In September my husband I will be taking my mother and mother-in-law (MiL) to England. His sister and her husband will join us there.

My mother is 70 and gets around better than many half her age. My MiL, who is in her late-70s, can still get around, but quite slowly and carefully. Neither have ever been to Europe and this may be their only opportunity.

The current plan is to fly into and out of London (Gatwick). We will make a short trip to Nottingham to visit a family friend for an afternoon, but the rest of the one-week trip is still in the planning stage.

We plan to either bring a wheelchair or rent one there to help MiL get around so she will not get too tired walking. We will travel light, with only carry-on luggage, except maybe the wheelchair.

I would like to take the train for day trips, but with 6 adults renting a van or large car may be more practical. Of course, we won't need a car while in London.

I'm looking for tips for where we can go in and around London and good day trips. I think they would both enjoy the gardens (maybe Kew), churches and castles. At least one day trip to see the countryside would be wonderful.

Also, my husband and I would love to see a Gilbert and Sullivan opera while in England. Any suggestions?

Thanks!
Reggie

Well, you should definitely do an afternoon tea-and probably the Orangery in the Kensington Gardens would be your best bet. Your mother and MILin-law would love to see the Gardens, no doubt-and the Orangery is a lovely place for tea- you'd be able to use a wheelchair there easily, I should think. The Orangery also does light lunches as well. You might also want to do the hop on hop off bus once through to take in most of the major sites in London-you don't have to go up top-just stay on the bottom level-that way, you can get a better sense of what you'd like to go back and see in more detail.

On a beautiful day, Kew can't be beat. Within the Botanic Gardens they run a mini-train tour to see all the sights -- highly recommended. Great places for lunch around Kew Green, too; make a day of it.

Just a heads up on the Tube though -- most stations don't have elevators/aren't really accessible except by masses of stairs & escalators. London Underground clearly notes their fully-accessible stops (let's just say there's no AWD act in the UK).

Finally the best place to see G&S in London is the ENO

http://www.eno.org/home/index.php

I caught the Mikado earlier this year -- magic. I see that they're doing PoP in Dec. With any luck you'll be able to take in some authentic G&S somewhere !
HTH

When we were in Oxford we were amazed at how easy it was to rent a wheelchair for an elderly companion. We went to a designated pharmacy, left a very small deposit (like $10) and were given a wheelchair for something like $4 a day. Unbelievable!

This may be a bit over the top for your mother-in-law, but this site might be useful:
http://www.tripscope.org.uk/

To go to Kew by tube or suburban train is going to involve stairs at Kew Gardens station and several hundred yards from the station to the Gardens. If you use the London Transport journeyplanner
http://journeyplanner.tfl.gov.uk
you can use the 'more options' button to enter mobility restrictions, but I'm not sure it offers entirely reliable answers.

Here are some links that may help you as you plan your visit:

London Transport's mobility services--
http://www.londontransport.co.uk/tfl/ph_mobility.shtml

Travel Britain's disability information--
http://www.travelbritain.org/newhome...e/tcdisabl.htm

Disability View online magazine--
http://www.disabilityview.co.uk/

Hope this is helpful.

Dave White
[email protected]

Many gardens and National Trust properties have wheelchairs for hire and often the person pushing will be allowed in for free.

Have a look at http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main...formation.html
or
http://tinyurl.com/6df7n

Thank you so much for all of the information. I?ll need time to digest it all and prepare a plan of attack. We have decided to rent a car, so we can move from one place to another easily.

Right now, our wish list includes flying into Gatwick, then driving to Leeds Castle.
After that, visits to Cambridge, Nottingham and Buxton (hopefully).

We hope to drive through the Cotswolds and on to Salisbury. We hope to visit several castles, churches, gardens, etc. along the way.

Finally we plan to head back to London to visit Kew Gardens and spend a little time in the city.

It is a lot to do in a week and we probably will not be able to do it all, but I like to have different options in case something falls through.

Can anyone recommend some reasonable B&Bs along the way. With the fall of the dollar, we need something relatively inexpensive, preferably around $150USD per night for two people.

By the way, we have tickets to see The Mikado here in Houston on Saturday. We've seen several G&S operas here, but we would love so see one while in England.

Thanks!
Reggie

Whoa there. Look at a map of the UK. You want to go from Gatwick to Leeds/Maidstone in Kent, up to Cambridge, Nottingham, Buxton, the Cotswolds, Salisbury, and have time for Kew and London -- all in one week with two elderly ladies along for the trek?

This is overly ambitious by half . . . . .

I'm getting tired just reading about it... and I am 30!!

Carmand, your itinerary just isn't realistic for a one-week visit. One week in London only, with a day trip, is itself a busy trip.
Getting around the UK is more time-consuming that one might think, even with a map in hand.
On a previous trip we drove from London to Buxton over a day and a half. We returned to London through N. Wales and the Cotswolds. That was a fair amount of driving, although less than what you've got planned, and we did it over 10 days. We are 40 yr old, athletic, experienced UK travellers. With your set of circumstances what you have planned is just too much.

Apparently, I did not make myself clear. The schedule that I gave is a WISH LIST. These are the places that we would love to go.

I plan trips by getting as much information as possible about the most interesting sites. I schedule those that I know we want to do and leave time for spur-of-the-moments adventures.

I am asking for information about these places. I do not expect to make it to all of them on this trip, but I want information on each in case events allow us to go.

No you didn't make it clear that you were just gathering info. You presented your wish list as an itinerary.
A week in London, with no car, and one day trip (besides Kew) is realistic given your circumstances - heck, it's realistic for anyone. There is just so much to see in London, in a week you would barely (barely!!) scratch the surface and if you spent too much time out of the city you'd wish you'd planned differently.

But here's some info for you.
Buxton, while lovely, is basically a fairly pretty little town with a walkway around a large pond in the town centre. It would be way, way, WAY down my list of priorities. We stayed at the Roseleigh Hotel; it was a guesthouse that was fine, and reasonable. There are staircases that might be difficult for your co-travellers.

I like the Cotswolds, but I like to go and stay there for several days and drive all the back roads, visitng places that are off the beaten path. I absolutely hate the crowds that overrun the touristy places like Bourton-on-the-Water. It is near impossible to maneuver and park, especially in the height of summer. If you insist on going there and staying, try the Olive Branch Guest House in Broadway. Excellent, if they have vacancy. Again, some of the rooms require a stair climb.

Salisbury and its cathedral are interesting and of course if you go there Stonehenge is nearby.

Leeds Castle is kind of a letdown in my opinion.

I love Cambridge, more than Oxford actually, but it is a nightmare for driving.

Again, please consider that you will not be able to cram in a lot of activities each day once you are in London, so please make sure you leave yourselves enough time there. If you spend too much time at the beginning of the trip driving around you will find that you've run out of time to see London. I understand that it's hard to make choices when there's such a vast number of things people want to see, and it may be their only opportunity, but you WILL need to narrow the list way down or it just won't be enjoyable for anyone.

I want to re-emphsize that mobility will be a problem. Please check each place you plan to visit, by means of their website. I hate to be a chauvinist, but have frequently noted how far ahead the US is on accessibility. Don't assume anything about accessibility. If your MIL can walk up many steps, you can probably go just about anywhere, but if not, ne wary.

Thank you for all of the advice. We are slowing shortening the list of places we hope to see.

We have received lots of web sites about disabled/senior travel which will prove invaluable as we make our final decisions. Thank you so much.

My MIL is mobile, but she will tire of walking quickly. She can climb stairs, but very slowly, so we will have to take that into consideration as wheelchair access is very important.

Thanks Again,
Reggie