England, Scotland, Wales - Must see/shoot places

I was in England a year ago and spent two weeks just going to Windsor, Brighton, Salisbury, Stonehenge, Avebury, Jurassic Coast, Lyme Regis, Dartmoor, Bath, Gower Peninsula in Wales, Cotswolds and London (4 days there at the end of our trip.) It was quite surprising how long it took to drive places when not on the motorways. Whoever is not driving needs to be a very good navigator. And DO NOT drive in London! I originally thought I'd go north to Scotland also but there was PLENTY to see without getting north of Oxford. I particularly enjoyed an early morning in Castle Combe, about the quaintest little village I've ever seen, a bit north of Bath. I have pictures in my portfolio. I liked Rick Steve's book.

Nice UK portfolio, Dave!

Hi Scott,

 

I was in the UK for a week in November, and rented a car for travels west and north of London. For me, the journey was as much a part of the destination, and the motorways were just horrible. They're useful if you want to get from point A to point B in a hurry, but keep in mind that traffic can get backed up very easily due to accidents and other road problems, and your four hour road trip has now become five. I had a GPS system that was very useful for road planning and times, but the default was always for motorways, not secondary roads, which took a bit longer (but were worth it). And if you stay on the secondary roads, there are a lot of places to stop along the way, so you need to factor that in as well.

 

Personally, I think that you have way too much on your plate for two weeks. How many days in Paris? In London? Edinburgh? Glasgow? Liverpool? Just those cities would take up the two weeks, nevermind the countryside. I would suggest choosing two or three major areas, and exploring those regions as best you can. Or stick to just England, or just Scotland, or ... you get the idea. You'll never see everything in two weeks, so it would be better to see a few things well, then a lot of things poorly. Of course, that's just my opinion, ;-) but it's based on years of trying to combine meaningful travel with meaningful photography.

Thanks Ken! And I agree completely with everything Rachelle said, Scott, you're trying to bite off too much of the UK especially if you're trying to fit in Paris, too. It is a 2 week trip, rignt? If so, you'll need a vacation after your vacation!

LOL! Yes, biting off more than I should. I have that optimistic, plan everything out and it all works kind of mindset. But with much of what has been said here, you are definitely right, too much. Loch Ness is out, and maybe even Edinburgh. May only go as far north as York as we definitely want to travel secondary roads and make it a journey.

 

It would be great to just travel until we are ready to call it a day, and find a place to stay (B&B or whatever), but being the planning guy I am, I'm not sure that is a good idea. Thoughts?

If you're going as far north as York, I'd go further still, to Durham.

 

Durham Castle and Cathedral are next to each other on what is almost a rocky island in a

huge bend in the River Tees and are both photographically spectacular. Whilst you're in

that part of the world, you could also visit Lindisfarne and Bamburgh Castle, probably

both count as top ten photogenic English sites.

 

After Nothumberland turn west towards the Lake District through the Northern Pennines -

Hadrian's Wall territory. Inspiring country, if it's not raining.

If it were me, and having two weeks I'd do one of two things.

 

Get straight on a plane/train to Edinburgh, spend a couple of days there, and then do a tour of the Scottish Highlands for ten days starting off with Rannoch Moor and Glencoe/Glen Etive , and encompassing Skye; up the west coast to Plockton, Applecross, Ullapool, the Inverpolly region, Eddrachilles Durness and along the extreme northern coast, Inverness, Glens Affric and Strathfarrar Pitlochry, Lochs Tummel & Rannoch, Glen Lyon and back to Edinburgh. If I could get that done in ten days I'd spend a couple of days in London - or better yet pick up a car from the airport and spend my last couple of days in Bath.Cotswolds/Oxford. I wouldn't do this tour in high summer because of the midges, but in the fall it can be quite magnificent with beautiful foliage colour in the Glens and round Pitlochry as well as great scenery.

 

Or as an alternative, train or plane to Newcastle. Three days on the Northumberland coast centred on Bamburgh; three days in the Lake District driving there via Hadrians Wall, two days in the Yorkshire Dales, a day in York, a day driving to bath stopping in Stratford. day in Bath, a day driving through the Cotswolds to Oxford, a day walking round Oxford leaving an hours drive to Heathrow and the plane out. With the exception of the York to Bath drive its interest all the way since many of the areas join up.

 

Both of these have a mix of coast and inland scenery, and throw in a few castles and churches on the way. The second option has more villages and towns. Note that London doesn't play much part in either suggestion. Having lived close to London for more than theirty years I'm not actually convinced that it is a great tourist city of the stature of new York, Paris, Rome etc and its expensive, especially at the moment. I would plan rough routes and I'd absolutely book accommodation in advance. You don't want to be burning your limited time searching for rooms, wondering whether to take this one in the interests of time or to push on and find something better/cheaper in the next place. You'll make far better decisions on the internet.

I like either of David's tours above. Of the two the second seems to come closer to your original idea and you could put in the visit to East Leake on the way.

 

Loads of good ideas throughout the thread so you now have the difficult task of whittling them down.

 

I would use the motorways where a longer trip is required from one region to another. They are usually quite a bit quicker.

 

I would consider hiring a Sat Nav unit while in the UK as that takes a lot of the hassle out of finding places and navigating through towns. They will save you time getting lost and don't cost a huge amount these days.

The only thing I'd say on the options of Bath and Stratford is that you'll have plenty of

opportunities to photograph other tourists!

If you are thinking of just "happening" on a gorgeous and inexpensive B&B each night without prior planning, dream on. I book months in advance after researching extensively. Also, the B&B you happen on may not serve an evening meal or be near a pub or a restaurant.

 

An excellent way to enjoy any part of UK or Europe is to find a base for a few days and stay there while visiting the nearby sights. For instance, stay in York (inside or very close to the walls so you don't have to deal with parking or taxis), and in addition to the city you can visit Rievaulx and Fountains abbeys and quite a few other places in easy and interesting driving distance from your base (ie no motorways). The AA (the UK Automobile Association) has a great website with accommodation, do a search on a town you have chosen as a base, and look for B&B's rather than budget hotels. Generally, the B&B's are less expensive and more interesting than hotels.

 

Louise

We have relatives in Crowthorne, west of London, and plan to stay there some. That would give us relatively easy access to the south west part of England. I'm not sure how much is close there that would be drive out to see/enjoy and then come back that night, but that is certainly a possibility. And your input about staying in a certain place for a couple of days and venturing out from there makes lots of sense.

 

When we started thinking about this, it was a big round trip. But now it is becoming more about specific things to see and trying to determine how to do it. We still plan on renting (hiring as you Brits say) a car for the two weeks we are there so we should have the freedom to go when and where we please.

 

As for B&Bs, we will definitely start planning now. In the past my wife has planned trips on the cheap, and while we don't have unlimited funds to throw around, I'm just not up for staying in a dive at night if at all possible. I think once we have a more firm plan for where we are going to go, I may ask about some B&Bs to try in those areas.

 

I'm really looking forward to this trip and though it is still about 6 months away, it feels like we won't get it all figured out in time! S

 

Scott

Crowthorne is not very exciting in its own right but you're well placed for one or two day trips

to places like Winchester, Windsor, Bath, Bristol, Salisbury, Oxford, Stonehenge, even Stratford

on Avon, and you can take a train into central London pretty easily with a journey time of

about one hour.

What I would do is aim at a a number of different environments and try to do them well. with one of the following in each category, possibly more if really interested. Some of these are standard and some slightly off the US tourist track. I'd go for local activities and community as well as buildings, eg. sports and markets.

Coastal Scenery - Cornwall, Salcome, Kyles of Bute, Scottish Borders (Highly Recoomended)

Mountains - Lake District, Scottish Highlands

Coastal Towns - Southwold (Suffolk) Rye. Salcome Devon etc

Rural - North Downs way (Wye, Kent),Fens, Cotswolds, Somerset

Medieval - Norwich, York Cambridge (But crowded)

Old Urban - Edinburgh

Regency - Bath, Greenwich Maritime Museum

New Urban - Canary Wharf, London Thameside

London Community - Markets eg Camden Lock and Pimlico

Sports - Cricket - Any village in Kent e.g. Wye, Sailing (Solent) Soccer (Anywhere)

Street Community - Mill Road Cambridge

Festivals - Notting Hill, Luton, Cambridge Folk Festival (if you can get in)

Village Fetes - Anywhere rural (once a year)

 

I live in Cambridge so feel free to email me with any specific queries,

Sounds like quite an itinerary! As a native (English, Winchester if you're asking) whose travelled and photographed most, if not all of the places listed above, my advice would be don't try and do too much, but rather take your time and really experience the highlights.

 

As for the highlights, I'd forget Dover. It's just a big ferry terminal famous within Britain for its proximity to France (popular with day trippers for the cheap booze/fags they sell in France).

 

Must see places are London (although don't even think about trying to drive around the place - remember, London is the spiritual home of road-rage), Windsor, Canterbury, York, Edinburgh (whilst in Scotland give Loch Ness a miss - as mentioned above there ain't a lot going for it. If you want picturesque Scotland take the 'Road to the Isles' from Fort William to Mallaig, catch the ferry 'over the sea to Skye' and try and come back through either Ullapool or Oban)

 

Heading south again the Lake District (Grasmere, Windermere and Ambleside) and Liverpool are worth a visit (If only because I was born and raised in nearby St. Helens). Liverpool is brilliant if you're a Beatles fan and the cities architecture is unique in Britain. North Wales (especially Snowdonia and the bits between Betws-Y-Coed and Llanberis), Bath is worth a stop as is the rest of the Cotswolds (Bourton-on-the-water / Chipping Norton / Blenheim Palace) and for the full Jane Austen treatment may I suggest Winchester. (Let me know when you're coming and I'll stand you a pint in the oldest pub in Britain and bore you to tears with camera talk!). Also Salisbury, Stonehenge (and the more approachable) Avebury Rings can easily be covered in a day.

 

Places to avoid like the plague... Oxford, the midlands (The area 50-100 miles around Birmingham), Glasgow, Bradford, Blackpool, Newcastle (you won't understand the locals), Bristol and Luton.

 

Hope you have a great time over here.

 

Andy B.

<p>If you're looking for more ideas there are brochures from the Welsh government that can help. They describe lots of the places in Wales you could go to.<br>

You can get them through this site, it's very easy to use, you don't have to register before ordering and the brochures arrive in a couple of days. <br>

http://www.wales-holiday-brochures.co.uk <br>

Hope it helps!</p>

<p>I live in Scotland and would suggest driving up the West coast which has stunning scenery for landscapes. It is also easy to cut across country to the East coast.</p>

<p>Loch Lomond National Park is lovely but be careful on parts of the road as it is still 19th century, I kid you not!</p>

<p>Look at my site for some ideas www.frankfitz.com on the West Coast and Western Isles.</p>

<p>Have a good trip and post lots of images.</p>

<p>Frank, I enjoyed your photos. I happen to be leaving for the UK this week - London-Scotland-Wales. The weather seems to be on the cool side in May. What do most people wear?</p>

<p>Wales is about 15 C, London about 17-19 C, Scotland is a blistering 12-15 C!</p>

<p>I would bring a pullover and a waterproof jacket. London and the south tends to be warmer and less rain although the forecast last night was the whole country to be subject to rain sometimes heavy. I hope the weather will change for you. Have a good trip.</p>

<p>Before you leave check out the BBC weather website as it gives a weeks advance weather forecast.</p>

<p>http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/2648579</p>

<p>http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/</p>

<p>You can refine it by city location.</p>

Thanks Frank. I am writing from my hotel in London - having arrived today. As you mentioned, it's cooler than back home in New England. Thanks for your clothing advice. Planning to go to a "Photo Walks of London" event tomorrow.

<p>While I was in the Navy I got to visit some parts of Europe but didn't have a decent camera. It got stolen on the day I deployed. So, on my honeymoon, I brought the "decent" camera I eventually got, but I'd got it twenty years past - and as luck would have it, the darn thing had a shutter issue and we lost 80% of the film we shot. A few important shots were captured, so we do have some, but please doublecheck ANY equipment (especially film cameras) before you go.</p>

<p>Some day when we get back to Europe I want to visit London in particular. The IWM is my most desired place to see.</p>

<p>Patrick, sorry to hear about the equipment mishaps. Good thing you were able to save some precious shots.<br>

I love London. Ian of "Photo Walks of London" took me to a number of places this morning and I went back in the evening for night shots at the Westminster Abbey area. I feel London is a good combination of NYC and Boston.</p>