jand

Hello all, We will be driving from Heathrow to North Wales next week. As this is our first trip to the UK, I have a few qestions. In U.S there are service areas with restaurant/restrooms off the highways. How does this work in UK? Or are we better off driving into a town for food etc? What will be a good place to stop midway between London and N.Wales?

Sorry if this appears to be a silly question!

Thanks all!

Kavey

JAND there are service stations at reasonably regular intervals along the motorways (I'd say usually no more than about 40 miles apart, sometimes much less).

These provide toilets, slightly overpriced food, slightly overpriced petrol and a couple of small shops for magazines, sweets etc.

On the A roads you will usually also find places such as Little Chef which offer food, coffee and toilets (mediocre food to be sure) and many now have a Burger King counter within as they are owned by the same company now.

Oh and the motorway service stations also have various fast food chains from BK, to KFC to McDs etc.

walkinaround

road chef and little chef are two motorway food chains that are everywhere (restrooms, service station, etc - just like US). they are appalling but the best option if you need something quick with minimal hassles. if you are new to driving in the UK, then i think you want minimal hassles, especially trying to drive after your long flight!

if you are on the motorway then nothing but the chains will be available to you without hunting around villages/towns along the way.

sheila

The food's not that great at motorway service stations- although you should have seen it 20, or even 10, years ago!! If you like good food get off the motorway. If you just need people fuel, the convenience will outweigh the lack of quality.

Kavey

I know there's a guide book to eating well on long UK journeys by getting off the motorway but not too far off it.

I just don't recall the name.

Personally I actually LIKE Burger King rather a lot so a whopper and coke does me fine for the food side and toilets are as adequate as ones in pubs off the motorway.

Anyone know the book I'm talking about?

mikemo

imho food in the UK is better in ethnic and stared places - much of the rest is expensive awful.
M

wojazz3

Hi jand:

Are you driving all the way to North Wales on your first day or are you spending a night in somewhere in between. Wasn't sure if your last question was about stopping for the night, or stopping for a meal.

If you are going all the way to Northern Wales after an overnight flight, that could be a long tiring drive. There is also much to see enroute. We stayed in Llandogo which made for a pretty easy drive back to London the next day. I can't recommend a place to stay near there because where we stayed was not particularly nice, but the Wye Valley is beautiful and you have easy access to Tintern Abbey and Chepstow Castle among other spots.

The M4 towards Cardiff had quite a few of those service areas with simple sustenance.

Bill

flanneruk

The book Kavey refers to is called "off the Motorway" by Shirley and Paul Smith, though I'm sure there's another, similarly titled.

You have a strategic choice here. The fast route (M4, M25, M40, M42, M6 Toll, M6 to J16, then follow your nose for the following 60 miles. And, next week, DO take the M6 Toll and not the free M6 round Birmingham) is modestly pretty for the 100 miles after you join the M40. There is only one service station (called Warwick) on this route between Heathrow and the Norton Canes station about 130 miles after you leave Heathrow. Both are clean and serve mediocre food.

However the station after Norton Canes (Stafford North, between J14 and J15 )has an almost delightful picnic area, round a lake, and enough open, grassy space to make for an almost pleasant experience. Sadly this is true only of the operation on the northbound carriageway: the southbound one you'll encounter coming back is as dismal as the rest. Unfortunately, you go straight from the hire place onto the motorway system, and there's nowhere else on the motorways to buy decent food except the service stations.

Here's a tip. Once on the M40, turn off at J11 (Banbury) Follow directions for the town centre. Where you have a choice between the A422 and the A361, follow the A422 for a few hundred yards, then follow the signs for "superstore". Go inside the Tesco. Welcome to the world of British supermarket own-brand, packaged ready to eat food: one of the two life-enhancing inventions in which we lead the world (the other one is public-access footpaths). Stock up on a picnic, then drive to Stafford North, walk through the horrid fast food area to the open space outside and eat your nice food in almost the only easily accessible picnic spot on your trip.

Otherwise, you might think of turning off the motorway to eat in Banbury or Warwick, but parking can be a pain, though both towns have bits in the centre that are quite nice (Banbury) or world-class stunning (Warwick parish church). A little-visited alternative treat is Lichfield, with a glorious cathedral (the original stomping ground, BTW, of St Chad, the patron saint of gerrymandered elections), but even we find navigation tricky here. Between Warwick and Lichfield - just when you're really going to want to stop - there's nothing but featureless suburbia or emptyness.

If OTOH you're thinking of driving on ordinary roads, don't. Once you turn off the M6 you'll get all the experience you need of driving through towns.

flanneruk

PS: I was stupidly confusing your journey with a journey I frequently take. There are, of course, three service areas between Heathrow and Norton Canes, at Oxford (J8a), Cherwell Valley (J10) and Warwick. All mediocre (though in fairness, no more mediocre than those wall-to-wall IHOP/Burger King areas on American freeways)

bbib

I would recommend finding a good pub on route - it shouldn't invovle much of a detour to find one.

I don't know of any specifics to recommend but if you have an idea of the towns you will be passing on your journey, I am sure you will get some suggestions from those in the know on the board.

caroline_edinburgh

According to Amazon UK, "Off the Motorway" by Shirley and Paul Smith is not published until November 2004. There is another book, "Breaks Near the Motorways: Over 200 Places to Eat, Rest or Sleep, Just Off the Motorways" by
Hugh Cantlie, available now. Our own 'bible' when travelling through the UK by car is "Good Pub Food" by Susan Nowack, published by CAMRA (the Campaign for Real Ale); but it seems to be out of print at the moment, probably pending a new edition.

Kavey

Thanks Flanner and Caroline.

jand

Thanks all for the helpful posts. I am afraid I was not very clear in my original post. We are driving to Wales after 5 days in London. We are going to Heathrow just to pick up the rental car. I do hate fast food but when you are traveling you have to put up with it. My kids on the other hand will not care. I will look for the book mentioned in my local bookstore. No time left to order from Amazon!

twina49

Jand,

Not sure of your route, but when I posted a query about driving between Liverpool and Arnprior, Scotland, it was suggested by Tropo that we stop in Slaidburn and have a meal at the Hark to Bounty village pub (http://www.harktobounty.co.uk/), which we plan on doing.

Sylvia

Most motorway service stations will have a choice of eateries, not brilliant but good enough to stave off starvation.
I really would advise against Little Chef though unless you just want breakfast.
We used to use them just as a fueling station when they were owned by Forte. We tried them twice since the new owners took over and found the food literally uneatable.

flanneruk

jand:

You're very unlikely to find either of the off-motorway books in your local bookshop in the US. But all better bookshops in London (and that means any branch of WAterstone's) will be full of them.
And I change my recommedation. Go into the nearest branch of M+S to your hotel and buy a picnic.

obxgirl

jand, If you can't find the book locally (which is likely to be the case) consider ordering it from amazon.co.uk and having it shipped to your hotel.

Kavey

Sylvia
I'm with you, the only thing I eat at Little Chef is the mars bars etc that are sometimes sold at a little kiosk near the pay desk. Their coffee is amongst the worst I've ever tasted.

But the loos are clean and sometimes that's the most important thing. Besides which most of them have BKs attached now (or the ones on my routes at any rate) and I actually really love whoppers.

Kavey

Yeah, just to confirm, my friend emailed the full details of the book she was using last time and it's:

Checking Amazon (who don't have it in stock), it is called:

Five Minutes Off the Motorway (Cadogan Guides)
Hugh Cantlie, Paul Cantlie
Paperback 256 pages (November 1995)
ISBN: 1860110312

list price is £8.99

jand

Kavey, Thanks. I will buy the book in London.