How can I plan an England vacation, to see the beautiful parts of England like I see in movies?
October 4th, 2009
My family wants to visit England and possibly Scotland, and we want to see the beautiful countryside. I have young children, so we want to stay in safe areas. We know almost nothing about where to go, because we are from the U.S., and have never traveled to England. Do you have any tips on where to find information, or areas of England that we might enjoy?
5 Responses to “How can I plan an England vacation, to see the beautiful parts of England like I see in movies?”
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October 4th, 2009 at 7:40 pm
The lake District is beautiful
and not far from Scotland . I lived there many years ago and there are some really interesting areas. Hope you can hire a car. and drive to Scotland. also another area that is really lovely but in the opposite area is around Dorset and Devon and Cornwall areas.
October 5th, 2009 at 4:39 am
As well as Jennifer’s suggestions, look at the Cotswolds for really pretty English villages and some beautiful country house hotels.
If you choose Scotland, Perthshire is a good place to start.
One of my favourite areas is the Peak District.
You are really spoilt for choice as each part of England, not forgetting Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, has beautiful areas and fabulous scenery from the Norfolk Broads and Hampshire Downs to the Pennines and Highlands, Lochs and castles of Scotland.
The UK in general is pretty safe if you use your common sense and stay out of the city centres late at night.
I think your best bet especially with small children would be to pick an area and base yourselves there rather than trying to cover a lot of ground and over exerting yourselves. The UK may be small in comparison to the US but the distance between say London and Edinburgh is a full day’s car journey of about 8-9 hours without breaks.
Use route planners to plan journeys, such as the RAC route planner.
You could rent a holiday cottage (or castle!). You get a much better flavour of the country that way rather than staying in hotels and bed & breakfasts for the whole holiday.
October 5th, 2009 at 12:03 pm
The most beautiful part of England in my view is the South Shropshire Hills near the gorgeous town of Ludlow
The various national parks are wonderful too like the Peak District in Derbyshire, the Yorkshire Dales and North York Moors in Yorkshire
and the South Downs in East and West Sussex (the latter is just 50
to 60 miles from London. My favourite area of the South Downs is the Kingley Vale National Nature Reserve, the largest Yew tree forest in Europe. Its situated between Midhurst and Chichester. Google them and you’ll find lots of info
In Wales you have the Brecon Beacons in the south and Snowdonia
in the north.
Another favourite of mine (little known to most Brits) is the Marlborough Downs in Wiltshire near the towns of Marlborough and Pewsey comprising weird shaped hills with exotic views like
Oare Hill and Martinsell Hill. Nearby is the huge ancient Savernake Forest and the thatched cottage village of Wootton Rivers on the beautiful Kennett and Avon Canal.
October 7th, 2009 at 5:43 pm
The others are right. Those are nice places.
You don’t have to worry about safe areas. 99% of UK is perfectly safe. I would avoid the large inner cities. However, it doesn’t sound like you would like to see them anyway!
As an alternative, have you thought of hiring a boat on the canals and rivers? You cruise through the countryside at 4 mph. You work locks, swing bridges, cross aqueducts, pass through tunnels. It’s great for children (the canals are shallow but they can wear life-jackets)
You can hire boats for day trips, a few days, a week or more.
October 10th, 2009 at 9:28 pm
2 Best places to find info are….
This website:
And this book:
Google Earth + Google Maps are good too, with features such as “Streetview” + “Panoramio” + other placemarks added by users to get sneak previews.
Specific places recommended to visit in England….
Whitby, and the surrounding North Yorkshire Moors National Park / Yorkshire Coast
As well as jaw dropping scenery, there’s also a few places dotted around the area that have been used as filming locations… including “Goathland Station” on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway (used for “Hogsmeade Station” in the Harry Potter movies).
City of York
Home to the World’s largest Railway Museum, the 2nd largest Church in Northern Europe (York Minster) + has an ancient stonewall going round the city.
The English Lake District
Some of the most jaw dropping scenery in England, where the biggest lakes in the country meet some of the tallest hills/mountains.
The Norfolk Broads
Places recommended to visit in Scotland….
Edinburgh
Dumfries & Galloway area (Dumfries / Kippford / New Abbey / Creetown / Dalbeattie, etc).
The area around Loch Lomond / Callandar / Stirling
Places recommended to visit in Wales….
Llandudno
Snowdonia, Lake Bala, Horseshoe falls, Portmeirion