Hello. I’m still working on my itinerary for England, where we plan to be for two weeks in September. There is one day of the trip that I would like your advice on. We will be driving from Chipping Campden to York, where we will be for two nights. It looks like this will be a long drive for DH. I am wondering if we should break the trip up by stopping in Lincoln to see the Cathedral and Castle or if we should drive through to York and see Castle Howard. I have looked at the websites for both, as well as guidebooks and these forums, and I am torn between Lincoln Cathedral and Castle Howard. We will be dropping the car off once we get to York so going to Castle Howard on day two is not a possibility as I would like to spend the time in York. Is it feasible to do both on that one day or do you think it might be too much? What does everyone think? Thank you!

If you think Chipping Campden to York is a long drive, wait till you try driving from Chipping Campden to Lincoln.

There's absolutely no way on earth diverting via to Lincoln breaks the journey to York. Get up early enough, and you'll squeeze both Lincoln and Castle Howard in. But if the prospect of the straightforward 160 mile, almost entirely on dual carriageways, drive to York phases you, you'll be a gibbering wreck after the extra 2-3 hours driving that going to Lincoln adds on

I was thinking the very same thing. There are possible places to visit between Chipping Campden and York, but Lincoln would definitely not be on that list.

Just doesn't make sense.

Places the would work include Chatsworth and/or Hardwick Hall - Lincoln, nope.

I've done the drive in reverse -- York to south of Warwick w/ stops at both houses -- but there would not have been time for Castle Howard too.

If it was me, I'd either 1) stop at Hardwick Hall and/or Chatsworth and forget about Castle Howard, 2) visit Castle Howard and forget about anything else, or 3) what I'd REALLY do is keep the car one additional day and visit all 3 and just be car-less your 2nd day in York.

I visited Castle Howard a number of years ago, during my very short visit to York. A good deal of its attractions are outdoors (fountains, outbuildings, gardens) so I'd recommend a stop there is the weather isn't inclement. i enjoyed my visit, and hope to go again some day.

Thank you for your replies. I’m glad I asked because I had searched the route on Mapquest. According to the directions, Chipping Campden to York is 2 hours, 49 minutes and 169 miles. From Chipping Campden to Lincoln to York is 3 hours, 35 minutes and 192 miles. I know that traffic, construction, etc. need to be kept in mind, but this is why I thought stopping in Lincoln would be a nice break. I will check into Chatsworth and Hardwick Hall - thanks for the suggestions!

Bit of advice -- never (EVER) rely on Mapquest, AA, viaMichelin or any other site for accurate drive times.

Even w/o traffic, a foreign visitor usually needs to add 35% to 40% or more to the calculations. And w/ traffic snarls, and bad weather, even more. That 3 hr 35 minutes would be maybe for a local driving it at 0800 on a sunny Sunday morning. Not for real life for a visitor from the States.

Chatsworth - www.chatsworth.org

We spent part of the day at Chatsworth in May 2007. Here is a link to our pictures; Chatsworth should be midway down the page, I think.
http://tinyurl.com/25xs9t

Lee Ann

Have only been to Castle Howard and it was well worth a couple of hour detour on the way to York. Doubt you could do all in one day.

Haven't been to Lincoln (plan to stop maybe briefly next summer) but have spent an absolutely story-book, not to be missed day at Chatsworth--and we got there by non-convenient public transport! Read about its history now, so you'll know "why" you are going, and don't be put off by the ostentatiousness or any other distraction, political or personal--it is a marvelous lovely wonderful way to spend several hours, no matter what you think, positive or other, of the morals or politics or economics of the families involved there. It's history--and some of it pretty pretty! (and some of it not, but I ramble now)--The gist is--stop at Chatsworth this time! It seems more on your way than Lincoln and definitely worth a stop!

Thank you all for the suggestions. ElendiPickle - your pictures are fantastic! I think that Chatsworth is the new plan. Thanks again! I will continue to work on the itinerary and ask again for advice in the near future.

As a general rule, in the UK:

1. AA etc times are reliable indicators of travelling times when the journey's all on dual carriageways if nothing goes wrong. On the direct route from Chipping Campden to York, J 23a of the M1 almost invariably adds 15-30 mins the engines don't predict, but otherwise serious blockages are relatively rare. Divert to Lincoln, though, and you're dealing with a completely arbitrary world of roads through towns, beetroot lorries and convoys of caravans on their way to Skeggie. Don't believe a word of any engine for such journeys - least of all foreign ones like Mapquest.

2. No engine, though, ever tells you the reality if you're a visitor to the UK because none of them have a system for telling you about navigating through your destination town and finding somewhere to park. On average, in our historic cities (like Cambridge, Lincoln or York) allow at least 45 mins from leaving the major road leading to the town to getting out of your car after parking it - and at least another 20-30 mins for getting back to that road. The engines are more reliable about driving into a city (like Birmingham) whose councils have willingly destroyed huge slugs of the city's heritage to "improve" the road system. But who'd want to visit them?

So diverting to somewhere outside towns - like Castle Howard - typically takes at least an hour (and often a very great deal more than an hour) less than diverting to a historic city, even without the time spent on the main roads. It's often worthwhile asking here about ways of shortening this time: many of us have acquired little tricks in some cities.