Can y'all help me plan a trip to England / Scotland / Wales?

[Rajah]

My mom has invited me to join her on a vacation to England (and probly Scotland) next spring, and I was wondering if anyone has any experience over there?

Two women, traveling alone. No experience with driving on the "wrong" side of the road, but now that I've successfully navigated in French-speaking Quebec I *think* I'd be okay with driving in England.

Our thoughts are to fly and drive rather than take a big tour, and just take smaller tours at our preferred destinations. I can drive a US stick-shift / manual, so as long as the UK manuals operate the same way, I can drive.

Okay, first off -- if we want to do basically a "grand circle" type tour of the west coast, maybe even hitting Wales, do we *need* a car? We're assuming yes.

What's a good time to go to see the flowers? The Chelsea Flower Festival is something my mom would like to see, but will things be more crowded then? Would it be better to go the week before instead?

We want to go before Memorial Day so as to avoid the crowds of families from the US who are touring after school is out. Is the first week/2 weeks of May too early?

We're interested in historical places, scenery, castles, quaint gardens, lakes, etc... my mom has Bath and Lock Ness and Stonehenge on the "must see" list, I'm still looking. And we'd both like to throw in that "Roslyn Chappel" (sp??) that was in the Da Vinci Code because that just sounds so neat. Neat old churches are also things we enjoy. Suggestions?

What would be a good place to fly into? We've heard don't fly directly into London if we can avoid it, and we aren't big city people anyway -- we want to *see* London, but not spend the majority of the time there if that makes sense.

Any other suggestions?

 

[Frances999]

I can't help with some of your questions, but I do think that you will definitely need a car to get the most out of your trip. It would be awful having to rely on public transport, especially to get to some of the destinations you mentioned.

I agree you should visit Stonehenge, Bath (not just because I live here ) and Loch Ness. How about going down to the South West (Devon/Cornwall)?There is the Eden Project in St Austell which is fabulous if you enjoy plants/gardens. Devon has lots of pretty places to visit as well.

The first two weeks of May would be an ideal time. The weather should be okay and crowds at the major attractions shouldn't be too bad. There is a half-term break for schools here in May, but it is usually towards the end of the month, and only lasts for one week.

As for which airport to fly into, personally, I think Gatwick or Heathrow (the London airports) would be best. It would be easier and also the major carriers fly there. There is relatively easy/quick access to Bath/Stonehenge from London as well. How will you proceed up to Scotland? Drive?

Hope this helps in some way or form!

 

[Rajah]

Thanks Frances! Yup, plan to drive.

What I'm looking into is the possibility of flying into London, spend a couple of days in London using public transportation, then pick up a car somewhere (preferably on the outskirts of London?) and drive from there to everywhere else we want to see, ending in Edinburgh and flying out of Edinburgh, sticking pretty much to the west coast and western inland stuff since the majority of what we want to see is on the west side. If I had another week (I'm going to push it to get 2 weeks), we'd do a round-trip around both sides, but I'm not sure that's as practical for us. I don't think.

 

[Dimplenose]

You sound like you're going to be doing a lot of travelling!!

Here are some random thoughts about your trip -
Driving is a good choice and you should be able to hire an automatic car - if not remember you will not only be driving on the "wrong" side but changing gear with the "wrong" hand!

You might be able to "steal" an itinery from a travel company.

You can find out train journey times from this website

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/

The first and last mondays in May are bank holidays and may effect train times.

The week including the last Monday in May is usually a school holiday week - but you sound like you are thinking of coming earlier.

The Chelsea Flower Show is very popular so if you want tickets book them before you come. (It doesn't make the rest of London more busy.)

Have a good trip,

Libby

 

[carolfoy]

Hi Rajah forgot to mention on your other post the Eden project its only a few miles from me! how silly of me, have put another itinerary suggestion on your other post, if you wanted to fit the Eden in, you'd fly to Newquay (Ryanair out of London Stanstead) and then hire a car to drive down from there, it was the big epcot type globe thing featured in the last bond movie if thats any help!

 

[Rajah]

Oh, cool!

 

[Rajah]

Okay, and what about ancient sites like Stonehenge? Is Stonehenge really the best, or just the most famous?

 

[carolfoy]

Definately the most famous!
personally I couldn't see what all the fuss was about but then I'm surrounded by countryside with 'mystical meaning',

 

[lynnmci]

Up here in not so sunny Scotland I would recommend a day trip to Glasgow as well as Edinburgh. Glasgow hasjust got fantastic shopping and I work there so if you are around email me for a wee cup of tea. The Rosslyn chapel is not in the centre of Edinburgh and is maybe 20 or 30 mins drive from the centre. You would probably be best served flying out of Glasgow as it has a bigger airport, although you may be as cheap flying back to Gatwick or Heathrow. Dont forget there is Edinburgh Catle and Stirling Castle. If you are here in May then the Pipe Band competitions start you might be lucky and catch one.
Apart from that the west and east coast of scotland between Edinburgh and Glasgow will only take you about 1hr to drive so it is very doable.

 

[florida sun]

Hi There

Sounds like a very exciting trip. I do hope you are able to spend some time here in Wales. We have some lovely Castles, including one or two here in Cardiff. Lots of shopping oppertunites here in Cardiff as well, with a very large shopping area in the centre.

Can I reccomend West Wales as well, in particular Portmeirion which is beautiful. Also St Davids and the Pembrokshire coast. There are also some lovely beaches here in Wales.

If you do decide to come to Wales and need more information, please let me know.

Sue

 

[Rajah]

Thanks Lynn -- that helps me think maybe we *can* do this and include Scotland.

I am *seriously* running out of time to see what we want to see. LOL! I already have my list up to about 20 days worth, and I'm likely only going to be able to do 14-18!

Okay, HELP for Wales -- how long (about) would it take to drive from the Cotswold area (we're now considering basing there in a B&B instead of in Bath itself, but we haven't decided yet) to the Pembrokeshire area via the Brecon Beacons National Park, with stops to see waterfalls and lakes and such? Should we plan a full day for that to ensure that we have time to stop at a few places along the road, or is that just likely a 4-hour thing and we could plan to continue up the coast to Snowdonia?

Lynn -- I'll probly be posting questions for you re: Scotland shortly as well! Actually, one pair of questions: have you heard anything (good or bad) about the Blair Castle (north of Edinburgh I believe?) and the B&B called the Blair Castle which if I understand correctly is a Blair mannor house? I ask, because Blair is a family name -- we don't know if it's the *same* Blair as the castle or not, but we don't care. LOL! And how about Culzean Castle -- it has the Kennedy Tower House, which is another family name. And how long would it take to get from Glasgow to the Isle of Skye? I'm strongly thinking we're going to have to cut Skye from our trip, but if it's not that long maybe not. My understanding is the farther north we go, the slower the and more rural roads are?

 

[Rajah]

And thanks again, y'all!!

 

[Rajah]

Oooh, refining my question for Sue -- would it be doable to start the morning in the Cotswold somewhere, drive to Cardiff and see a castle or two, cut north into the Brecon Beacons, west in mid-park, and drive from there down to Pembrokeshire in one day or would that be waaayyy too long?

 

[Rajah]

Or maybe this would make more sense -- start the morning in Cotswold, cut through Bath for some sites, drive to Cardiff area for the night or even into the Beacons for a B&B if one exists there for the night, *then* through the Beacons and to Pembrokeshire for a second day?

 

[michelle8671]

I agree with everyone else, you need a car in the UK, if you decide to visit Cornwall and see the eden project you definatley need a car!!
I live next door to the eden project and it's well worth a visit. I'm amazed at how there are peope from all over the world who travel to visit.
Concerning a car you can rent an automatic so you won't need to worry so much about changing gear, just concentrate on keeeping on the right side of the road!!
My DH is worried about driving in Orlando on the wrong side of the road.

I'm sure you will have a great time but be prepared for very unpredictable UK weather!!

Michelle

 

[Rajah]

Can I just take off of work for a month?

I knew I wanted to visit England, Scotland, and Wales sometime in my life, but never knew just how *MUCH* there was to see!!

Michelle -- we're planning to have coats with zip-out liners so that will cover 3 levels of temperature.

 

[florida sun]

Or maybe this would make more sense -- start the morning in Cotswold, cut through Bath for some sites, drive to Cardiff area for the night or even into the Beacons for a B&B if one exists there for the night, *then* through the Beacons and to Pembrokeshire for a second day?

Rajah,

This would definatley be the option I would take, it would be a very long drive from the Cotswolds,through Bath into Cardiff, then Brecon and then on to Pembrokshire, with stopping for sights, I think you may run out of time.

There are plenty of places you can stay in Cardiff for the night, then maybe grab the Castle the following morning before heading up to Brecon and then Pembrokeshire. I am sure there are some hotels or b/b's in Brecon worth checking out as well. I will have a look for you and see what I can find.

Here is a link to Portmerioin Village I was telling you about, Hope this helps.

http://www.portmeirion-village.com/

Sue

 

[michelle8671]

This morning it was T-Shirt weather and so warm we were outside catching up with a few jobs, this afternoon it poured down with rain and got so windy it almost blew me over.

 

[Rajah]

Great, thanks Sue!!

Yikes, very windy and sudden change Michelle!

I've been looking at the Eden Project and that place looks cool! We're not going to have time to see everything, though, and we do have a couple of "biodome" type things here in the Houston area, so we'll probably skip that in favor of the castles and Roman and Pictish (did I get that right?) and Celtic sites that we don't have.

But if anyone wants to come join us for a day or part of a day while we're in that region, we'd love to have company.

 

[disneyangel]

Hi Tammi

Skye is quite a drive from Central Scotland.Instead I'd suggest doing a loop round Oban from Edinburgh and arriving back in Glasgow that way you will get to see some of the stunning scenery Northern Scotland has to offer without having to go so far north that you end up on only single track roads which take a lot of time to negotiate(although there'd be no worry about being on wrong side of the road ).

In central Scotland I'd recommend Edinburgh - bus tour stops at all tourist attractions and you can hop on and off all day. Stirling has the Wallace Monument and is the gateway to the highlands.Glasgow has beautiful architecture - the People's palace is worth a visit as a fun way of seeing Glasgow history.

Hope this helps