England, Scotland, Wales - Must see/shoot places

As stated in another post, my wife and I are planning a trip to England,

Scotland, Wales (and a quick trip to Paris) this fall. We are starting our

planning and I was hoping I might get some suggestions for places we must visit

and photograph. Our plan is to start in the south (Dover) and basically head up

the eastern part of England to Endinburgh, Scotland, then to Loch Ness, back to

Glasgow, then down the western part to Liverpool, into Wales and back towards

London. We are planning our days such that there is never more than a total of 4

hours driving so we have plenty of time to stop enjoy and photograph. And we are

trying to keep things loose so we can adjust if there is a place we must go.

 

Castles, cathedrals and small villages are things we have thought about. But I

would appreciate any input on where we might visit with photographs in mind.

 

Thanks in advance for your input!!

 

Scott

Hi Scott, On your journey up the eastern side of England, Oakham is the main town in the smallest county of Rutland and the Castle Museum is well worth a visit, it is the oldest Tier One Crown Court in England and every passing major dignitary leaves a horseshoe, including every Lord Chief Justice, the horseshoes are of every size, but the place just oozes history as does the market town itself. Next on your way you will pass Stamford in south Lincolnshire, the jewel in Lincolnshire's crown a beautiful old market town that still retains much of its very olde worlde character, it is often used for filming period drama's such is its architecture, I am sure someone else will take up this thread and offer you more attractive points of interest, but as you drive through Lincolnshire Lincoln Cathedral sits majestically on a hill and makes for incredible photographs, some of the Da Vinci Code was filmed there, again Lincoln is a city worthy of a visit. PM me if you want to visit any of the places I mentioned and I would be more than happy to provide more detailed information, enjoy the trip and I am sure you will soon get a full list of places to visit, regards

 

Mike

Standard reply - you haven't got enough time to see everything! I've lived in the UK for a

good while and there is much of the country I've never seen.

 

Since you specifically mention cathedrals, some of my favourites on or near your route are:

Canterbury, Ely, Lincoln, York, Durham (I know nothing of Scottish or Welsh cathedrals),

Liverpool (x2), Gloucester, Wells, Salisbury, Winchester.

 

Going through Yorkshire, you'll also pass close by some amazing ruined abbeys. My own

favourite is Rievaulx, but there are several others.

 

I'd suggest you get very familiar with the www's of the National Trust and English Heritage

and start shortlisting the things they own that tickle your fancy.

 

Two more things - the Film and Photography museum in Bradford (or Bratfut using the

local accent) is good. http://www.nationalmediamuseum.org.uk/

 

And a must for me would be Laycock Abbey in Wiltshire, home of Fox Talbot, one of photography's pioneers and delightful in its own right.

For our first trip, English friends suggested that York was a must, and in retrospect, after a bunch of other trips, I think they were definitely right. Endinburgh was another incredible experience, as well.

You must definitely go to Endinburgh, its got the right mix of quaint villages, castles and old churches. You won't run out of things to shoot.

We are contemplating if we want to make a trip from Endinburgh to Inverness/Loch Ness and if it is worth the 3+ hour journey. That adds a day or so to our trip as I think we would take the day to travel up there and seeing the countryside, spend the night, take pictures and see the Loch (and maybe Nessie ;) ) and then drive back to Endinburgh or Glasgow. I wish we had more than the two weeks alloted!

Great Britain is a gem. So many different kinds of 'must-sees' and in so small (by American standards) a place. You'll need to get a decent guidebook and decide what kinds of things interest you and your spouse. I think these days, the DK guides are probably the best.

 

A few years ago, my daughter and I went to Berlin. There was a long line of people waiting to get into the Reichstag. As we looked up and down the line, nearly every everyone in the line had a DK guide to Berlin, altogether in at least half a dozen different languages. I think you can take that as a recommendation!

I lived there for three years, never saw 1/10,000 of the place, and we tried. You could easily spend your two weeks in the south between Dover and Bath and no further north than London, and you would only really see a fraction of that area.

 

An interesting statistic, there are approx 47,000 churches in the UK, and if even only 10% of them are probably worth a visit, that is a whole lot of places to go.

 

Enjoy your trip, it a fabulous place to visit.

Where is Endinburgh?

 

Edinburgh, as any fule knows

Here are some random ideas following your itinerary :

 

Dover Castle, Scotney Castle & gardens (check opening times), Canterbury carhedral,

 

London (see previous posts),

 

Cambridge (Kings College Chapel). Ely Cathedral, Norwich and the Norfolk broads,

 

Lincoln and cathedral, Chatsworth House, Derbyshire dales

 

Whitby, Staithes village and N York Moors, Goathland village and steam railway,

 

Hadrians wall, Northumbrian coast, Dunstanburgh and Bamburgh castkes,

 

Edunburgh and the two Forth Bridges (DNM),

 

Oban, Mull , Tobermory village, Iona

 

Trossachs and Loch Lomond,

 

Lake district, Castelrigg stone circle (Keswick), Ambleside, Hard Knott and Wrynose passes, Wasdalehead

 

Yorkshire dales, Fountains abbey,

 

Snowdonia, Pembrokeshire coast

 

Bath - Royal crescent etc the Octagon, Abbey, Wells cathedral

 

Dartmoor, Exmoor, Cornwall north coast villages

 

Cotswolds, Broadway, Avebury, Stonehenge, Salisbury Cathedral, Lyme Regis, .....

 

These are just a few suggestions for places to start your own research. Have a look and see what looks interesting. Many of the best things hardly feature in guide books so be prepared to be flexible and enjoy the place without havin to rush.

 

Have a great trip.

...York, Bath Roman bsths, Oxford, (Blenheim Palace) Windsor, Eton, Hampton Court.....

Three dilemmas spring quickly to mind on this, bearing in mind that your trip is not infinite or open ended.

 

Firstly countryside vs towns. Most of what people are immediately suggesting here are towns and cities. My own immediate thoughts run to areas of unique or at least "different " landscapes such as the Dorset Coast, Yorkshire Dales, Cotswolds etc which mostly have attractive small villages embedded in them. What way are you thinking?

 

Secondly a journey vs a series of destinations? Like about every other country you won't see the best of the UK from the motorways or the railway lines. You have a choice between getting somewhere quickly or getting somewhere prettily. Whats your preference please?

 

Thirdly, breadth vs depth. There are areas of the UK where you could happily spend your whole two weeks. Or you can touch on numerous areas and sights whilst moving on quickly to the next. Where are you on the balance of these?

 

Just one specific for the moment. Loch Ness is not the most interesting or attractive area of Scotland. Its a very long, wide and visually not terribly interesting chunk of water and within an hours drive of it in virtually any direction you'll find extraordinarily attractive and photogenic places. I have probably spent two or three months of my life photographing in Scotland and I have thousands of images. Not one is of Loch Ness.

Scott, I suggest if you are travelling from Scotland to Wales, then spend some time in the Lakes District. Also, if you can, (depending on the timing of your itinary), the Blackpool Illuminations offer great night time photographs.

I agree with David about Loch Ness - very bleak and uninteresting compared with much of the rest of Scotland. There is a Scottish joke about the Loch Ness monster. 'Why did the famous first Nessie photograph appear in 1933? - Because the Scottish Tourist Board was formed in 1932'. Loch Ness is for geology enthusiasts only as it it the line of the Highland Boundary Fault.

Agreed on Loch Ness; it's a tourist trap and it's fairly dull, even to a visitor.

 

For England I'd say check out the Cinque Ports and surrounding area on the south coast,

Rochester and Canterbury, Knole (park and house) in Sevenoaks, maybe Guildford, Oxford,

Avebury, Gloucester... too much to see.

 

For photography interest I second Lacock, I'd love to see that place.

I spend a month traveling and photographing there. Keep in mind I'm more interested in landscapes than architecture. I doubt you'll have time for all of this but for my money:

 

Scotland

The Isle of Skye is one of the most amazing places I've ever been. That would be my suggestion over anything else I'll recommend. Many of the lochs are gorgeous but I agree that Loch Ness is a tourist trap. Roslyn Chapel (outside of Edinburgh) is a tourist trap but also fascinating. If you plan to photograph there you will need good low-light ability from your camera system.

 

Wales

Northern Wales is lovely. I particularly like Conwy and Snowdonia (take the train if you can). Cardiff is a great town and underrated in my opinion.

 

England

The comments about York are true, but it's packed with tourist kitsch. On a side note, the "ghost tours" offered there are hysterically funny if the locals have been out at the pubs. Liverpool is a great town with a lot of character. Brighton and the South Downs are worth a look as well. My absolute favorite part of England was Cornwall though. Penzance is a fantastic town and the landscape is incredible.

Hi Scott

 

I live in Edinburgh, so I can hopefully give you some pointers.

 

Castles - Edinburgh, Carigmillar, Lauriston (all in Edinburgh itself),Dirleton, Tantallon, Linlithgow, Black Ness (small towns/villages no more than 25 miles from Edinburgh).

 

Churches - St Giles' Cathedral, Canongate, Magdalen, Duddingston, Cramond, Corstorphine, Holyrood Abbey (all within Edinburgh and OLD), Seton Chapel, Rosslyn Chapel (no more than about 15 miles from Edinburgh).

 

Small villages - not so sure here (never thought of photographing them). South Queensferry, Culross (pronounced 'Kooross'), Dunfermline are fairly close.

 

Please let me know if you'd like any other info.

 

Cheers

Oops - second castle is CRAIGMILLAR.

As far as I'm concerned all the cathedrals are worth visiting. Ely is highest on my list followed by York minster. The National Trust is great and hard to choose from sadly no photographing inside (unless that changed recently). Lacock is nice but don't forget the village. Others that are great are Lanhydrock, Knole, Erdigg etc. Railway museum at York is also worth a visit if you like that kind of stuff. Oxford and Cambridge are great places but crowded. If you visit Oxford go to the Pitt River collection and wonder about the objects. Bath is fine and there Mr Bowler Business is worth a visit if you like industrial museums.

 

As for small villages, just drive along, you'll find plenty of them.

I would second what Ken said. I haven't been to a number of the locations he mentioned, but my wife visited much of Yorkshire when she was in college and has some really great photos of some of the abbeys there, I believe Rievaulx was one of them.

 

I would also suggest Bath if you make it that far west and south. The town itself is quite charming and the old Roman baths are pretty neat to see. Ask around though as sometimes of the day can be pretty congested with people. First thing when they open is probably best. The countryside in Somerset county (where Bath is located) is also really beautiful. I really makes me want to uproot and move to England.

 

Stonehenge is nice, but it is a little less impressive then I had first thought, however I don't regret seeing it at all. I'd also suggest Windsor castle. The town is cute and the Castle itself is quite impressive.

 

Plenty to see in London itself. My few basic suggestions are spend at least 4 days in the city, less and you won't see most of what you will want to. For locations try catching a play in the new globe theater, go to Westminster Abbey, see Houses of Parliment, walk through Kensington and Hyde parks, take a walk around Picidily Circus, ride the underground, see the tower of London (take one of the Beefeater guided tours, most of the Beefeaters are amazing story tellers), St. Pauls catherdral...find out when the dome is open so you can walk to the top, its an amazing view in the cathedral and you can also go all the way to the very top, which has amazing views of the city, it is a lot of steps and they are VERY narrow though.

 

Paris has a lot to see as well, but you seem to just want info on England, Scotland and Wales for now.

This thread makes a trip sound quite intriguing.

 

To anyone knowledgeable: for a Yank like myself, has Britain become as expensive recently as mainland Europe?

I would say I am more about the journey. There are some destinations that I want to make (such as East Leake just south of Nottingham) and a couple others, but our plan is to stay off the major roads and travel some smaller ones. The plan is to limit the time per day on the road so we have time to stop whenever if we run across things unexpected.

 

For me, traveling is about seeing new things, things I wouldn't see here and seeing things that make a place uniquely it's own. The landscape, castles, cathedrals, small villages, thatch roofs, etc are the things that come to mind for me (having never been there). I am a planner and organizer (my wife says "anal-retentive" and "obsessed"), but for things like this, I try very hard to setup a loose agenda and then just flow with it.

 

The input about not seeing it all is a good reminder. Looking at a map it's easy to say "it's only an hour from here to there", but that leaves out what is in between that would be worth seeing.

 

This is why I asked the question, to get different perspectives to help me come up with a sensibly loose agenda. :)

Nate, UK prices :

 

petrol (gas) about $9 a gallon, a Canon 5D body about $2300 (after cashback) and a Big Mac about $3.88

 

so yes, quite expensive!

Yup, it's expensive, particularly eating out and accommodation. Especially so for transatlantic

visitors because the dollar has dived against the pound. Sorry 'bout that.

Best advice I can give you is to order a DK Eyewitness travel guide. It has tons of pictures and extremely helpful tips. Just make sure you get the latest edition.