SusanE

Any recommendations for WWII-related sites/museums not to miss on a 1 week trip to England? Plan is to start in London, rent a car and travel around. Thanks

Kayb95

Here are a few that are in London:

Imperial War Museum
Cabinet War Rooms & Churchill Museum
Britain At War Experience
HMS Belfast
London Walks (www.walks.com) also has a London Blitz walk on Thursday afternoons

elaine

You don't say when you are going, but this other thread may be of some interest

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34593535

obxgirl

Bletchley Park is an easy train ride from London Euston to Milton Keynes.

Robespierre

RAF Duxford (outside Cambridge) has a great air museum, including some Luftwaffe classics.

jsmith

Dover castle.

Morgana

Don't know if you are planning to come 'oop north' but there's a newish and very good War Museum in Manchester, just across from the Lowry. You might find www.iwm.org.uk useful for several places, including the Manchester one.
In Yorkshire, Eden Camp is superb - off the tourist trail for visitors from abroad but a fascinating place. www.edencamp.co.uk
M

janis

I usually recommend a car for traveling around. But w/ only a week you might do better to stay in London and take the train to Dover (DEFINITELY do the castle the WWII command tunnels and the underground hospital are vast and amazing), maybe Bletchley, Cambridge/Duxford. These are all easy day trips from London.

One of my favorite sites is probably a bit too far if you are only going for a week.

Slapton Sands on the South Devon coast is where they held the Operation Tiger invasion rehearsal in April 1944. There is a memorial and a Sherman Tank recovered from the Channel in the mid 80's.

Mucky

Hi Susan
A huge amount of WW2 sites were bulldozed after the war, and many are hidden and overgrown, if only we were as slow to destroy these places as the French in Normandy.
Have you been to Normandy? The place is paradise for people like you and me who love to see these places. It's a shame you have just a week, as the places already mentioned for a week and Normandy for another would have been my idea of heaven.
Anyway, there are still pillboxes scattered around the south of England.
http://www.pillboxesuk.co.uk/

A general database of ww2 sites around the world is listed here, if your in the mood for a bit of research.

http://www.ukfortsclub.org.uk/wood_index/index_top.html

Good luck and please report back and let us know where you went and what you saw.

Muck

elaine

this one just outside London

Bletchley Park, where the World War II German codes were cracked by use of the Enigma Machine

www.bletchleypark.org.uk/
For an article about the history of the work at BP: http://britishhistory.about.com/libr...secretwar1.htm

Located in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, this can be done as a daytrip using public transport, train from Euston Station

vcl

If you go out to Cambridge to visit Duxford (it's a great museum) make time also to visit Maddingley, the American cemetery where so many young men who fought in World War II are buried. It's an incredibly moving experience.

Katie2

A bit off the subject but when we (Americans) were in London last June, we visited the Imperial War Musuem. An elderly British woman came up to us and thanked us for our help. It brought tears to our eyes.

laverendrye

In addition to the excellent suggestions already made, there are also very good aircraft collections at the RAF Museums at Hendon (North London) and Cosford (Shropshire). The National Army Museum in Chelsea is also worth a visit. You will have no trouble filling your week with interesting visits.

Kayb95

<i>&quot;A bit off the subject but when we (Americans) were in London last June, we visited the Imperial War Musuem. An elderly British woman came up to us and thanked us for our help. It brought tears to our eyes.&quot;</i>

That happened to us several years ago, too. We were speaking with an elderly British gentleman and he did the same. Very touching - even though we, personally, had nothing to do with it.

tedgale

Katie and Kay: Those are very touching notes that you sounded.

Once, as a teenager, I travelled around solo to the places where my father was stationed as a Canadian officer in WW2 -- mostly around Aldershot.

Found 2 houses he lived in -- Lord Baden Powell's house, Pax Hill, and another (&quot;The White house&quot;, nr. Church Crookham). Another was Lord Nuffield's house in Eaton Place(?) London -- which serves as a sort of club for Commonwealth officers.

Remember it still, including the welcome I received from complete strangers, when I explained my mission.

alya

SusanE

another vote for Dover Castle, while it has the WWII site you want it has so much more history.
It's a Norman castle - built in (in memory serves me right) - the 13thC. So it's history covers 13thC through the Napoleonic Wars to WWII

Lots of history, but if you're only in England for the week I would take Kayb95's advice and concentrate on London for this trip and extend your visit further afield next trip.

Tegdale - now I have slight feelings of homesickness, although we've lived very happily in the US for the last 3+ years we still have our house in England, just outside Aldershot. Church Crookham - has my favorite
Garden Center with a lovely cafe.
It's only a little twinge , honest

janis

Actually - Dover Castle's history FAR pre-dates the 13th century.

On the same site there is a Saxon Church, a Roman lighthouse, and even earlier relics . . . .

jsmith

Apparently my two word recommendation for Dover Castle wasn't adequate so you folk might want to check these two websites for official information:

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/d...rty_Id%253D184

http://www.theheritagetrail.co.uk/ca...r%20castle.htm

BTW a simple google search produces many more references.

ozres

I second the recommendation to see the Duxford Air Museum. Several years ago, we took the train from London to Cambridge and then the free bus to the Duxford museum. Here's a link to the website. http://duxford.iwm.org.uk/

Visiting the American Cemetary was the most moving experience of our trip. We placed flowers on the gravesite of a soldier who died in my uncle's arms aboard their B17.

Good Luck on your trip,

Marla

obxgirl

I don't know if this is a Not To Miss but my husband, also a student of WWII history, really enjoyed the Tank Museum in Bovington (Dorset). The docents were vets with some fabulous stories to tell.

(Following the gratuitous comment about Dover Castle predating WWII, please note that the Tank Museum does house tanks from wars other than WWII!)