tips on non-touristy UK
 

in june/ july my brother and i will be travelling to the UK, we plan to see the requisite tourist sites but we would like to experience the culture and un-known spots as much as possible. we will not have a car so we are limited to areas near train or bus stops. we are especially interested in SW Britain, Wales and Scotland. Any tips would be greatly appreciated! :)

OK - how long do you have for this trip? Just in SW England, Wales and Scotland, there are literally hundreds of "requisite tourist sites". And non-touristy - there are thousands.

Give us a bit of help here - where are you flying in to/out of? For how long? What sorts of things do you enjoy (castles, gardens, ancient monuments, clubbing/nightlife, hiking, small villages, big cities, history, stately homes, antiques, or whatever????)

w/o at least some details from you it is pretty hard to give you any useful advice.

When in the UK, look out for a book called, "Pubs walks" which are centered around various areas in Britain. They start from a pub, and finish at the pub (of course to partake of an ale, & a meal of course)
Might I suggest, that after visiting the major sights & cities/towns, try to visit smaller VILAGES. Now this is not hard, eg. visiting the village Malham in the Yorkshire Dales (great walks & village pubs), and a great way of getting to Malham is with the Postal Van Service.
Try visiting the scenic areas, like Yorkshire Dales, North York Moors, Lake District, and the Peak District.
Catch a train or bus to a town in those areas, then ask the locals for the best way to get around. The Peak District has heaps of buses travelling to & from various villages.

OK, you're onto one of my favourite subjects! Unknown London!

- Spitalfields Market on a Sunday. Liverpool Street Station. It's in the area that Jack the Ripper used to haunt. It's full of young designers (clothes, jewellery) who don't have storefronts so you get loads of unique stuff. Also lots of artists and some general market junk! After you go shopping, head around the corner to the Ten bells pub where jack the Ripper is reputed to have picked up his victims!

- Richmond by the Thames - Richmond Station. Go out to Richmond for the day and head to one of the pubs by the river! You can also head to Richmond Park where the wild deer roam!

- Camden Market, Camden Town Station. OK, now this isn't really non touristy but it's definitely a unique London experience! head up on a Saturday, not a Sunday. Have a mojito in the cuban bar in the middle of the market and be sure to visit Cyberdog (you will not see a store like it anywhere else in the world).

I have also compiled a load of reviews of restaurants and bars in London that are good local hints.

Check it out for more.

http://www.mcdougalladventures.com/category/england/

Tropo and luckykat have provided some really good ideas -- unfortunately none of their suggestions are in "SW Britain, Wales or Scotland"

something_tookish - as you can see there are literally hundreds of places you could go. When are you traveling and for how long??

Yes, you can head for scotland. Catch a train to Edinburgh. It's well worth a visit.

But you might consider stopping off on the way in Newcastle/Durham.

I don't know how old you are, but if you like nightlife, then Newcastle Upon Tyne was voted one of the top night spots in the world by an Australian Magazine... ABOVE Rio de Janero. sp?)
Check out the Quayside on a Friday or Saturday Night!

Wells is brilliant and much less touristy than Bath. This is west-ish... St Davids in Pembrokeshire, Wales is also wonderful as well as Solva in the same area.

Oh! And in Scotland, Kilmartin, Loch melfort, Oban and Inverlochy on the west coast.

Check http://www.mcdougalladventures.com/category/scotland/ for details.

Sorry i didn't read the inital post properly before launching into London. :(

Since you said you are going to be in SW and Wales, I would recommend the SouthEast corner of Wales. Visit Chepstow Castle and head up the Wye River Valley to Tintern Abbey, and continue north then west to Raglan Castle, then head south to Cardiff and visit Caerphilly Castle along the way. If you had a car, you could seek out Selkirk Castle, White Castle, and Grossmont Castle north of Raglan (do you sense a theme here?). I think the other places that I mentioned are reachable via bus.

Tintern Abbey and Caerphilly were the most crowded of the places that I mentioned but they were not that touristy. Raglan Castle was my favorite. We had the place to ourselves except for the resident cat.

I visited Tavistock in Devon over the summer. A delightful town and nearby the glories of Dartmoor. I also love Totnes in Devon- very 'alternative' - knitted clogs and hand made yoghurt galore!

It is not the ultimate destination, but your attitude that matters. You are starting in the right manner, by traveling how the majority of residents travel.

I love going to grocery stores and pharmacists shops. I always buy local papers. Look for boot sales (flea markets) and church fettes. Stop in a thrift shop or two. Don't overschedule yourself or you will miss being able to stop for tea at a shop that looks charming. Leave your fancy clothes at home and pack comfortable pieces that you can layer.

I'd recommend Pembrokeshire in SW Wales every time; I'm biased because I live here, but the scenery and coastline alone rival anything that Cornwall has to offer, and you'd never know it was a 'tourist' destination. Like a previous poster said, anywhere on the north coast around St Davids/Fishguard/Newport is spectacular and unspoiled and the people are wonderful. Only problem might be train travel, but the local buses are very good and a couple of services 'hug' our coastline which, incidentally is Britain's only coastal National Park.

ok...its me again...to expand on our plans all I can really say is we don't have many. I am 20 and my bro will turn 18 while we're in the UK. it will be our first trip out of the US and our first w/o the whole family so really we have no idea what we're doing. we are especially interested in spots of literary or ancient legend/druid culture as well as just a general experience of English culture, history and enviro. my bro wants to focus on hiking and stuff but i'm trying to convince him that cities are great too. thanks for the great tips so far, hope w/ these few more detail you can elaborate :) thanks!

I think you can get to Bradford-on-Avon by train. It is a wonderful town with noteworthy bridge. It's near Bath and Wells. I can't help with rail connections.

Is there a website that provides available rail and/or bus connections between towns -- like the Swissrail site and the Germanrail sites? Anyone? Thanks and fun planning, st, J.

jmw44:

www.transportdirect.info purports to do this, though it's not hugely reliable on buses, since operators are under no compulsion to advise on changes. Does bahn.de really include all Germany's bus services? I can't find any bus references.

Transportdirect's also tricky to use. For journeys involving buses, you need to use the "door to door" option: the "find a coach" section covers a very limited proportion of Britain's buses.

For just train journeys, nationalrail.co.uk is fine.

luckykat:

Nooo!! Can't believe you've put the Cork & Bottle on your website! It's supposed to be a secret - the only place around Leicester Square that you can get a seat, drink some fabulous wine and eat some hearty food. And isn't overrun with tourists and out-of-towners! Damn! :-)

You must try to get to Yorkshire and the Dales.There you will find some of the best countryside and walking that England has to offer.
Prices for accommodation,food,etc are reasonable and Northern hospitality is fantastic.York should be a must for any visitor ,Vikings and Romans still reputed to walk the streets at night.East coast is beautiful,have fun see England at its best there is much more than London and Edinburgh and you will have a great time.

Though it is only open very specific times, try to visit the Dennis Severs' house in Spitalfields (London). Once of the most exquisite experiences ever. You will not regret it. http://www.dennissevershouse.co.uk/

LuckyKat, What a fantastic website! How nice of you to share all your info.

If you want non-touristy, take a bus(or Coach). We love traveling by Coach, you can get generally where you need to go, and you are with local folks. It's much easier to visit with folks on a bus. We've also had very nice experiences with bus drivers in Scotland. "Our man Duncan" on the route from Stranraer to the Mull of Galloway is a shining star in our memories.

I find the trains fast, but overpriced and overrated. Take the Bus!!!!

As for areas, I'm partial to the SW of Scotland. All tourists head for the highlands, we head for the "Cream o Galloway" whisky, oatmeal and honey ice cream!

Have a grand time!