We will be flying into London Heathrow in early May. We plan on taking the train from Kings Cross to York Peterborough Station. Hope to pick up a car at the station and drive to our rented house in North Yorkshire. After a week we will be driving to Cheviot to our rented house there. We are hopting to drop the car off in the Cheviot area and taking the train from New Castle or Alnmouth back to London and stayng in London a few days before flying back to the states. We enjoy the train rides and are very familiar with driving in the UK. We are wondering if it would be better to fly from London to Teesside airport in Durham and picking up a car there. The one way train fares are expensive and getting a Rail Pass would be cheaper.
Any suggestions????
Also any suggestions about walking the North Yorkshire Moors???

If you book 30-60 days in advance and travel after 09:00, you can get single fares as low as £11.50. See the Journey Planner at www.nationalrail.co.uk

Forgive me if I am stating something you know already but there are a couple of inaccuracies in your proposals which could lead to misunderstandings. York and Peterborough are entirely different places. Peterborough is in Cambridgeshire in the Midlands on the way to York which is, er, in Yorkshire, in the north of England. I believe there are only 2-3 flights a day from LHR to Teesside using BMI which will probably involve you collecting your luggage and checking in again unless your US airline is a partner of BMI. So I would recommend the train. TimS is correct, try the National Rail website early and quite cheap fares are available, particularly when compared to flying. And the view from the train is nicer.

There is no shortage of literature available on exploring the North York Moors. Anywhere east of Pickering to the coast is stunning.

The city you refer to is 'Newcastle', and is one of the friendliest places in the UK - I write this as a Southerner! The Cheviots is an area of hilly countryside, not a place as such.

Have a great vacation, you've chosen a lovely part of England.

Thanks for both responses I did check the National Rail and that seems to be the best way to go.
I thoughtPetersborough was the name of the staiton in York, I guess I was mistaken

I do have a recommendation for York itself. I really enjoyed the Castle museum - something quite different and very well put together.

www.yorkcastlemuseum.org.uk

Take some time to wander the walls in York - lovely little city.

Have fun,

Molly

Hi
I live in North Yorkshire and do a lot of walking in the area so will give you some links to walking sites. Also the Tourist Board offices in York will have leaflets, maps and walking books.
A lovely day out is to go on the North Yorks Moors steam railway and incorporate some walks into the day.
As previous posters have said, Peterborough is a place almost half way between Kings Cross and York and nothing to do with York itself as it is a good 100 miles away!
Give me a yell if you have any other NY questions.
www.walkingenglishman.com/northyorkshire.htm
www.yorkshirewalks.org/
http://www.theaa.com/travel/basicsea...lksridesdrives

Do we need to purchase train tickets from London to York in advance? We're wanting to train to York for one night. Hoping for a morning train and a night return the next night. Any suggestions as to where we do this? Can we do it on the day of? Or do we need reservations? etc. Thanks for any advice! Missy

The trains are run by National Express. All times and fares are on www.nationalexpresseastcoast.com.

New Castle BTW is Newcastle - to be more precise Newcastle-upon-Tyne as opposed to the dozen or so other Newcastle's in the UK

As for "Do we need to purchase train tickets from London to York in advance?" it depends on if you are willing to pay the full undiscounted price of up to £110 by buying on the day or would prefer to pay under £30 by booking several weeks in advance

I'd do some playing about with the link you have already been given to see how prices change

Yikes the prices are that much more by purchasing the day of??? Thanks for the link! Missy

yep - just like flying. Last minute tickets are almost always much more expensive

Makes sense to me. I just posted a separate Q regarding single or return tickets. Thanks for any other advice. Trying to figure all of this out. Also, if we purchase our tickts now does the National Express mail them to us or how do we get our tickets??? We'll arrive in London on March 13th so we have some time. Thanks Missy

You can print your pre-purchased tickets at a kiosk at the station.

You get your tickets from a "Fastticket" machine at the station. You will need to use the same credit card that you used to buy the tickets (to verify that you are the person who paid for them), and enter a code which will be sent to you by e-mail.