ecolszewski

I'm staying in London for two weeks in June for my honeymoon. I'm really interested in seeing Darwen (where my great-grandmother was born). We are not comfortable driving in Britain; train/bus is okay.

1) How do we get there and back to London? Being from Detroit, we have practically no working knowledge of public/rail transportation (we drive everywhere). I am very confused by the rail services when I try to piece together a journey. Is there a service in the UK that can help me do this, person-to-person (travel agents here are clueless, too)?

2) Should I stay there overnight? (I really just want to be there, mingle, and see what Grandma saw, I don't imagine there are many "touristy" things)

Thanks.

GeoffHamer

Darwen has a station with trains from Manchester. From London, you'd need to change trains in Manchester. You can find schedules and fares on www.nationalrail.co.uk - pick a date in the next month, because fares won't be available yet for June.

henneth

By rail: London Euston to Manchester Piccadilly. If memory serves me right you may have to take the tram accross the city centre to Manchester Victoria and get the Blackburn train out as far as Darwen. In one direction, I'd be suprised if it was completed in less than 4 hours.
If this is going to be something you've set your heart on then stay overnight, possibly in Blackburn or Manchester (not sure what B&B's in Darwen are like) as a day trip will involve hours of travelling and to see some of the streets and landscape your Grandma saw and absorb that then you'll need a good deal of time.
Darwen itself is a linear mill town who's main tourist attraction is a Victorian folly built for the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1897 and stands above the town on one of the windswept hills of the West Pennines. I'd expect your Grandmother must have made the journey up there in her time, and she would have also have likely spent time in nearby Manchester, where there are art galleries and museums to keep you occupied if you decided to make it a two day trip.
Other than that try and find "Hetty Wainthorpe investigates.." starring Patricia Routledge (used to play Hycinth Bucket in 'Keeping up Appearences', constantly being re-run on PBS). The Hetty Wainthorpe stuff was all filmed around Darwen but I think you'll need a multiregional DVD player and the job of having them mailed from the U.K.!!

PatrickLondon

Hetty Wainthropp, I think...

jsmith

The park in Darwen is called Bold Venture Park. I would expect your great-grandmother and grandfather probably did venture boldly there. How else to account for the continuation of the family tree. Perhaps you could continue a family tradition on your honeymoon and start another generation on the hilltop.

I haven't been to Darwen since visiting an uncle in the mid 60s. You are right there aren't many tourist things but Manchester could be very interesting for an overnight.

http://www.manchester2002-uk.com/

A thought might be to stay overnight at the end of your trip and fly from Manchester to London to connect with your flight home.

Henneth, I always thought some of the Hetty Wainthropp locales looked familiar but never saw any credits. Thanks.

ecolszewski

Thank you all for your help. I'll wait for March then attempt the rail site.