ElendilPickle

Mr. Pickle's men's a capella choir is traveling to Wales next May-June to celebrate their 20th anniversary. Their tour will start in Manchester and travel through Wales, ending up in London for our flight home.

We're planning to leave a few days early, giving ourselves three or four days on our own before we join the group. We'd like to head to the Peak District around Hathersage and Stanage Edge (Pride and Prejudice reenacting may or may not be involved ) and up into a bit of Yorkshire.

I think this is feasible, but what parts of Yorkshire should we see that wouldn't involve us spending all day in a car? We like driving, though.

At any rate, we're in the really early stages of planning, so any advice will be helpful.

Lee Ann

janisj

I think the Dales and the Peak District would be a nice combo -- I'd want at least 5 days though since the driving in the Dales is slow and there is so much to see. 3+ days in the Dales and 2-ish days for P and P enacting/etc.

indy_dad

Hi Lee Ann

We've done quite a bit of walking in the Peak District if you are interested (I know that's not what you asked about -- perhaps you already know what you'd like to do there). Let me know if you have any specific questions.

Stanage Edge
http://ukfrey.blogspot.com/2012/07/d...and-masas.html

Padley Gorge
http://ukfrey.blogspot.com/2013/03/e...ley-gorge.html

Ladybower Reservoir
http://ukfrey.blogspot.com/2013/04/d...reservoir.html

Mam Tor / Castleton
http://ukfrey.blogspot.com/2012/10/w...castleton.html

Kinder Scout
http://ukfrey.blogspot.com/2012/09/l...nd-kinder.html

B-29 Superfortress Crash Site (1948)
http://ukfrey.blogspot.com/2013/06/f...s-in-peak.html

and more . . .

ChgoGal

@ indyday: REally appreciate your blog posts. Getting terribly excited about my time in the Peak District and am trying to work out the last bits (accommodations, public transport, walks), before I post for more suggestions -- but am thinking of taking a day from Derby to stay an additional day in either Bakewell or Matlock (or somewhere else) to do a walk. Your walks with the family just look so great.

@ ElendilPickle: Thanks for posting your query! I'm in the Peaks in September so following with interest.

ElendilPickle

janisj, we'd hoped for more time, but we'll use all but two of Mr. Pickle's vacation days on this trip, so we'll have to make the most of our brief time. We have to be back in Manchester sometime on the 24th; the rest of the group arrives that morning and I expect we'll need to get together with them at some point that day.

indy_dad, thanks for the links. I've read several of your blog posts and have really enjoyed hearing about your time in the UK. We both thought the bits of the 2005 Pride and Prejudice at Stanage Edge were lovely, so we definitely want to go there.

I think we might just do an overnight in Hathersage, then head up to York. What is close to York that we could see? We like churches, castles, scenery, so we're not too picky.

Lee Ann

Morgana

Have you ever been to York itself? It's beautiful with much to see including the Minster ( cathedral).
I could give you enough suggestions for the surrounding area to keep you going for weeks. Some highlights -
For scenery either of the 2 nearby National Parks ((Moors or Dales). York itself is set in the Vale of York which is pleasant enough but doesn't have the wow of the national parks.
Castle Howard is an amazing stately home set in the Howardian Hills.
The North Yorks steams across the Moors from Pickering to the coast.
Fountains Abbey is a World Heritage Site. There are other abbeys you can visit - Jervaulx, Rievaulx, Byland, Mount Grace etd
Castles at Pickering, Castle Bolton, Helmsley etc

Morgana

Apologies. I meant the North Yorks steam railway goes across the Moors and is a lovely day out.

Cathinjoetown

I love the Peak District, we stayed here:

http://www.dannah.co.uk/

Very nice property. They directed us to a pub/restaurant for dinner. It was excellent, but I didn't note the name.

ajbarnett

Been to the Peak District many times since I was young, if I was to recommend a hotel, this was the last place we stayed at

http://www.eastlodge.com/

It was very nice.

texasbookworm

How exciting! Wales!

(Guess Hadrian's Wall is a bit too far?)

York is stunning and can easily more than fill a whole day, plus those suggestions of nearby places would be at least another, if those are the only two "free" days you have. In York we loved this B&B--Number 34 http://www.number34york.co.uk/

Rubicund

You seem to be ignoring the option of staying in Manchester itself. It's a historical city with great hotels, excellent restaurants and theatres and lots to see and do during the day.

Visit the www.visitmanchester.com website for all of the above.

ElendilPickle

Morgana, we're planning to go to York after Hathersage, and will visit the Minster and spend the night there. We need to think more about what we want to do in the limited time we have, obviously. I did notice that Fountains Abbey isn't far from York, and we'd like to get into one of the national parks if we can.

Rubicund, did you recently post some photos of Manchester? I enjoyed them very much. At this point, we plan to spend at least part of the 24th in Manchester.

We really, really wish we had more time. Initially we planned at least two more days on our own, but unless Mr. Pickle suddenly got a new job with a much larger income and boatloads of vacation time, it's not going to happen. We'll just have to do the best we can with the time we have.

Lee Ann

ElendilPickle

Soooo....

My brother-in-law, who lives on Maui, told us a couple of months ago that he was engaged and they were planning the wedding for October. Then it got pushed to the spring.

This has happened before and then the whole thing was canceled (different fiancee), so we figured we wouldn't plan on traveling to Hawaii for his wedding.

Today we got an email saying they have set a date for March 2014. Unless something changes, we won't be able to do our Wales trip extension now. OTOH, we will get to spend a few days on Maui.

So thanks for all your help. Maybe we'll get to visit the UK again in the future!

Lee Ann