At the risk of sounding unprepared, I am hoping for some advice for a trip to the UK (primarily England) in November.

For background, we are a family of 5 (myself, DH, DS-14, DS-11, DD-7), and we'll be arriving in London on Sat, 11/22, departing from London on Monday, 12/1. Beyond flights, I haven't booked anything else as we are waiting for next season's Premier League schedule to be released in June. My husband and sons are all hoping that we can work something out (likely a hospitality package) for a match while we're there, and I don't want to plan to be in one place when their teams are somewhere else.

Other than soccer/football, I would like to explore beyond Central London. As much as I love London, this will be my 4th trip there, and our second as a family, and I want to explore outside of the city. I've taken day trips in the past (Salisbury/Stonehenge multiple times, Bath, Windsor, Liverpool), but have never actually stayed the night outside of Zone 1. I have a bit of a laundry list of ideas, and need help narrowing down locations.

We are not opposed to renting a car, if certain destinations require one; however, we're probably more comfortable with train travel. In terms of interests, we all like history, theater, museums, the outdoors, and of course, soccer/football.

We'll have 8 full days, plus our arrival day. It's not a lot, but it's what the school calendar will allow. We've done trips of similar length the past several years, and have based ourselves in 2-3 different locations without too much stress, so I'm keeping that in mind as well. The kids are good travelers, and fairly adventurous when it comes to experiences and food.

After lots of explanation, here is a rough idea of what I'm thinking, with lots and lots of room for changes and flexibility:

London (thinking 2 full days in London, plus arrival day, plus a day for day trip)
Oxford or Cambridge (day trip from London)
York

Other ideas:
Liverpool (soccer dependent)
Chester
Other destination in the North (Yorkshire Dales or Moors? Durham?)

Or, do I throw a major wrench in the itinerary, and combine London, York and Edinburgh?

Sorry for the very long, slightly stream of consciousness post, but there is so much to see in such a short amount of time! Feedback needed and appreciated!!

It took me 5 minutes to work out your dates as 8 days (so 7 nights) ...

November has short days, often cold and wet.
I'd not focus on the North York Moors unless the weather is amazing
I'd focus on cities. So York, Liverpool, Cambridge, Oxford

Durham and Edinburgh are possible but train or motorway them together with York and ignore the rest.
Train may be expensive but dig into seat61.com and get to understand family tickets whichwill really help. You will want train tickets with reservations to make it comfortable enough and first class is often worth it. Car journeys on UK motorways can be anything but fun, probably cheaper but tiring and hence potentially dangerous.

Sorry, bilboburgler, in my attempt to be as descriptive as I could (while also having a very vague idea of itinerary), I guess I was less than clear on our timeline. We'll actually have 9 nights total, with 8 full days, plus arrival day.

We're fairly hardy weather-wise, coming from Upstate NY, but we also know from experience how short days can affect the best laid plans. I spent a January in London many years ago, so we should be prepared with what to expect in terms of damp and cold.

If we were to split between London, Edinburgh, and York, vs London, Liverpool, Oxford or Cambridge, and York, how would you divide the time we have available?

Thanks!

If you're coming from upstate NY, then jetlag needs to be taken into consideration, particularly with 3 kids in tow.

I have a suggestion that would change your itinerary by quite a lot, so toss it if you don't like the idea, but here goes...

Assuming you'll be landing at Heathrow sometime in the morning, probably the early morning, I'd suggest heading up to Edinburgh straight from LHR. One-way flights are quite cheap and may even end up less than the cost of heading into central London and (days) later taking the train north. Edinburgh is smaller, easily walkable, and may well offer cheaper accommodation in late November.

In my view, starting a short visit in London, with its massive size, complicated (if efficient) transport system, and frantic traffic etc., is less desirable than finishing the visit in London, after your group has adjusted internal clocks and learned how to cope with things like looking right as you cross a street, at risk of encountering a big red bus if you look left.

While the weather may well be a bit bleak in Edinburgh (indeed, anywhere) in late November, the city is compact enough that some key sites - the castle, Holyrood Palace and park, Old Town, museums, etc. - can be seen quite easily from one location. Enjoy some days in Scotland's beautiful capital, then take the train to York for a day, then onto London to finish the trip.

Anyway, just a thought.

I really like this idea, and it had crossed my mind, to be honest. We've done something similar on our past two trips to Europe-basically using the arrival day to position ourselves, since no one is really up for much beyond sitting on a train/plane, eating dinner, and going to bed.

Depending on the football fixture(s) date(s) I agree with something like Gardyloo's suggestion. It could be you travel up to Edinburgh on arrival day or . . . you could head to Liverpool or Manchester on arrival day. Then up to Edinburgh then finish up in London with maybe a break in York depending on how much Time you want in London. Whatever you do I'd put all the London nights at the end before flying home.

You could have terrific weather (my last 5 or 6 winter trips to the UK have been fabulous -- Maybe one day of rain out of more than 30 nights. But in about three of those trips I just missed really horrible storms with flooding and wind damage. Just lucky timing ) With a family I probably stick to a city-centric itinerary and forget about the Dales/Moors/countryside.

There are, of course, excellent football fixtures played in Scotland* although the number played during the week (as opposed to weekends) in November is quite limited, as they are with the English Premier League. Inasmuch as you'll be arriving on a Saturday and departing on a Monday, I'd imagine London would be the best choice for the final weekend in November - more teams and locations, easier access.

*Celtic v. Rangers is a legendary rivalry (both from Glasgow) with an uncomfortable religious history (Catholic v. Protestant followings.) Less virulent now. My personal fave team is Edinburgh Hibernian. Go Hibs!

One fact that may affect your itinerary is that most, but not all, football matches are on Saturdays. Occasionally there will be Sunday or midweek matches. London has many clubs, including Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham and Fulham, all in the Premier League, so that would be the best place to look for a match.

Even with the match schedule published in June dates can change according to the whims of TV coverage I'm afraid so you will need to be a bit flexible on that for a longer time than just June.
As Gardyloo says check Scottish football schedules too if the teams you want to see are not too important.

Whilst it is true that most professional football in the UK is played on Saturdays, that doesn't really apply to the English Premier League. The huge TV contracts mean that games are split across every weekend. As an example this weekend there are 5 games today and another 5 tomorrow. (This is also due to 3 teams having played European games on Thursday). Kick-off times can also vary during the day and some weekends there will be games on Friday and Monday evenings.

The good news for you is that the week you are here is a European week and several clubs will play games across 25th to 27th November. Assuming Liverpool is the team you are hoping to see (Everton won't be playing in Europe next season), you will have a 50/50 chance of them being at home on either 25th or 26th. It is also possible that there could be a game on Sunday 23rd, the day after you arrive.

Realistically if you want to see Liverpool you are going to have to take the hospitality route as you have suggested and definitely if you want to see them play away from Anfield. Be prepared to pay anything from a lot to a huge amount of money for these tickets.

Given all the above and assuming that football is a must do for your trip you are going to have to leave final planning until much closer to your dates. Whilst the league fixtures for next season will be released in June you will not know actual kick-off dates until a lot closer to November and you won't know European game dates also until much later. At least coming in late November it will be low season and you should be able to book accommodation at fairly short notice.

Yes, we're bracing ourselves for it to be a bit of splurge. I checked the hospitality packages earlier this spring for a Liverpool Champions League match just to get an idea, so we know what we're getting ourselves into (and will be limiting the attendees to my husband and sons-the 7 year old has zero interest).

We're up for being flexible with what we can get, even if we wind up with a lower league fixture. Although, the boys would argue that would be in addition to any Premier/European league game, haha. I will also keep the Scottish League as an option as well.

To put into perspective how much a priority football is for this trip, I had to adjust our flight schedule to add an extra weekend day on the front end to give us more options, as we originally looking at arriving Sunday, the 23rd.

The lower league games will be no problem to get into and will not break the bank either. But, assuming that Liverpool is the priority, you can leave choosing another game until you know about that.

I agree with the suggestion of heading north first and work your way south, beginning in Edinburgh for a few days and in November days will be short but it will be much less crowded for touring.

Just quickly posting an idea for lodgings in Edinburgh if you decide to go there. Certainly check reviews as I've not stayed there. Just finished a nice stay at the Mansley serviced apartments in Cheltenham; the manager there mentioned he liked their Edinburgh property: https://bymansley.com/the-knight-residence/

I've not stayed there, and not an expert on Edinburgh, so not sure of the location, but with a group of five, I imagine finding a hotel might be difficult. Happy planning!

I’d also recommend checking out Brighton. I went a few years ago on a day trip and really enjoyed it—easy train ride from London, great mix of seaside charm, independent shops and a laid-back artsy vibe. Other great additions could be Bristol and even Cardiff if you’re open to popping into Wales. Cardiff Castle is super family-friendly, and the city is compact enough to explore in a day or two.