Manchester and beyond ideas
 

My husband and I are planning to go to Manchester in August. We have friends we want to visit there but want to do some touring. Our friends say to keep Manchester as the hub and take trains to other places. They did suggest Scotland and I am all for that. We like history, scenery, and my husband loves the Beatles. I also love seclusion and romance but that is on the back burner. We plan on spending about 10 days. Any ideas or suggestion are appreciated.

Day trips or travelling?

History and scenery.

Scotland with a very large full stop.

Mull and / or Skye or very doable from Manchester as is the English Lake District.

In addition, there's the Northumbria coast (much quieter) combined with Edinburgh or Notth Wales.

We can't decide the area, all these bases have piles of history, castles, museums and country houses all dating from pre Roman times, through the Roman occupation, the dark ages and from the French "occupation" in 1066. It's very interesting to see the mark that each culture left in Northern Britain and Scotland. You'll see much eveidence of Nordic invasions and continuing Celtic culture.

Just decide broadly where you want to go and and we'll all help with the detail.

In my view, you need a car the driving is relatively easy as the roads are generally good.

Where are you travelling from?

Beatles : buy him an album to placate him. Liverpool would come second bottom of my list of places to visit in the area, just behind Burnley.

There is the water front which for some reason was given world heritage status and there is Port Sunlight which is a fascinating example of the benevolence of a large employer toawards his workers. The village was built in the industrial revolution as a ground breaking example of how to accommodate mill workers. It now hosts a world class gallery with pre raphaelite paintings by Millais, Rossetti and Burne-Jones. You will recognise them. Then there's the Walker Gallery in the city centre which is again world class.

OK, I'll give flannerUK, Liverpool MAY be worth a visit.

BC is right about Liverpool, it's a day trip at best! ;)

Hopefully the weather in August will be kind, though you can't bank on it, but do leave enough time to see the sights in the city itself. You can easily spend 2 or 3 days on the city centre alone.

Day trips are easy, as Manchester has excellent rail connections to most of the UK, so try:

York
Skipton
Chester
Harrogate

For the Lakes, Peak District, Dales and Moors, you'll need a car to get yourself to where the scenery is and the trains don't run.

Manchester is the industrial heartland of the UK and a great place for gearheads. There's a huge museum dedicated to early technology and a small one for radical worker movements. The art museum has a decent collection of midlands realism. Two great football (soccer) stadiums offer visits. Lots of rail connections, although you need to sort through a collection of stations when planning your day trips. And be prepared to eat South Asian food, from quick curries for students on the Curry Mile that runs through the vast Manchester University to very upscale tablecloth restaurants. So yes, it can be an interesting base, and its airport is big enough for some international connections.