tuscanlifeedit

Hi

We are planning a trip to England in early autumn. I can't decide where to go.
We love ruins and cathedrals, gardens, wooded scenery, pretty villages, grand houses, seaside scenery. We also love art.

We've been to Yorkshire, the Lake District, Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, Salisbury, Winchester, the Cotswolds, lots of Thomas Hardy and Jane Austen sites, Bath, Stonehenge, Glastonbury, Liverpool and to London several times.

We will spend a few days in London this time, and I'm pondering perhaps Canterbury and Cambridge, with driving. We have never visited to the east of London.

Another option is Derbyshire and Oxford. Ideally we would do 11 or 12 nights on the ground, coming from the US.

My favorite things are listed above. Which direction might you plan for?

ESW

Have you thought about Northumberland and the Borders? This is an area people rush through on their way to Scotland. There are some splendid beaches on the Northumberland coast with dramatic castles at Dunstanburgh and Bamburgh. There is ruined Warkworth Castle, home of the powerful Percy Family.

From Seahouses you can do boat trips to the Farne Islands and there is also Lindisfarne, Holy Island reached by a tidal causeway. Into the Borders there are the ruined castles of Dirleton and Tantallon.

You are spoilt for choice with stately homes - Floors Castle, Lennoxlove a bit off the beaten track but well worth visiting, Mellerstain with its silver staircase, Manderston with its Adam ceilings, Paxton House, Traquair House - discover why the bear gates stay shut... Visit Cragside, house of the Victorian industrialist and the first house to be lit by electricity. Alnwick Castle is the home of the Dukes of Northumberland and has award winning gardens designed by teh Duchess.

There are the ruins of the great border abbeys of Jedburgh, Melrose, Dryburgh and Kelso.

There is Hadrian's Wall....

For wooded scenery there is Allen Banks or the delightful walk from Bellingham to Hareshaw Linn....

Explore the Coquet Valley leading to some of the most isolated settlements in the country.

PalenQ

Kent has all the things you are looking for - an oft overlooked region of England it seems as few folks ever talk of it here - cathedrals - one of the most famous and historic in England; gardens and natural areas - this is called after all "The Garden of England" - historic castles galore - ike the one where Anne Bolyene grew up - neat castle towns like Chilham - lovely old seaside towns and resorts and unique for England Oast Houses lovingly dotting the landscape to cure hops, which grow here as well in one of the few places in Europe supplying them to the beer brewing business.

Rye is a cute smaller town to base in - Kent is hopping!

janisj

>> an oft overlooked region of England it seems as few folks ever talk of it here - <<

Hardly -- what w/ Dover, Sissinghurst, Canterbury et al. There are MANY threads about Kent/Sussex.

For your brief -- I'd probably opt for 1) Suffolk/Norfolk or 2) Northumberland/the Borders or 3) Kent/East Sussex. Partly depends on when in the Fall. The gardens in Kent won't be at their best in late Autumn.

Up North: Alnwick Castle/Alnwick Garden/Hadrian's Wall/all the Border Abbeys/Lindesfarne/Bamburgh Castle/St Abbs Head, etc.

Down South: Sissinghirst/Dover Castle/Canterbury/Scotney Castle/ Bayham Old Abbey/Rye/Knole/Chartwell, etc.

East Anglia: The Broads/Lavenham/Constable Country/Holkam Hall/Blickling Hall/Beaches & Birds

tuscanlifeedit

Spoiled for choices, I see. Our last trip to England was north, so I was thinking south, but I'm going to investigate all the options offered.

I'm shooting for early autumn but probably won't have a firm date for a week or two.

I like birds but don't plan around them. Been lucky a few times, though. Beaches are fine, but we prefer dramatic coastal scenery.

Mimar

Our last trip was Chester/North Wales/The Peaks. I loved Chester, a nice-sized town with a cathedral, Roman ruins, and lots of medieval half-timbered buildings. North Wales has the seaside scenery and a wooded countryside plus the castles of Conwy and Caernarfon. The scenery in the Peaks is more stark and very striking. The big houses of Chatsworth, Hardwick Hall, Haddon Hall, and Lyme Hall are in the Peaks.

You could drive further south and check out Shrewsbury Cathedral.

We based in Chester, Conwy and Buxton. And flew out of Manchester.

Otherwise if you go to the northeast, consider stopping at Durham. One of my favorite cathedrals, nice shopping in the old town, and a beautiful walk along the Wear River with a view of the cathedral. Durham Cathedral and Durham Castle are a World Heritage Site.

Morgana

Suffolk sounds perfect for you.
Suffolk is famous for its 'Suffolk Pink' thatched cottages and pretty villages. It's never busy with tourists and would be quiet in early autumn.
Janis mentions Lavenham - this is a truly beautiful place and would be a good base to use for exploring.
http://www.discoverlavenham.co.uk/
Numerous other lovely villages close by (Long Melford, Clare, Cavendish, Kersey etc).
Most of the villages, however small, have a magnificent medieval church. Long Melford and Lavenham have particularly fine examples - they are known as 'wool churches' as they were built on the extremely lucrative wool trade.
http://www.longmelfordchurch.com/
Two of England's most famous artists are from Suffolk - Gainsborough and John Constable. You can visit 'Constable Country' and see Flatford Mill etc.
The Suffolk coast is well worth visiting - Orford has a castle, and there's Southwold, Thorpeness etc.
Aldeburgh has Benjamin Britten links, and Snape Maltings are well worth a visit (concerts, boat trips, very good café etc)
http://www.snapemaltings.co.uk/
For Cathedrals you could visit Bury St Edmunds (my home town), always known locally as Bury. There's a joke in town that the Cathedral took 1000 years to complete.
http://www.stedscathedral.co.uk/
You could also easily do a day trip to Cambridge, maybe also taking in Ely Cathedral which seems to float like an island across the Fens.
http://www.elycathedral.org/
If you are a beer drinker you can visit the Greene King Brewery in Bury (tours available) or there's the excellent Adnams Ale from Southwold.

ESW

"but we prefer dramatic coastal scenery."

You can't get more dramatic than Northumberland
Dunstanburgh
http://www.walksandwalking.com/wp-co...humberland.jpg
Bamburgh
http://www.roughguides.com/wp-conten...-1680x1050.jpg
Holy Island...
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/...nd_798879c.jpg

Failing that, have you thought about Cornwall which has pretty dramatic coastal scenery too, especially along the north coast.

janisj

>>Failing that, have you thought about Cornwall which has pretty dramatic coastal scenery too, especially along the north coast.<<

The OP says they've already visited Cornwall -- I assumed they are looking for someplace new . . .

Morgana

Suffolk (as I suggested above) doesn't have 'dramatic' coastal scenery. It does however have some excellent bird watching especially at Minsmere.
http://www.rspb.org.uk/discoveranden...de/m/minsmere/

bilboburgler

East Yorkshire has fine bird watching at the tip after Hull, then seagull cliffs as you head north along the coast

tuscanlifeedit

Each post has me convinced that "that's the place" and then I read the next one.

We really aren't bird watchers.

We've had wonderful trips to Cornwall; really great, and East Yorkshire too.

Mimar: do you have a trip report? My husband shared a desk for 15 years with a guy from Wales, and he thinks Wales should be in the mix.

janisj

For rugged coasts, castles, gardens, scenery etc I'd probably pick North Wales or Northumberland/the Borders.

But honestly, everywhere else mentioned so far would tick most of your boxes. You just need to plan several trips

Maybe these can help you decide:

Alnwick garden: https://www.google.com/search?q=alnw...A&ved=0CEwQsAQ

Bodnant gardens: https://www.google.com/search?q=bodn...2&ved=0CE4QsAQ

But then, most of those photos were taken in Spring/early Summer.

Mimar

Nope, I didn't do a trip report. Here's a mini one for you:

I was inspired to go to north Wales by our day trip from Bath into south Wales to Tintern Abbey and Chepstow Castle. We drove along the Wye River to Tintern. The countryside was more wooded than England. There was a small village where we turned off to the Abbey. And there it stood, tall walls, roofless, carpeted in daisy-starred grass. Other than a few small buildings in the village, no other sign of human habitation. it felt untouched by time -- at least since Wordsworth's time. Just the river, trees and the Abbey.

Unfortunately we had car problems in north Wales and didn't see as much as I had hoped. But it's definitely treesy. On my list was Snowdonia Park (Betws-y-Coed), Portmeirion and the Lleyn Peninsula (Plas-yn-Rhiw), the cog railway up Mt. Snowdon, and Segontium Roman fort. Google images of the artificial town of Portmeiron. It looks like a piece of Italy dropped into Wales. And was the setting for filming of the series The Prisoner. We did go to Bodnant Gardens and Conwy and Caernarfon castles.

Also Google images of Chester, to get the full effect. We walked the wall and took 2 tours offered by the town Tourist Office, one of the Roman sites and led by a Roman soldier. At least he dressed like one. We were the only people on the tour. As he led us around town, he was jeered at by schoolboys. He ignored them and stumped on.

We had 3 memorable lunches in Chester. One was in the well-preserved refectory of the abbey associated with the cathedral. I imagined the monks of yore eating in this same room. Another lunch was in the Brewery Tap, a pub in the great hall of a Jacobean town house. And one was in below-grade restaurant next to Debenhams, a former chapel. 3 unique experiences.

Our base in the Peaks was Buxton, a spa town with an Opera House (!). Buxton was a little bigger and more urban than our other option, Bakewell. And it's set around a large ravine/park, the Pavilion Gardens. We stayed at a B&B overlooking the park. We did various scenic drives around the Peaks and stopped at Dovedale to walk into the gorge. Adjacent Ilam village is very cute.

Chatsworth is the most memorable big house I've been to -- and that includes Castle Howard, Longleat. and Blenheim. It and its park together are like a giant sculpture, more art than architecture. And when we were there (don't know if this is always true) the park was scattered with various outdoor sculptures.

Hope this helps.

ElendilPickle

If you're considering Wales, here is my trip report from last year:
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...yjune-2014.cfm

And this one from 2007, in which we spent a few days in north Wales:
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...b-may-2007.cfm

Lee Ann

PalenQ

North Wales is one of my favorites - the Conwy/Llandudno area makes a great base - the Great Orme hovers over both - take the hill-climbing tram up to see mountain goats up top and sweeping views for miles around.

Easy day trips to Beaumarais - lovely seaside castle of your dreams and to Caernarferon (sp?) - nceat castle and Mt Snowdon, Ffestiniog Railway and many more like the scenic Conwy Valley.

conwy is the consummate walled small town - dreamy place to stay - Lladudnot is a fading and somewhat reviving seaside resort with tons of B&Bs if wishing to economize.