Hello. Planning a last minute trip, just my husband and I. We are in our late forties. Arrive Gatwick Airport, London, June 29th. will rent a car from airport. 10 days later fly off from Manchester. Have been to London before so it's not on the plan. Need suggestions for a driving itinerary just in England, maybe Wales if there is time and the weather isn't too cold and dreary.. Never been to Stonehenge. Was in Bath 15 years ago. Visited the Lake district 30 years ago by bus while in college. It will be the first time renting a car in England. Any ideas will be appreciated. We like beautiful countryside and medieval buildings, just watched Monarchy, a BBC series about the Royal family on Netflix. Fairly fit and game to walk alot. Budget of US$100-150 a night for a room, I know it's low, B&B will be fine. Even a hostel with private bath will be fine. Thanks. I am reading a few guidebooks now.

Hi tangwah - do you have any particular places in mind - apart from Stonehenge?

that said, I do have a couple of ideas - both starting off with Amesbury/Stonehenge, and Bristol

Route A - Amesbury, Bristol, Brecon Beacons, North Wales, Chester, Manchester.

Route B - Amesbury, Bristol, Tetbury/Cirencester, Warwick, Peak District, Manchester. [you could substitute the Lake District for the Peak District if you didn't mind more driving].

If you're fine with hostels, check www.yha.org.uk We stayed in their properties in north Wales, Bath (uncomfortable bed here, but it was five years ago so maybe that has changed), Hartington in the Peak District, and Salisbury.

Lee Ann

With a budget of US$100-150 a night for a room you certainly won't need to rely on hostels. Especially outside London you can get a perfectly reasonable hotel room (and a very high standard B&B) for that price.

Thanks for the information. I will google those suggestions. Another thought is doing a loop soutwards and fly back from Gatwick. A friend suggested Cornwall. We've driven all over France, Italy and Spain. Can't imagine why never England, perphaps the strong pound was a factor.

Hi Annhig, no, I have no real idea, game for anything since it will be our first time. I do worry about the weather tho'. Hopefully it will be warmer, we are from Florida, and I realise that another reason why we haven't driven in England is the weather in April and Sept which is when we usually take our vacation.

So, tangwah, you're OK with getting off a long flight and immediately driving off in a RHD car on the other side of the road?

The English countryside is especially beautiful in the spring. It's been cool and rainy so maybe a bit of spring will be left when you arrive.

What kind of medieval buildings do you like? Churches? Castles and palaces? Smaller buildings?

Not much time to research this trip but there's a good book, The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England by Ian Mortimer.

Cornwall is very beautiful and has great gardens, but it's off your route to Manchester. annhig can help you for Cornwall.

With a car you will want to avoid cities and stay in smaller towns. There's lots to see in Rye and around the South Downs, an area close to Gatwick. The town of Salisbury I love. You can base there for Stonehenge and also see the cathedral. And we just spent a day in Winchester, another nice town which was surprisingly important in the history of England.

Since you're driving, take the opportunity to visit the Cotswolds, the archtypical English countryside, and the many cute towns there.

Farther on your route to Manchester are Ludlow and Chester, both with well-preserved medieval centers.

There are so many nice places to visit in Great Britain. You will kick yourselves for not having gone there before,

Hi Mimar, thanks for your suggestions. Yes, we will avoid cities. Perphaps we can drive to Salisbury from Gatwick which is about a 2 hour drive according to my goodle search, and go on from there.

Any interesting building with history in a nice setting will make me happy. And I love gardens.

Wherever you end up you will probably have a blast--BUT if you are using Googlemaps for a general ball park estimate of time, I'd STRONGLY urge you to double it. I did so we'd have a cushion of time and in the end we found we generally took 1.5 to 1.75 time googlemaps said--and we had no bad weather, no major wrecks, and no major construction. Especially around any town/city of any size you will need to allow for extra time to find your way.

I LOVE Salisbury and Winchester.

Take raingear and LAYERS!

Another thought is doing a loop soutwards and fly back from Gatwick. A friend suggested Cornwall.>>

I'd love to help you plan trip to Cornwall, but to make the long[ish] journey here worth while, you really need to spend a week or so when you get here.

which with a day or two either end en route would use up the whole of your time. Amesbury is no further than Salisbury from Gatwick, and would put you in the right spot to see Stonehenge.

I then suggested Bristol because of the huge no of things to do there - museums, galleries, the docks, the SS Great Britain, easy day trips to places like Bath and Wells, numerous restaurants, theatre, concerts etc. etc.

if you decided to concentrate on the South West, you could do Amesbury - Bath - Cornwall - Bristol - [return car] -train back to Gatwick.

Thanks all, again. Annhig, I am tempted to do as you suggest, and spend a week exploring Cornwall. I will read up more about Cornwall. I didn't realise it was such a long haul to get there.
Should we pick up a car at Gatwick airport or train somewhere first then pick up a car? I was pleased at how affordable it was to rent a car at Gatwick using rentacar. Thanks again.

You probably want to rent from LGW. In general, any cities/towns large enough to have national car hire firms will be big enough to be nasty driving experiences. Driving off from LGW (or LHR) are much easier than most other options.

But you do not want to set out on a long drive right off a long haul flight. So another option isto take the train to someplace like Exeter, spend the night to recover from the jetlag and collect your car then next morning.

As mentioned -- none of the on-line calculators give you accurate times. You'll be adding 25% to 75+% depending on where.

A southern loop would be great - Kent/East Sussex (more gardens and castles than you can imagine), along the south coast and in to Devon/Cornwall.

This could be done either: 1) by train to Exeter or maybe Plymouth, spend 5-7 days in the southwest, then drive up and along the coast and into Kent/Sussex totaling 3-5 days, drop the car at LGW - or - 2) in reverse Kent/Sussex > the south coast > Devon/Cornwall. Drop the car and train back to LGW.

You really don't have time to drive the round trip loop -- the trains will save you a lot of time.

"But you do not want to set out on a long drive right off a long haul flight. So another option isto take the train to someplace like Exeter, spend the night to recover from the jetlag and collect your car then next morning."

Excellent advice, we don't want another one of these:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/w...re/7767693.stm

tangwah - when we lived in the south-east, about 20 mins from LGW, it used to take us about 5 hours driving time from home to Cornwall, plus time for eating, loo breaks etc. so a minimum of 6 hours door to door. but we knew where we were going, the optimum route, best stopping places, etc. etc. and you don't want to do that sort of drive on the day you arrive off a transatlantic flight. so IMO you need to be looking at a short drive, or getting the train.

is your flight home from manchester set in stone? if so, you need to factor that in too.

a possibility in that case would be a gentle drive to Cornwall, [say over 2 days] 5 nights in Cornwall, then 2 nights in Bristol followed by the train to Manchester.

yes, annhig gives right about factoring in the drive north -- if your flight out of MAN is set in stone. I thought maybe it isn't since you posted >><i>Another thought is doing a loop soutwards and fly back from Gatwick.</i><<

Thanks everyone, I am quite touched by the response. Nothing accept our dates are set in stone. I can leave from Gatwick. We normally try to do an open jaw trip so as not to backtrack. I am still working and so haven't had much time to do more in depth research.

I am quite touched by the response. >>

ah, tangwah that's nice. Much better than the reaction we sometimes get, mind you you weren't trying to fit 6 countries into 5 days which makes it easier all round.

don't work too hard - your holiday is much more important!

tangwah, to help with your research, here's a current thread with a long section on Cornwall - look for the entry for june 16th:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...eks-in-england.

oops - try this:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...in-england.cfm