family trip to which English country town?
 

We are planning a trip to England during the first 2 weeks of September with 3 children, age 6,8 and 10. We plan on renting a self catering cottage/apartment (or staying at a B&B) to use as a touring base and are looking for a small charming town within 2-3 hour range of other sites. Will rent car. Last year we visited Ireland and stayed in Kenmare in the Ring of Kerry (Ideal!) and were able to hike, visit castles, folk musuems, horseback ride, boat, golf, etc from there. Looking for a similar sort of town in England. Am open as to where in England-- Cotswolds-which town? Cornwall? York? Scotland? will follow up with time in London afterwards. Any sugestion are much appreciated as there are so many choices!

There are so many great places, it's hard to choose!

Maybe somewhere near Dartmoor? You could visit both coasts, and all the way down through Cornwall.

Or in Yorkshire, just look at a map and pick a town. Harrogate/Ripon area is pretty central to a lot of things.

Maybe topping this will get some others to chime in with favorites...

Gayle

I suggest the Salisbury area. Reasonable distance and roads to Bath/Bristol, Exeter/Torquay/Plymouth (a stretch), Bournemouth, Portsmouth (Navy yard and museum with Nelson's flagship), Oxford, Wells/Glastonbury, Stourhead, Winchester, Lyme Regis, The New Forest. All these I've done from near Salisbury - Sixpenny Handley and/or Lower Chicksgrove - as day trips.

It should also be posssibe to get to Isle of Wight thouogh I haven't done it.

I'll second the Yorkshire suggestion. The area is delightful!

Here is one of my pictures of the countryside there, near to where Calendar Girls was filmed (about 1/3 down the page, very green!)

http://www.greendragonartist.com/BItripreports2005.htm

Kathleen

For beautiful rugged coastline on the north coast and sheltered fishing villages on the south coast choose Cornwall with perhaps Truro as a useful midpoint. Cornwall is also renowned for gardens such as the Lost Gardens of Heligan and then the bubbles masquerading as a giant garden centre known as the Eden Project. Bags of celtic myths and pirate adventures for kids and fun things such as Gweek seal sanctuary. Could go horseback riding on Bodmin Moor. Restromel Castle or Pendennis Castle would fit the castle side of things too. Plus the best seafood in the world and world famous Cornish cream teas.

For the sake of balance choose Yorkshire if you love hill walks and country houses and welcoming country pubs. Weather may be slightly cooler oop north.

Another oft looked over alternative would be Suffolk and Norfolk for wide open spaces, thatched cottages and a sense of how England was 30 years ago. Plus this is much nearer to London which I assume you would be flying into.

Got to also mention Devon for rolling farmland, wooded walks such as Watersmeet, horseback riding on Dartmoor or Exmoor, sailing at Salcombe, cream teas and the highest density of thatched cottages in Britain (although the Cotswolds may compete for this title)

Basically any of the above destinations would also be able to provide some stunning golf courses although you may find the ability to just walk on to any golf course curtailed by vast membership fees.

Yes Scotland is beautiful too but a fair distance from London (although the same could be said for Cornwall) and the weather would also be a little cooler

Also Scotland is not in England.

Thanks to all who took the time to resppond..........Keep it coming!

Hi!!!
I love the UK and have been taking trips there for many years! We always rent cottages....it's the best way to go!!! One of my favorite villages to visit when in the English countryside is the quaint medieval village of Stanton in the Cotswolds. I can highly recommend the Stanton Court Cottages.
http://www.stantoncourt.co.uk/
Stanton, I find, is a great place to base yourself to explore the area. It's a small, peacful little place. From here, you could easily take trips to Bath, Warwick Castle, Winchcombe, Upper and Lower Slaughter, Stow on the Wold (has Cotswold Falconry Centre), Bourton on the Water (this has a wonderful little miniature village), Chipping Campden to name a few!
The Cotswolds Way is a wonderful walk and part of it goes through Stanton!

I also visted Cornwall for the first time, Oct. 2005 and loved that area as well. We stayed in the Looe Valley at Treworgey Farm Cottages...

http://www.premiercottages.co.uk/cottage.asp?ID=20

The Eden Project was incredible and I enjoyed the day we spent at the Bodmin Moors just walking and taking in the scenery. Horses, cows and sheep were everywhere!!

Love Scotland and will be going back to a town in the Perthshire region in May. Wales is also an area I love to visit!

What it all boils down to is simply what interest you and your family the most!!! There are many threads here on Fodors with tons of info on almost anything and everything you want to know!!!

We have had many wonderful holidays in England and generally rent cottages. In September it will be getting colder the farther north you go. I'd keep that in mind. Also, I urge you to purchase The Good Pub Guide -- it will guide you to super places to eat with your family -- it is a wonderful resource for exploring the countryside.

The North York Moors / Yorkshire coast and York are lovely and great for families. York is a really fun, easy urban area for a family -- the city, and citizens, seem to enjoy being a tourist area.

Likewise explore the Peak District, it is perhaps the prettiest place in England in my family's opinion. It is pretty quiet but there is a great amusement park and excellent castles and other sites.

Shropshire hasn't been mentioned. The patchwork quilt appearance of the fields around Ludlow and Bishop's Castle are beautiful and parts of Wales are easily visited from a base here or around Shrewsbury.

We adore Devon, particularly the south coast between Exeter and Plymouth. Wonderful countryside, beaches and friendly pubs.

I would get farther afield than the Cotswolds. They always seem just too touristy and American to me. For an area close to London, I second the suggestion for Norfolk or Suffolk -- prettier with more my family enjoys.
The midlands especially around Lincoln is near Norfolk and this area is not mentioned much on this board.

I especially like Helpful Holidays
http://www.helpfulholidays.com/ for the southwest (Devon and Cornwall) since their site is so user friendly and fun to explore.

I don't think you can go wrong, there will be amazing things and great pubs in every region!

THANK YOU FOR MORE SUGGESTIONS !! THE LINKS YOU ALL PROVIDED FOR SUGGESTED COTTAGE ACCOMODATIONS ARE TREMENDOUS AND SUPER HELPFUL--THANK YOU SO MUCH!

..agree with jsmith. There is a lot around the Salsbury area including "downdays" on the beach.

http://www.cottages4you.co.uk - tons of listings.

Have you considered staying in the Lake District/Cumbria? It certainly is tops for hiking (treking) and boating. But as others have noted, the chill will be in the air up north in September.

In the area southeast of London, the ancient port town of Rye is interesting, as is the surrounding areas of Kent, Essex, etc.

In the Yorkshire Dales, there are endless opportunities to hike, visit castles, etc. We stayed in Gayle, a tiny village near slightly-larger Hawes. This is Wallace and Grommet country (the Wensleydale cheese factory is here) and also home of James Herriot ("All Creatures Great and Small")...if that means anything to you and/or your children.

Hope these suggestions are helpful.

Dave W.
mail#kidstolondon.com

Hi, If you want a central base for your visit try somewhere like Derby or Nottingham. There is an airport close by (nottingham East Midland), you can get to Birmingham in 45 mins. Manchester in 1.5 hours or less. It's the gateway to the peak disrict & close to Alton Towers amusement park. Oxford and the Cotswolds are 1.5 hours away by car & you can get to London on the train in the same time. But best of all...Derby is my home town & is typically British.

Nottingham sounds great ..I will check it out Thank you very much for your suggestion!

The children are the key here.In my opinion, York wins hands down. There is the huge and spectacular railway museum (itis free), there is the ancient and awesome "Shambles" where people can reach out and shake hands from the buildings across the street, There is the steam train trip from Pickering, and there is the wonderful Minster. Should you get nice weather, you can easily get to the coast and play in the sand. The other attraction that should appeal to kids is Eden Camp, a former German POW camp that has been converted into a wartime museum. I spent 4 hours there and could have spent more. If I was an 8 year old child, I would not be too impressed by some of the suggestions made here, but I sure would enjoy York.

These are all great suggestions; I'll just mention that when we took our sons over we stayed for a week in Burford, Cotswold area, and stayed at a lovely B&B style place where we rented two rooms for the week, the name was, I think, The Old Mill; our guys were 9 & 10, and the place was almost literally over the Windrush River (a stream in this part). The guys were able to take little boats and paddle down the stream; there was enough of a little town to walk to, buy little goodies at the shops, etc. We took hikes and day trips as well and it was a good base.

That said-- I love Canterbury, Bath, Oxford, and of course London, but we have wonderful memories of this trip.

There are a lot of good suggestions here.

But Nottingham and Derby are by no stretch of anyone's imagination small or charming (Nottingham has just about the highest rate of gun crime in Britain, though admittedly that puts it roughly on a par with most American gated retirement communities).

There are a number of extremely charming small towns in Derbyshire (like Bakewell or Baslow), and Southwell (though practically nowhere else)in Notts might meet your brief. And the Notts/Derbys area is certainly pretty central.

Now there's a legitimate tradition of overenthusiastic local boosterism on this board (check my name for some not-quite rational exuberance about Liverpool for example, or the near-surreal claims by a contributor called Mucky that Cardiff has anything good to be said about it)

But implying Nottingham is "charming" is just bizarre. And Derby, while safer, is if anything even less easy on the eye.

Yeah, Nottingham is a big ole city -- not charming by any stretch. Perhaps a suburb of it is charming :)