The FastDay Forum

Hi all my UK forum buddies Im asking for some travel advice. Hubs and I are planning are trip to your fair countries next June. We would like to do a self drive holiday and so far have got as far as flying to Heathrow getting a train to Glasgow, then hiring a car and driving to Nottingham where we will meet up with friends who live there and they will take us around there and London. We have about 3 weeks to play with. So what should we see, where should we go???

Wineo how exciting!
I havent been to Glasgow or Notts sadly,but London!
Where to start? Sooo many galleries and museums if thats your bag!
Our very own@angie090465 works at Tate Modern and showed me round when i visited.
Tons of great places to eat and drink,shows and musicals to take in,shops like Harrods and Liberty,wonderful markets like Petticoat Lane and Borough Market.
Gorgeous parks..Regents Park is my fave.
You can jump on and off sightseeing buses to see all the usual "attractions " ..St Pauls,Westminster Abbey..etc.
But i' m not a native Londoner so i cant advise as well as some members here,so i' ll leave it to them x x
Ps if you've plenty of time in London,you can get a bus to Oxford,confusingly called the London Tube,takes an hour or so. Oxford is dripping with historical and beautiful buildings.
Or,take the train ( from Victoria i think) to the seaside..Brighton..i love it,it appeals to ageing hippies like me! X

Thanks@CandiceMarie, I did have one day in London 2 years ago but that consisted of us wandering around in a sleep deprived haze after a 24 flight that arrived at 6am. We got to the Tower of London but that was about all. Really looking forward to more exploration this time.

If you like walking/rambling, try to spend some time in the Peak district or Lake district. There is also nice country side for walks in the southwest. My favorite touristy places in the UK are Durham, Bath, Oxford and Cambridge, Canterbury, Lincoln, and York.

Hi . You are in for a treat. Consider Edinburgh instead of Glasgow or even both! Both fabulous, but more to do in Edinburgh. On the way north, you could stop off at York and then Durham or even Newcastle Once there you are not that far from the Scottish Highlands which are a must see. However if you turn back around and go south, you could stop off via the Lake District and then head to Nottingham.

[Debs]

Here's one from the blue for you Wino, some wineries!!! In Gloucestershire you will find Three Choirs, one of the oldest wineries in the UK (the Romans grew wine grapes first!). Lovely food and some interesting varieties for you to try. There is some really good champagne in the south that may be worth a trip out of London.
The big question is, what do you like to do, then we can recommend!

I love Cornwall. Remember too, flights are really cheap so u can nip over to Dublin (I found flights for £22 return Birmingham to Dublin, so going between Xmas and New Year with 2 friends). Or Spain or Portugal or Amsterdam or France. Www.edreams.co.uk seriously cheap if u pay with MasterCard debit instead of credit card, like saving of 45 quid per ticket. Enjoy the planning

Thank you so much everyone, lots of work for me to do looking at all these suggestions, but lots of fun too. @Debs we like beautiful scenery, interesting buildings/town, etc etc. Happy to play tourist (well thats what we will be).
@GMH Thanks for the Dublin suggestion, I will have a look at the airfares.

[Debs]

Distances are small but the driving is painful as there are so many cars (although people are politer on the road!), so don't spread yourself around too much. The Peak District is reasonably close to Nottingham and very beautiful, Bakewell town, Eyam (where the town shut itself off when the plague came through and nearly everyone died). There is some beautiful scenery there. Nottingham has the oldest pub in Britain, The old trip to Jerusalem Inn, reputedly where Crusaders set off in the 12th century. Harry Potter exhibition near Watford if you are so inclined? I am gutted that I missed it!
Cotswolds are also lovely, as is the Pudding Club in Chipping Cambden!

And as it will be all about the food then isn't this the place to go in Nottingham right now? http://www.restaurantsatbains.com/ . Depending on where you end up going wino, I can probably recommend a decent restaurant in most places as I am sure other fastfriends can too. Whoever said UK cooking is bad, then take heed of the French who are currently coming to London and other places in droves for decent food!

Jealous as anything! How thrilling!

What an exciting trip! In fact, I fancy visiting some of the great suggestions above myself
I agree with @Debs... Planning on where to go without exhausting yourselves with the travelling will be key, although places may look close on a map, bear in mind the congested roads. Oxford (tho I prefer Cambridge), the Cotswolds, Stratford upon Avon (a MustSee) and Bath are easy after London. It'd be a long trip for you, but I love the rugged coastline scenery of Cornwall, N Devon and Pembrokeshire (we often have people on trips like yours take a few days away from the tourist trail to come horse riding on the beach near us.)

[Debs]

@Golarne, oh yes, agree about Pembrokeshire, a fabulous area that we have spent a lot of time in. All those beautiful little coves, villages and wildflowers.
Yes, I agree about Oxford too and Bath.
The list goes on!!!

[carieoates]

OMG , how exciting.
Come to Cambridge, @Madcatlady and I live in Cambridgeshire, maybe a meet up with some of us UK'ers. London well that's a no brainer, eye, shard, tower, Buckingham palace, afternoon tea, London bridge, get on a red open topped sightseeing bus that's the easiest way to see all that London offers. Actually come to think of it, they're everywhere, we did Stratford, Dublin and London. There's so many beautiful cities with cathedrals, but in my opinion, once you've seen St Paul's, York Minster, and a few more, (we even have one in Ely where I live, they do loads of period dramas there, can bump into many great actor in our tea rooms, not that I have though) Cornwall, has great beaches, but Oz beats us on those to be honest. Quaint little seaside villages in Devon and Cornwall, though are another great destination. And as others have said, our countryside is the best.
You'll see how thin and busy our roads are comoared to Oz, and we're not so spread out either,
Wow I'm excited for you. Have you been before.

Of course, I'd say the castles of North Wales! happy to show you round!
http://www.castlewales.com/wales_n.html
and some R& R here too!
Then there's Stonehenge
http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/days ... tonehenge/
And we're just a short ferry 'cross the Mersey from dynamic Liverpool and the lovely @candicemarie
3 weeks? You'll need more!