Heading to UK in November for wedding near Manchester and going to head in about 5 days early to see some other places. Will rent a car so will have flexibility where to stay each night. We did a week in London last year with the kids which they loved (will be 11 years old when we go this time) and my mom will be joining this time as well. Have some initial thoughts but would love some any other recommendations. Flying into LHR and looking to do:
Stonehenge / Salisbury
Bath
Oxford
Stratford / Warwick Castle
Liverpool and York (these look like reasonable day trips from the Manchester area if we want to settle into the hotel a couple days early.

Main two questions are whether there are any other places in these vicinity you'd recommend adding to this initial list and whether you have any comments on the order I listed above. That seems to be the most logical order but open to suggestions. The other option would be Stratford to York and maybe stay a night near there particularly if that route is more interesting than Stratford to Manchester.

All suggestions welcome (particularly anything 11 year old twins might find interesting along the way!)

[One add'l comment - we'd love to see Wales if there's a worthwhile place to see that isn't too far astray from one of our other cities.]
Thanks!

Looks like your first post; welcome to Fodor's!

Does your screen name mean you're coming from NYC? If so, and if plane tickets aren't already booked, you might consider flying into Manchester instead of Heathrow. It's an easy airport to navigate, and if you decided to spend more time in the north rather than the south of England, it could make for a much more efficient use of your time.

In November you're not going to have great weather anywhere, so if it was me I'd probably focus on destinations where there are indoor as well as outdoor activities and sights. With 11 y.o. twins I'd be concerned about (potentially) long hours in the car traveling through rainy countryside.

So what I'd do is get to York straightaway. If you can manage to fly into Manchester, there are frequent trains right from the airport to York; if you're stuck with Heathrow, you could rent a car and drive to York in around 4 - 5 hours (although I wouldn't do this the day of arrival) or you could get into London and take a train there from Kings Cross (numerous daily fast trains.)

The reason for suggesting York as a first base is that not only is it a lovely ancient town, but it has lots of fun indoor activities, like the remarkable National Railway Museum, the "Dig" exhibit where kids can do archaeological excavations, a Viking Center, terrific city history museum, and on and on. For jetlagged kids and their parents, York is an ideal place to explore, both in- and out of doors.

From there I'd head north. Don't know if your twins are Harry Potter fans, but you could drive up to Alnwick in Northumberland; Alnwick Castle was used extensively in the HP movies. You could visit other highlights along the North Sea coast and inland, such as Staithes, the picturesque home of Captain Cook, Durham with its amazing cathedral, Bamburgh, another remarkable castle overlooking the sea, and the Holy Island of Lindisfarne, reached only at low tide. Along the way you could see the North York Moors, or even drive over the border briefly into Scotland. Here's a map showing the locations of these various places. https://goo.gl/maps/NpGVS64S7VzZCyQF9

You could drop the car in Newcastle or back in York, or just drive down to Manchester.

Of course this is just one of umpteen alternative ideas for how to spend your time. Fortunately you have plenty of time to plan. And again, welcome to Fodor's!

You should definitely not drive the day you arrive. Take a National Express coach direct to Oxford or Bath. You don't need a car in any of those places except perhaps for Stratford/Warwick.

See this site for all you need to know about train travel in Britain: https://www.seat61.com/UK-train-travel.htm

November is a lousy month for a wedding.

You might like the royal armouries in Leeds. Yorvik centre in York is a bit Disneyesk.

Chester is an ancient town near Manchester worth a visit.

Def fly into MAN

I would 100% fly into MAN over LHR. Lots to see in York, Manchester, Liverpool. You would not need a car really -- but if you wanted to have one for a couple of days to explore maybe the Peak District or the Lakes (but ONLY if the weather is decent)

In November the days are short, so sightseeing is very limited. It will be light after 8am but dark again by 4pm. For what you want to do, flying into Manchester makes the most sense, but by the time you are getting over your jet lag, you'll only have four days at most before the wedding. Where in the Manchester area is it to be and will you be in a hotel of your choosing?

With such a short pre wedding window, you really don't have time to get to many places as far apart as Stonehenge and Northumberland, so I'd suggest your first night in the Caernarvon area if you'd like castles, then a meander along the North Wales coast having a look at LLandudno and your second night in Chester. It's a beautiful Roman city with good hotels and restaurants. From Chester, it's a 90 minute drive to Manchester, which is a fantastic historic city with hundreds of hotels and restaurants, many buildings worth seeing and depending on when you get here, the Christmas markets will be on across the city centre, the biggest in Europe.

Give me a bit more information as mentioned above and I'll offer more information and more suggestions.

Given the problems of jet lag and the potential weather and short day length, I'd definitely try to get flights into Manchester and use it as a base, taking day trips by train when you feel up to it. Especially with 11 year olds in tow, who are not going to be thrilled at being dragged across the south of England in a car [or bus] in the rain. You can be in Liverpool in under an hour, Chester in just over an hour, and York in 90 mins. And there is plenty to do in Manchester of course.

I'd also look for a hotel with a swimming pool which will help to keep the kids happy in bad weather.

I used to travel a lot on the M62 from the east to the west side of the country a lot. Frankly, it terrified me, I found the "hidden motorway" or the rail system a lot safer. Trouble is the railway system between east and west at the "height" of Manchester is very very slow (think travel times of 35mph) but better than the car which can be slower.

The secret motorway M65 +A56