lily23

My boyfriend and I are planning our 1st trip to England, in late October - early November. We will fly in to Manchester, and fly out of Gatwick. So far, we plan to spend our first 3 days in York, then drive to Bath for 3 days, then rent a cottage near Bodmin Moor in Cornwall for 3 days, then spend our final day in/near Greenwich. I really hate to spend large amounts of my limited vacation time in a car, so...suggestions on a nice spot to stop overnight between York and Bath? I was thinking of Shropshire--maybe Shrewsbury or Ludlow? Also, any ideas on an overnight stop between Bodmin and Greenwich? Thanks!

Morgana

You are joking?
If you are - nice spoof.
If you're not - back to the drawing board you go - this is totally and utterly impossible for more reasons than I can even begin to go into.
M

vstanton

I have to agree, if this isn't a joke it is not a doable trip and most of the time would be spent in the car and you would need more than 9 days. We've been traveling to the UK for the past 12 yrs. & found the best way is to pick a place and rent a cottage & take day trips from there. We were in Wales & Cornwall in Oct.'04. We few into London too the train to Swansea, stayed in a B&B, rented a car & drove to Llanddaffidd(sp?) Wales, spent a week in a cottage at Nueadd Farms. Took day trips. Left there & drove to Taunton, stayed in a B&B & next day drove on to Looe, Cornwall, stayed in a cottage at Treorgey & went out from there to the Eden Project, Bodmin Moors etc etc etc. Dropped off the car in Plymouth & took the train back to London. This is the way we travel. Bath is a 40 min train ride from London, lot's of good B&B's to stay in, we rent from Hertz at the train station in Bath & drive to the Cotswolds & spend a week there in a cottage in Stanton. Have spent a week in Shropshire at a cottage in Combermere Abbey. Lot's of these cottages will allow you to rent for a shorter time than one week. Hope this helps.

lily23

Wow, I really wasn't kidding. Please educate me. I used AARoad watch to check driving times while we were making our plans. According to them, it's 3.53 hours from York to Shrewsbury, and 2.34 hours from Shrewsbury to Bath. Is this way, way off? I don't mind a 4-hour drive, but more than that would definitely do me in. We have 12 days--does everyone think it's really not a good idea to try to squeeze York, Bath, and Cornwall in?

ron

I attempted to post this about two hours ago. For whatever reason, it didn't take. "This seems like a fairly inefficient holiday, but I don't see why it is impossible. Each route is only about 250 miles, less than 5 hours driving for direct routes, York to Bath and Bodmin to Greenwich, so I don't understand why you would bother doing them over two days.

If you insist on two days, I think Shrewsbury and Dorchester would be good mid-points for the stops."

janis

Ok - I personally don't like your itinerary for such a short visit -- but I don't think it is crazy.

As I read it you are thinking of York > someplace enroute for 1 night > Bath > Bodmin > someplace enroute 1 night > London/Greenwich.

This is doable but a TON of driving and you won't have time to see much at those "enroute" stops.

And may I ask WHY you want to stay in Greenwich prior to flying out of LGW? That bit really doesn't make any sense to me.

To help fix this (if you must go to all those places) I'd cut 1 night out of both York and Bath, add a day enroute York to Bath. In other words stop somewhere like Shrewsbury or the Cotswolds for 2 nights instead of 1 night. And I'd add a night in Cornwall (that is a loooooong way to drive for just 3 days only to turn around and drive all the way back to London)

On the way back towards LGW you could stay in Salisbury or somewhere in Hampshire/West Sussex. And don't go all across London to Greenwich. Stay somewhere near LGW - there is a lot to see in kent East Sussex and you woun't have to fight the hassle of getting to/from London/Greenwich.

But to REALLY fix this you should think about dropping Cornwall. Cornwall is wonderful of course, but it adds hundreds of miles to your itinerary.

Morgana

Maybe I was a little short in my earlier post (I honestly thought you were kidding!!) but I still say this is madness! England may look small on the map but the driving times can be long. Ok, you can look at routeplanners and see '5 hours' and think that sounds fine. Well, I am English and spend a lot of my time driving around the country and it ain't fine! Roadworks, jams, the school run, rush hour - take the figures the route planners give you with a BIG pinch of salt! I agree with Janis, Cornwall is beautiful, but pointless driving all that way for such a short time. Cut that out and you MIGHT have something doable - but dont say I didn't warn you when I tell you you will be in that car for HOURS longer than you anticipate. By the way, I live in Yorkshire so definitely don't miss York out!
M

tropo

On our last trip to the UK, we stayed a night in the village of St.Neots in the Bodmin Moors, just fantastic. If your are serious, and want to stay in the Moors, let me know, and I will let you know the name of our B&B we stayed in.

caroline_edinburgh

If you are a foodie, Ludlow is a must for dinner at Hibiscus. It's also an extremely charming old market town with a castle, river, mediaeval half-timbered houses, Georgian houses, etc etc - and quite small ansd easy to walk around.

GreenDragon

If you like period mystery novels at all, check out Ellis Peter's Brother Cadfael series -- it's set in Shrewsbury, and they have the abbey there set up as it would have been in the novels. A bit touristy, but pretty cool, too.

lily23

OK, you've convinced me. We'll concentrate on York, Shropshire, and Bath, and save Cornwall for another trip. Thanks for all the input!

lily23

OK, you've convinced me. We'll concentrate on York and Bath--and maybe a few days in Shropshire in between--and save Cornwall for another trip. Thanks for all the input!

janis

That's great - you'll have a lot more time to relax and see a lot in those three areas w/o having so much car time.

And then when you DO get back to Cornwall later on, you can really give it enought time -- a week to 10 days would be great for touring Devon/Cornwall and maybe a bit of Dorset/Somerset.

Tho' I'm still a little curious why you chose Greenwich for your last night.

lily23

Janis, it probably does seem like an odd choice. When we first contemplated a trip to England, we thought of London (like most first time vistors, maybe?). After doing a bit of research, we realized pretty quickly that London alone would keep us busy for our entire trip. We wanted to explore more than one city, so are planning a separate trip to London with friends in '06. My boyfriend is a huge astronomy buff, though, and the Royal Obervatory was tops on his list for London area sightseeing. So...we figured we could visit Greenwich this trip. Spending the night there is optional. Thanks again, everyone, for the comments.

janis

Ok - since your trip is so far in the future, do you have your tickets already? I'd guess not - unless maybe they are ff awards tix.

If you haven't booked yet can I make a suggestion to make your Greenwich work out a little easier (well, actually a lot easier)

Fly into LGW and out of Manchester. Arrive at Gatwick and stay the first night in London and visit Greenwich. The next day head out to Bath (you could either take the train to Bath and then pick up a rental car after a couple of days there, OR, you could rent the car from London or LHR and drive over to Bath.) Then from Bath head up to Shropshire for a few days, then over to York to finish up. Then drive to Manchester to fly home.

This reversal of your itinerary lets you get over the jet lag car-less in London and visit Greenwich.

As you have it now - you want to travel from Bath all the way across London to Greenwich and then the next morning get from Greenwich down to LGW. This would be a really complicated/hectic couple of days.

IF you already have your tix, and the order is set, then I'd drop your rental car in Bath - take an early a.m. train into London and get a hotel near Victoria station. Then spend the day out at Greenwich and the evening wandering around central London. If you stay in a hotel near Victoria Station you will be w/i only a couple of minutes walk of the Gatwick Express train that will whisk you there in 30 minutes.