DOCK

We are planning a trip to Windermere,staying at Holbeck Ghyll for 4 nights.Is there anything we should not miss en-route or press on striaght to Windermere.We will be picking up car at LHR.
Any other accomodation suggestions? Willing to pay up to GBP 140 per night. Need 2 rooms. Thanks.

janisj

Are flying in to LHR and collecting a car before driving up? Or will you be in London first and just going out to LHR to get the car? How many days do you have for the drive?

If you are arriving after a long haul flight - you do NOT want to be driving that day (or more than a few miles like to Windsor or someplace nearby to unwind and recover)

There are TONS of things to see in between - but w/o knowing how long you have, its hard to give suggestions. The straight drive is about 275 miles and would take about 6 hours w/ any traffic at all.

Palenque

If driving after flight to Lake District then you will not have much time to really explore - esp like janis says after a night-long perhaps sleepeless flight

but if you had time:

The Cotswolds could be en route but really for a tourist there is very little of note on the main motorway route IME

flanneruk

"for a tourist there is very little of note on the main motorway route IME"

From LHR, within 15 miles of the main route (M25, M40, M6 toll, M6). History only

- Runnymede (exit airport at T4, then head for M25)
- Windsor
- Oxford
- Warwick
- That silly theme park thing outside Warwick
- Stratford
- Bosworth ("my horse, my horse" etc)
- Lichfield (cathedral founded by St Chad, patron saint of crooked elections
- Boscobel (the oak where Charles II hid)
- The Industrial Revolution World Heritage sites round Ironbridge
- Chester (OK it's a bit over 15)
- Liverpool
- Lancaster.

Admittedly there are a few bits along the 1200 miles of the Via Francigena SE from London that are as densely packed with stuff. But I can't think of any other stretch of road to match

And that's before we get onto the gardens.

DOCK

Thanks for the info, I will look into some of your suggestions. We will be coming from South Arica, spending 3 nights in London before heading out. Just picking up car from LHR as we will drop off car there before flying out.

We plan on doing Windsor on the way back as we will likely spend the night at an airport hotel as we opted for an early flight out to Toronto rather than in the afternoon.

Also we did a driving holiday last year to the Cotswolds,Oxford,Stratford, Stonehenge,so I would like to head to the Lakes District this time.I realise out of Manchester would have been easier,but tickets are already booked and paid for so LHR it is. Thanks again and I will look at the list of suggestions.

Palenque

Yes but landing and driving to Lakes how many of those places can you really see in a short stop?

i did indeed phrase myself wrong and meant not to say there were nothing - nothing in a practical sense. But now that we know they are starting from London then yes one or two of those places are very feasible.

khunwilko

"Is there anything we should not miss" - well the country of England springs to mind!

khunwilko

Basically on leaving London you have 2 main options - M40 to the M6 up the Western side of England or the Eastern route - M1 or even A1(M) and cross over by the Yorkshire Dales. Depending on time and your interests you could take in a massive amount of English countryside towns and history......Oxford, Banbury, Stratford on Avon, Nottingham, York, the Peak District, the Yorkshire Dales etc etc....

janisj

DOCK: Again, w/o knowing how many days you have for the drive, we can't really give you specific suggestions.

DOCK

sorry,janisj missed that query in your first response. We have max. 2 days , 1 night to do the drive.Any info appreciated.Thanks.