Where can I find a good detailed map of England?
I'm looking for reference mostly, not driving. Also, I've always wanted a large map of the U.K. that would be suitable for framing. Any suggestions?

Stanfords supplies all kinds of maps and guides and I believe they deliver worldwide.

http://www.stanfords.co.uk/

Just out of curiousity - are you saying you can't buy one in your local bookshop?

Where do you live?

Omni Map has tons of maps. I ordered some pretty obscure maps from them: http://omnimap.com/

Thanks, I'll try these sites. I haven't seen these maps in my local shop. I live in Ft. Myers, looked at Barnes and Noble.

How detailed? If you want real detail, try the range of Ordnance Survey (sp?) maps, although I don't know where you'd get those in the US

I suspect if it isn't at Stanfords, it doesn't exist.

You can buy maps online at
http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/oswebsite/

I think that what you are after is a wall map.

Have a look at http://tinyurl.com/2av7ak

My name is flanneruk and I'm a map addict. And it's stuff on paper I'm addicted to.

So I really, really hate saying this. But, for most reference purposes, sitting at home, www.multimap.co.uk is an awful lot more useful than anything Ordnance Survey can offer.

Useless of course for seeing how 18th century cartographers saw your street. Or for working out which way thje footpath goes when you're in hte middle of a field. Or for finding the back-double along the B4456 that'll get you out of the traffic jam you're in.

But for planning journeys from home, or checking how far your g-g-g-g-father had to walk to school, this internet thingy's got proper maps beat.

And now I'm going to wash my mouth out with soap and water.

Flann - I hope you have seen "London" A Life in Maps" at the British Library - a must for fellow addicts

Not as detailed as an ordnance survey map but a good reference map of the country. In addition, a map suitable for framing with just the larger cities would be fine.
You've given me a lot of places to start, thank you.

I'm glad to see these two desires separating themselves. There is no way a decent reference map is going to be "frameable", unless you have REALLY large walls.

I too am a map addict, believed by some including my wife to be borderline insane, so I'm not a good person to ask, perhaps. But England is a pretty big place; and of course there are some other bits attached to it that are awfully interesting to look at on a map.

The Michelin maps are a good place to start. They start getting interesting with the larger set of regional maps: one each for Scotland, Northern England and the Midlands, Wales The Midlands and South West England, and South East England and the Midlands. There's a lot of overlap there. If you want a single sheet, Michelin 713 is very good; too large to frame, though.

Michelin maps are very easy to find; Barnes and Noble should carry them, and they can certainly order them if they don't (must be a very small B&N). Sometimes Michelins are in a separate revolving rack; you might look for that.

Another possibility is a good Road Atlas, such as the one put out by A-Z. It'll cost you more, but it'll be in much closer scale than any single folded map.

The Ordnance Survey produces a very nice "Great Britain Routeplanner" that covers the entire island at 1:650,000, and an eight-part series of regional maps that are bigger than the Michelins above.

If there are any areas that are of particular interest to you, such as a particular town or wild feature, I really recommend getting the Ordnance Survey Explorer map for that particular spot. The scale of 1:25,000 will show you individual buildings, and the level of accuracy and precision for roads and land features is remarkable. Great fun to pore over, and they look pretty great on a wall, too. They're beautifully drawn, unlike a lot of maps today -- though not as beautifully as the sheets of yesteryear, before computers. I'm not talking about practicality here, just the art of beautiful mapmaking. You can get them at www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/leisure, or your local travel or map store (probably including B&N) should be able to order them, especially if you know the number (OS Explorer 275 for Liverpool, St. Helens, Widnes, and Runcorn, to name a favorite). Amazon has them all too.

I should clarify -- Amazon.co.uk has them all; Amazon.com might not (worth a try, though). The UK one will happily ship to the US, and your credit card is good there (currency conversion is automatic).

Online, I like Google Maps better than Multimap most of the time. It's much easier to navigate, being able to click and drag to move, rather than those annoying little triangles. If you search for a place name with ", UK" at the end, and then hit the "Maps" link on the page that comes up, you should get just about anywhere. They're not very good for non-road features, though, but the satellite view is priceless. If you haven't looked at Google Maps of the UK in a little while, check again; it's recently gotten much better.