Help with UK Itinerary for Fall 2012
Jul 31st, 2012, 05:28 PM
#21
If you were going to Leeds Castle -- it makes more sense to keep Canterbury and Dover . . . Since it is in the same general area.
But I'd ditch Leeds castle. Not worth the time/effort and it is in the wrong direction for everything else you are planning (not a bug loss BTW).
Better groupings would be Hever/Chartwell/Penshurst Place one day (easily doable and every one is better than Leeds)
Then another day Sissinghurst/Scotney Castle/Bodiam.
That would be a great 2 day/2 night Kent/East Sussex segment.
You are still being over ambitious IMO. London, East Sussex, Salisbury, Avebury, Bath, the Cotswolds (even just a drive through), S.Wales, Yorkshire and anything much in Scotland and you are in 3 to 4 week territory. Remember -London will need at least 6 or 7 days if you want to squeeze in HCP/Kew/Windsor.
But I'd ditch Leeds castle. Not worth the time/effort and it is in the wrong direction for everything else you are planning (not a bug loss BTW).
Better groupings would be Hever/Chartwell/Penshurst Place one day (easily doable and every one is better than Leeds)
Then another day Sissinghurst/Scotney Castle/Bodiam.
That would be a great 2 day/2 night Kent/East Sussex segment.
You are still being over ambitious IMO. London, East Sussex, Salisbury, Avebury, Bath, the Cotswolds (even just a drive through), S.Wales, Yorkshire and anything much in Scotland and you are in 3 to 4 week territory. Remember -London will need at least 6 or 7 days if you want to squeeze in HCP/Kew/Windsor.
Aug 1st, 2012, 08:53 AM
#24
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Does the hubby get a say? If so, he'd probably like Dover Castle and probably trying to figure out a way to see a soccer match. Perhaps whacking a wee ball into a wee hole with tools ill-suited for that very purpose whilst in Scotland?
After all, there are activities you can engage in other than bouncing from tourist site to tourist site.
Culling the Welsh part of the trip is a good idea - Wales tends to be rainier than the rest of Great Britain and getting to Northern Wales (Conwy, etc.) is a real pain.
Wouldn't go too far out of the way to see Hever - that's for the real Tudor history die-hards. The Castle is more of a large country home and has been completely refurb'd since the late 1800s so it does not really resemble the place where Anne Boleyn lived as a child or Anne of Cleves retired. It's nice, but there are better day trips and the fast train from St Pancras to Dover takes about the same amount of time as the train to Edenbridge Town (for Hever Castle) despite the larger distance.
After all, there are activities you can engage in other than bouncing from tourist site to tourist site.
Culling the Welsh part of the trip is a good idea - Wales tends to be rainier than the rest of Great Britain and getting to Northern Wales (Conwy, etc.) is a real pain.
Wouldn't go too far out of the way to see Hever - that's for the real Tudor history die-hards. The Castle is more of a large country home and has been completely refurb'd since the late 1800s so it does not really resemble the place where Anne Boleyn lived as a child or Anne of Cleves retired. It's nice, but there are better day trips and the fast train from St Pancras to Dover takes about the same amount of time as the train to Edenbridge Town (for Hever Castle) despite the larger distance.
Aug 1st, 2012, 09:54 AM
#25
Better groupings would be Hever/Chartwell/Penshurst Place one day (easily doable and every one is better than Leeds)
Then another day Sissinghurst/Scotney Castle/Bodiam.>>
nice ideas jj. tunbridge wells would make a great base for this segment. [yes, i know it's in Kent, but it would work well for these places, and the surroundings are lovely].
also. you can get the train from london, and pick up a hire car at T/wells.
Then another day Sissinghurst/Scotney Castle/Bodiam.>>
nice ideas jj. tunbridge wells would make a great base for this segment. [yes, i know it's in Kent, but it would work well for these places, and the surroundings are lovely].
also. you can get the train from london, and pick up a hire car at T/wells.
Aug 1st, 2012, 10:19 AM
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We actually liked Dover Castle much more than we expected. And Canterbury is nice. Both an easy train trip from London. Have been many of those places in England, plus others, and would be hard pressed to tell you favorites. I will suggest, though, that you check the British Heritage website and see if a pass would make sense for you. It certainly did for us in '98, somewhat better than break even and that was before the "extras". We ran across some Roman ruins and abbeys along our route that we hadn't known about but which were interesting for 30 min. or an hr. but didn't cost us extra because we had the pass.
We flew into London in '98 and spent a day and a half there before taking the bus to Heathrow and picking up a car. Since the airport is "right next door" to Hampton Court, we made that our first stop. (And even though we'd only been driving a few minutes, we were glad to take a break from "wrong side" driving.) Then went to Warwick Castle, which we also liked; it might be kind of an "attraction" but sometimes those are interesting, fun and educational. I had an ambitious schedule for our 7 days in England, based on what I could do in the US in that amount of time/distance. Wrong! I had 3-4 things on the agenda each day but 2 was a more reasonable goal. The roads aren't US roads, even the motorways. (And are you accustomed to driving on the left? Takes awhile to get used to that.) Also, the things we did were things that couldn't be accomplished easily by train - weird stuff not in your plans like Avebury, West Kennet Long Barrow following a morning at Stonehenge. Much of what you list can be done by train from London and doesn't involve trying to find parking. Of course, sometimes trying to do two things in a day on the train can be a problem - you might have to train back to London to get to the next one, which adds time.
Go to the London Walks website and see what they offer in out-of-town trips as well as in London. After '98 we have been back in the UK four times, with 5-8 days in London each time. It wasn't till our last trip that we did any London Walks and after the first one, we liked it so much we did a number of them. (Jack the Ripper was our least favorite, Inns of the Court the one I'd do again even though I didn't expect to like it.) The nice thing about these is that you just show up, don't have to book ahead, so if it's raining and you decide you'd rather do a museum than Little Italy, you can. Great way to see nooks and crannies you wouldn't otherwise find on your own and painlessly learn more history than you would otherwise.
If I ran the zoo, I'd only spend 2 days in Edinburgh (1 in a pinch) and if I really wanted to see Stirling, I'd take the short train trip from there. Back in the olden days there was a company called Guide Friday that had hop on-hop off double decker buses (red) in many cities and towns. Most of the guides were very informative and the day passes were pretty cheap (av. 8 pounds in the late '90, early 00s), so we used those in Stirling for transportation and also Cambridge, Bath, many other towns. Maybe 10 years ago the company was sold but as recently as 6 years ago you could access the new company by googling Guide Friday. You might be able to find the new company or a similar one that would be helpful.
We flew into London in '98 and spent a day and a half there before taking the bus to Heathrow and picking up a car. Since the airport is "right next door" to Hampton Court, we made that our first stop. (And even though we'd only been driving a few minutes, we were glad to take a break from "wrong side" driving.) Then went to Warwick Castle, which we also liked; it might be kind of an "attraction" but sometimes those are interesting, fun and educational. I had an ambitious schedule for our 7 days in England, based on what I could do in the US in that amount of time/distance. Wrong! I had 3-4 things on the agenda each day but 2 was a more reasonable goal. The roads aren't US roads, even the motorways. (And are you accustomed to driving on the left? Takes awhile to get used to that.) Also, the things we did were things that couldn't be accomplished easily by train - weird stuff not in your plans like Avebury, West Kennet Long Barrow following a morning at Stonehenge. Much of what you list can be done by train from London and doesn't involve trying to find parking. Of course, sometimes trying to do two things in a day on the train can be a problem - you might have to train back to London to get to the next one, which adds time.
Go to the London Walks website and see what they offer in out-of-town trips as well as in London. After '98 we have been back in the UK four times, with 5-8 days in London each time. It wasn't till our last trip that we did any London Walks and after the first one, we liked it so much we did a number of them. (Jack the Ripper was our least favorite, Inns of the Court the one I'd do again even though I didn't expect to like it.) The nice thing about these is that you just show up, don't have to book ahead, so if it's raining and you decide you'd rather do a museum than Little Italy, you can. Great way to see nooks and crannies you wouldn't otherwise find on your own and painlessly learn more history than you would otherwise.
If I ran the zoo, I'd only spend 2 days in Edinburgh (1 in a pinch) and if I really wanted to see Stirling, I'd take the short train trip from there. Back in the olden days there was a company called Guide Friday that had hop on-hop off double decker buses (red) in many cities and towns. Most of the guides were very informative and the day passes were pretty cheap (av. 8 pounds in the late '90, early 00s), so we used those in Stirling for transportation and also Cambridge, Bath, many other towns. Maybe 10 years ago the company was sold but as recently as 6 years ago you could access the new company by googling Guide Friday. You might be able to find the new company or a similar one that would be helpful.
Aug 1st, 2012, 11:04 AM
#28
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Just a quick comment on your proposed little foray into Wales. Chepstow Castle and Tintern Abbey are great choices. Forget Monmouth Castle (I had to look it up - I've been to Monmouth, wasn't aware it had a castle). If you want another great castle ruin in the area, check out Raglan Castle, http://www.castlewales.com/raglan.html
I'm glad to see people are suggesting Penshurst Place for the south of London section- I concur. It seems to be so seldom mentioned on these travel boards that it could belong that elusive collection of "hidden gems" that many visitors say they want.
I'm glad to see people are suggesting Penshurst Place for the south of London section- I concur. It seems to be so seldom mentioned on these travel boards that it could belong that elusive collection of "hidden gems" that many visitors say they want.
Aug 1st, 2012, 12:38 PM
#30
I'm glad to see people are suggesting Penshurst Place for the south of London section- I concur. It seems to be so seldom mentioned on these travel boards that it could belong that elusive collection of "hidden gems" that many visitors say they want.>>
ron, we used to live nearby [it was on our usual route to Tunbridge Wells where we would go for major shopping expeditions] so it's a place i've long known about. I agree that it's a hidden gem - as is most of that part of West Kent and East Sussex. people rave about the Cotswolds, but IMO the Weald is just as beautiful, and so close to London.
ron, we used to live nearby [it was on our usual route to Tunbridge Wells where we would go for major shopping expeditions] so it's a place i've long known about. I agree that it's a hidden gem - as is most of that part of West Kent and East Sussex. people rave about the Cotswolds, but IMO the Weald is just as beautiful, and so close to London.
Aug 1st, 2012, 04:17 PM
#31
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Well, that's a bummer about the British Heritage pass. Like the expression about when a door closes, a window opens. Think the converse is also true. So sometime between '99 and '04 a door opened - many of the museums in London that used to charge admission became free. Guess the end of the Brit. Heritage pass is the window that closed.
Aug 2nd, 2012, 01:35 PM
#32
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Thanks again for all the input!! It's hard to single out everybody to thank, but I do appreciate ALL comments! DH and I were actually booked to London last fall, but when we arrived at the airport, our flight had been cancelled (!!) so we opted to reschedule. (It worked out okay; DH had just had emergency dental work and wasn't looking forward to the flight anyway!) At that time, we only had six days planned, and we were going to spend them all in London, so frankly, anything extra we do on this trip is "gravy!" 
I am continuing to plan, whittling down "this" area, beefing up "that" area, etc. I think sticking to two major attractions a day is a good rule of thumb. Of course, like Texasbookworm, I don't mind doing a "drive-by" if that's the ONLY way I'm going to squeeze something else in!
BTW, BigRuss -- the hubby has plenty of say; he's the one who said, "Hey, while we're over there, let's go to Scotland as well!" He's into golf and just is a little bummed that we absolutely WON'T be able to drive up to St. Andrews.
I'll post my new itinerary next week for "approval", LOL! Like I said -- everything/anything after London is gravy!
I am continuing to plan, whittling down "this" area, beefing up "that" area, etc. I think sticking to two major attractions a day is a good rule of thumb. Of course, like Texasbookworm, I don't mind doing a "drive-by" if that's the ONLY way I'm going to squeeze something else in!
BTW, BigRuss -- the hubby has plenty of say; he's the one who said, "Hey, while we're over there, let's go to Scotland as well!" He's into golf and just is a little bummed that we absolutely WON'T be able to drive up to St. Andrews.
I'll post my new itinerary next week for "approval", LOL! Like I said -- everything/anything after London is gravy!
Aug 2nd, 2012, 04:10 PM
#33
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Dates?
You mentioned fall so if you tell us your actual dates we'd know if your visit is during half term or not. October half term varies from county to county but roughly falls between Oct 24th and Nov 2nd 2012
London will be busier at half term and accommodation might be harder to find or more likely more expensive.
Have fun!
You mentioned fall so if you tell us your actual dates we'd know if your visit is during half term or not. October half term varies from county to county but roughly falls between Oct 24th and Nov 2nd 2012
London will be busier at half term and accommodation might be harder to find or more likely more expensive.
Have fun!
Aug 2nd, 2012, 07:19 PM
#34
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If you have enough time in Edinburgh, you can do a daytrip to St. Andrews by train and bus. Or take one of the bus tours out of Edinburgh that go to St. Andrews and along the coast.
Trip planning is like dieting. You always having to cut out something you really like. Or several things.
Trip planning is like dieting. You always having to cut out something you really like. Or several things.
Aug 3rd, 2012, 08:40 AM
#35
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We're planning the last two weeks of September. The only potential "problem" (CHALLENGE!) I see is a Jane Austen festival in Bath during that timeframe, so rooms may be more difficult (and expensive) to come by.
Aug 9th, 2012, 11:45 AM
#36
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Okay, I think we’ve got a pretty good “loose” plan! Thanks again to everyone for your input!! I absolutely hated to drop Kent (Sissinghurst, Hever) from our list, but felt it was in the best interest given the time we have. Also hated to cut Wales short, but happily was able to work in Cotswolds and some points of interest on the way to Edinburgh!!
New Plan:
Five days in London “proper”, then a daytrip from London to Windsor Castle, Kew Gardens, and Hampton Court Palace. Hopefully we’ll be able to figure out transportation so that we can do all three in one day. Then we pick up our car and begin “meandering”:
Winchester Cathedral
Salisbury Cathedral
Stonehenge
Bath
Wales: Chepstow Castle, Tintern Abbey
Return for drive through Cotswolds:
- Castle Combe
- Malmesbury
- Cirencester
- Northleach
Side trip to Oxford, return to “main” road
- Bourton-on-the-Water
- Stow-on-the-World
- Moreton-in-Marsh
- Stratford-on-Avon
York
(then as many as we can get to
Fountains Abbey
Rievaulx Abbey
Hemsley Castle
Byland Abbey
Castle Howard
Pickering castle
Whitby Abbey
Richmond Castle
Hadrian’s Wall (Gilsland, UK)
(as many as we can get to
Jedburgh Abbey
Dryburgh Abbey
Kelso Abbey
Floors Castle
Abbotsford
Edinburgh Castle
The Royal Mile
Holyrood House
Stirling Castle (maybe)
- one hour north of Edinburgh
I realize the end is a little rushed with all the abbeys, but we're working on a driving plan now and want to see as many as we can. If we have to drop one or two, so be it. I also think I've built enough flexibility in the schedule to be, well, flexible!
Thanks again for everyone's help!
I absolutely hated to drop Kent (Sissinghurst, Hever) from our list, but felt it was in the best interest given the time we have. Also hated to cut Wales short, but happily was able to work in Cotswolds and some points of interest on the way to Edinburgh!!New Plan:
Five days in London “proper”, then a daytrip from London to Windsor Castle, Kew Gardens, and Hampton Court Palace. Hopefully we’ll be able to figure out transportation so that we can do all three in one day. Then we pick up our car and begin “meandering”:
Winchester Cathedral
Salisbury Cathedral
Stonehenge
Bath
Wales: Chepstow Castle, Tintern Abbey
Return for drive through Cotswolds:
- Castle Combe
- Malmesbury
- Cirencester
- Northleach
Side trip to Oxford, return to “main” road
- Bourton-on-the-Water
- Stow-on-the-World
- Moreton-in-Marsh
- Stratford-on-Avon
York
(then as many as we can get to
Fountains Abbey
Rievaulx Abbey
Hemsley Castle
Byland Abbey
Castle Howard
Pickering castle
Whitby Abbey
Richmond Castle
Hadrian’s Wall (Gilsland, UK)
(as many as we can get to
Jedburgh Abbey
Dryburgh Abbey
Kelso Abbey
Floors Castle
Abbotsford
Edinburgh Castle
The Royal Mile
Holyrood House
Stirling Castle (maybe)
- one hour north of Edinburgh
I realize the end is a little rushed with all the abbeys, but we're working on a driving plan now and want to see as many as we can. If we have to drop one or two, so be it. I also think I've built enough flexibility in the schedule to be, well, flexible!
Thanks again for everyone's help!
Aug 9th, 2012, 12:09 PM
#37
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You really can't do Kew, hampton court and windsor in one day...Hampton court and windor are full days on their own. You wont do any justice in one day so it's just wasting time and money. Pick one and do it well.
Aug 9th, 2012, 01:52 PM
#38
"<i>then a daytrip from London to Windsor Castle, Kew Gardens, and Hampton Court Palace.</i>
Absolutely 100% <u>impossible</u>. It is awfully difficult to do any two of those on the same day but HCP and Kew would be (just) 'doable'.
Sorry, you have cut a lot, but the rest of your new plan is still not possible in the 10 days after London. Good start, but unfortunately you need to cut/refine some more.
Absolutely 100% <u>impossible</u>. It is awfully difficult to do any two of those on the same day but HCP and Kew would be (just) 'doable'.
Sorry, you have cut a lot, but the rest of your new plan is still not possible in the 10 days after London. Good start, but unfortunately you need to cut/refine some more.
Aug 10th, 2012, 03:35 AM
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I repeat what I said above about estimating driving times--you'll be "safer" in your plans if you DOUBLE whatever google or AAA or Michelin or whatever on-line mapping service you might use. No kidding. We averaged taking 1.5 times as long, but sometimes it was nearly twice. And with an ambitious itinerary like yours, with many many point to point legs, you really gotta allow plenty of time or you will find yourself missing what you most wanted to see or something. Oh, and on that line, if you haven't already, it's really wise to put your most important things first (unless doing so causes too much crisscrossing or backtracking). You CAN have a busy full itinerary (we did and I'd do it the same way again if I had our same boundaries of time and wish lists), BUT I agree with those above who know the area much much better than I and say you probably still need to pare. But what you have left will be amazing so concentrate on enjoying what you CAN get to.
And you said in the first post Once in a Lifetime--well, that attitude or view (or it may be a truth) puts a certain frantic pressure on you. Can you give your mind a bit of relief and think more like Introductory Trip? I mean, you may end up never being able to return, like students sometimes/often only take an Introductory class to something, but that mindset might leave you with a bit more leeway about what is most important this time. Of course, if there are specific personal situations that absolutely dictate this is a one-of trip, then never mind.
And you said in the first post Once in a Lifetime--well, that attitude or view (or it may be a truth) puts a certain frantic pressure on you. Can you give your mind a bit of relief and think more like Introductory Trip? I mean, you may end up never being able to return, like students sometimes/often only take an Introductory class to something, but that mindset might leave you with a bit more leeway about what is most important this time. Of course, if there are specific personal situations that absolutely dictate this is a one-of trip, then never mind.
