Scottish lady in the Highlands waxing very indignant about a couple who had asked for ice in their room. When she took it up to them they told her that they didn't want it just then but they would tell her when they did.
They also asked for more coffee at breakfast and then didn't drink it.

caseya

Friendly is definitely what I'm after and is also something I look for when staying in hotels. I reckon the friendliness of a place has more impact on your feelings about a place than the quality of the rooms. Good point about the local knowledge aspect.

I reckon I'll stick with the plan to use B&Bs and do some research (and seek advice here) about the particular B&Bs in the areas we plan to visit. I haven't used B&Bs before but there's plenty to choose from in England it seems.

GeoffHamer

The peak holiday season is when the schools are on holiday: that is when families with school-age children (and school teachers) have to take their holidays.
In the area of London where I live, the schools finish this year on 20 July. Other areas of England may vary by a week or so, while Scottish schools break up earlier.
In June, finding accommodation will be easy, except possibly at weekends: if you turn up on a Friday evening, you might find everywhere full. On any day of the week, it's best not to leave finding somewhere till too late. In popular tourist areas, B&Bs really are plentiful. You'll see them signposted on main roads, and tourist offices will list many more and be able to make bookings for you.

caseya

Thanks Geoff, as you say, we'll be travelling outside of the school holidays - possibly Wed June 27 to Wed July 4. Might need to book into somewhere for the weekend nights. I would prefer not to have places booked everywhere but just have some ideas of nice places - feels more adventurous to me.

Morgana

Hi
I certainly agree that B and B's are a good choice. I live in North Yorkshire where there are numerous farm B and B's - ideal if you want to stay somewhere rural at a very reasonable price. You will often be the only guest and have a wonderful 'Full English' breakfast to set you up for the day. A car would be vital for this sort of travelling. This website - www.yorkshirenet.co.uk will give you lots of ideas. Happy to advise if you want more specific ideas about touring Yorkshire.
A slight word of warning - you are visiting at a popular time (although not as busy as school holidays) and you may find some B and B's will only book for a minimum of 2 days, especially at weekends. This is especially true in the Lake District (which might well become even more popular with the recent film Miss Potter, which I saw last night and makes the Lakes look spectacular).
If you fancy a more luxurious B and B experience then look at www.sawdays.co.uk - some fabulous places on here! You can of course find more inexpensive places.
I personally would always book in advance and not take pot luck, especially in June. Much nicer knowing you have somewhere lovely to look forward to rather than a panicky dash to a Tourist Office late in the day to find somewhere 'adequate' rather than special.
By the way, if you fancy following in the footsteps of Royalty, Prince Charles has stayed at Yew Tree Farm B and B (Borrowdale) in the Lake District

SandyBrit

caseya - We have stayed at many B&B's - take a look on www.smoothhound.co.uk or www.theaa.com both good places to see what is available. You can also get driving directions from theaa web. Do you know about B&B, hotel reviews at www.tripadvisor.com?

We always pre book our B&B's. I find it easier to look around on the web and see what is available. No right or wrong way whatever you are comfortable with. The good breakfast will set you up far into the day and is a very nice way to start the day.

Once you have an idea of where you might stay come on back for opinions.

Best wishes for a lovely holiday.

Sandy

TeddG

We generally book B&B's when travelling around the UK and do so on the following basis; -

1) Get a brochure sent from the local tourist information centre detailing B&B's in the area.

2) Cross out those that don't have a website (You always want to see what it looks like inside).

3) Cross out anything less than 3 stars (Although most are usually between 3 and 4) These cost about £25.00/person/night.

4) Check the location of the B&B and nearest eating places. If your in the middle of nowhere then see if the B&B offers evening meals. This adds about £7-8 to the price.

5) E-mail your favourite 5 and check availability.

6) Some let you book without a deposit and others normally charge about £10 or 1 night (say if your staying for 3).

Enjoy your visit.

GBC

A B&B is an excellent choice for accomodation. We travel each year. As a general rule we try to select the smallest places we can find.

Sawday's guides, mentioned above are a very good source. Another is the Karen Brown Guides. Karen Brown is an author, based in California, who publishes guides to inns of character. Her selections range from hotels (in the cities) down to very small B&Bs. We have visited many of her selections including several in the UK and have been very pleased. In addition to her published guides there is her website where some of the selections are listed.

I suggest that you consider reserving ahead - at least your first and last nights in the UK. You have a large area to cover in eight days. Planning ahead will save valuable travel time.

Have a great trip.

daveesl

I've used Farmstay UK and Country Rover while doing B&Bs in Great Britain.

Farmstay (http://www.farmstayuk.co.uk/ ) gives a good overview of the individual B&B and the contact info for it.

Country Rover (sorry I can't find the website, but many travel agents know about it) is like a voucher system. You pre-purchase a voucher book for the number of nights you intend to spend in any B&B. They give you this giant catalog of their member sites. You pretty much pick and choose what you want. One of the nice parts about Country Rover (I assume they are still doing this) is that they do unannounced visits to their members and rate them accordingly. With this one, you know it is paid in advance, regardless of where you stay and you have a good idea of the type of place you are going.

dave

wrenwood

Good morning caseya!

I agree with others about booking ahead of time. We spent 2 weeks last year in England and Wales and I pre-booked all of our B&B stays over the internet using recommendations from Fodorites and Trip Advisor. We enjoyed absolutely wonderful places and people at each place.

My husband who thinks we should be able to just stop and find a B&B along the way finally agreed with me. We would never have found any of the wonderful places where we stayed if I had not done research and pre-booked. We always stayed near small towns or villages or out in the countryside. There are so many small villages down narrow roads that it would have taken up a lot of our vacation time looking for one. Even if you stay in a town, you will likely have to park somewhere and walk to many of the places to check them out, and parking space is not abundant in most places.

The internet makes it so easy, and you can get a really good feeling about the places by how a B&B answers your emails and questions. At every place that we stayed the question would come up at breakfast of how people had found the places at which they chose to stay: and the answer was always either via the internet or a personal referral.

I found another good "tool" when researching B&B's. Once you narrow your choices down through "personal recommendations" from Fodorites or Trip Advisor, put the name in on a Google search. You'll sometimes come up with a url to someone's trip report or another site where the B&B is discussed. I also checked Images on Google for the B&B. Sometimes there are more pictures from trips etc than you find on the website itself.

Price wise I think you have many options. You'll get a clear idea of value once you start looking at some of them.

If you do go to the Cotswolds we stayed at Yew Tree Cottage with Vivien. She is delightful, friendly, helpful yet not overbearing. She gave us great information for meals, antiqueing, towns and villages and gardens to visit. Her website is

http://www.bestcotswold.com/


If you need a place in Derbyshire we loved Underleigh House. Again, wonderful friendly people, great place, the most incredible breakfast we had in the UK. It is very near Chatsworth House which is well worth a visit, and we loved visiting the plague village of Eyam.

http://www.underleighhouse.co.uk/

If you are planning on driving the scenic routes and through villages, don't underestimate how much time it will take you. We travelled mostly secondary roads, but including travel time on the highways our rental car told us we averaged about 35-40mph for the trip. And that's part of the charm of the UK. We had originally planned on visiting the Lakes District also, but decided to wait for another trip. There is so much to see and do and enjoy in each area.

We just loved the UK and can't wait to go back. Have a great time!

kdcwood

In addition to B&Bs, you might consider also looking at small inns, guest houses, and small hotels. You will often find these to be places of great charm, but a step away from the idea of a couple of rooms in someone's home. I personally prefer to stay somewhere with 5 to 15 rooms, and in an old building.

I agree with the suggestion of Karen Brown's guides, as well as the Sawday guides. This is a way to narrow down to some choices without doing all the basic research yourself.

Kathy

nona1

B&Bs can be a good option but quality is quite hit and miss. I've given up on them myself now as I've had too many disappointments. I'd rather stay somewhere bland but 'normal' than deal with some of the rotten rooms and weirdos running B&Bs I've been to. I've rarely managed to find nice room plus nice hosts in the same place, it's usually one or the other (or neither). I might look at the higher end of B&Bs (£75+ a night) in future but I've definitely given up on the lower end (around £50).
...but I guess that it can all add to the fun if it's your first time here. If you stay in B&Bs you'll almost certainly get some funny accommodation anecdotes to go home with.

wojazz3

Hi casey. You've gotten some good advice here. I'm not a fan of the voucher system as I usually find it's a little more expensive than going it on your own. Up to you though.

Just a small thing. I'm not sure what leg of the trip England is, but if it is the 1st, don't make that drive on the 1st day. Jet lag will be a big issue.

Bill

janisj

from caseya's other posts they are flying in from Oz and will be in London for a few days before they head north.

caseya: I won't add any more about B&Bs - you've got lots of good info so far (except for the voucher scheme - not such a good idea IMHO)

But about your route -- I would not recommend you drive all the way up from London to the Lakes (even w/ you being in the country for a while and over the jet lag). You are planning on driving the length of the country twice. Are you still considering Glasgow as well? You just don't have enough time for all that distance.

If Glasgow is out of the plan, I would take the train up to Liverpool (or maybe Carlisle) and collect the rental car there. Then work your way south from the Lakes to Yorkshire, the Cotswolds and back to London to head to Paris. You can usually pick up a car in one place and drop it in another w/o extra fees.

Taking the train up will save you a lot of time and frustration. that is a loooooong drive.

And if you still want to hit Glasgow - take the train or fly up to Glasgow and drive south from there.

OR another option -- pick up the car in London and drive up through the Cotswolds/York/Lakes and Glasgow and fly from there to Paris.

You simply do not have the time to drive up and back.

Mimar

I too was wondering about Caseya's itinerary. I was thinking take a train to York, spent some time there, then pick up a rental car, drive through the Yorkshire Dales to the Lakes District, then south to the Cotswolds. Maybe drive to Bath and drop the car there, then train to Oxford. Not much time for so many destinations. I didn't remember that Scotland might be included also.

I, like most of the people on this forum, am a planner, so I tend to make all my reservations ahead of time. You've had good suggestions for B&B listings.