Wildiris Posted April 29, 2015 Share Posted April 29, 2015 Traveling with kids. What should we see/do? We have about 2.5 weeks. Must be in Scotland by the first week of September. Driving? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumto2 Posted April 29, 2015 Share Posted April 29, 2015 My first questions when I read this are where are they flying into and how much of your time will be in Scotland? Driving will mean that you can see more of the country outside of London in general but if you really don't want to trains will work. Make sure that you buy a family rail card. August is when all the schools are out so lots of children's activities at historic sites. Becoming a member of English Heritage or National Trust (Scotland has a version of this that is reciprocal) will keep costs down. London activities have had a lot of posts in recent months so i will skip. Holiday house rental are money saving but tie you to an area for a week. Premier Inns work great for a family of 4, Tons of great historic homes and sites on the drive up the M1 to Scotland. Favorites include (if you drive): Hardwick Hall.....Malfoy Manor in HP films Bolsover Castle....the view, and some great wall paintings. Always has good activities. Brodsworth Hall....a historic house in decline. purposely not renovated, restored to show how the family lost their funds. York.....train museum, walled city, cathedral, museum, Yorvik, list goes on.... Whitby (detour but great) .....lovely coastal village, Bram Stoker ties, good fossel hunting in the area Fountains Abbey...spectacular site, world heritage site, Locted by Ripon which is lovely. Richmond....Good town and Castle Well that's a start. Also driving through Bronte Country and James Herriot areas. I could go on and on. Lots to see and do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted April 29, 2015 Share Posted April 29, 2015 Things to remember about driving in Britain: those short distances can actually take a long time, because the country is so crowded; petrol is very expensive (about £1.10 a litre on average - I forgot to check this week); talk to me about speed limits, because they are often not posted; be sure that you are confident on the rules for roundabouts. Be very, very careful of the M1. Last time I drove it (October last year) it was in the midst of year-long road works. Get some up-to-date information before you attempt it..... A non-driving route might be London with day trips by train to Bath (Roman remains plus Jane Austen) and Oxford. Then train to York (see PP's description) then on up to Edinburgh. What kind of things are you interested in seeing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumto2 Posted April 29, 2015 Share Posted April 29, 2015 Agree with Laura about driving rules and understanding roundabouts. Knowing the basics is very important. Dh normally drives and I navigate when we leave our familiar area. It takes two of us to keep track of speed signs when on small roads, sat nav is not always up to date. The M1 always has roadworks, we live by it and are very used to them because they are constant. Just wanted to add that there are several great things to see by train also. I got a bit carried away with my favorites on the drive up the M1. Bath is lovely and very train accessible. London is several days depending on interests. Oxford works well also. The train up to Scotland could also include a stop in Lincoln fairly easily. Beautiful Cathedral, Castle, roman ruins, and some interesting shops. Lincoln is a day, not days. York could be days. I have friends who drive to York and take the train to Whitby...steam train, I think. They love it. Durham could be another stop by train northwards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lailasmum Posted April 29, 2015 Share Posted April 29, 2015 Have you got any particular interests?There's so much to do. A national trust membership could be worthwhile. I live right down in the Southwest and it's a lovely area, tons to but I wouldn't recommend coming down here on your timescale unless you flew to Newquay first and worked your way up to Scotland. Doing that though could give you a broader taste of the UK. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melinda in VT Posted April 29, 2015 Share Posted April 29, 2015 On our first trip to Great Britain, we flew into London, stayed in Bath, the Cotswalds, North Wales, the Lake District, Edinburgh, York, and London. Except for the York-London portion, DH drove. Our favorite areas were Bath, North Wales, Edinburgh, and York. (We spent time in the south of Wales on a later trip, and also really enjoyed that area.) DH did find (re)learning how to drive a stick shift while driving on the "wrong" side of the road to be . . . interesting. It made the first few days of the trip less enjoyable for him, but by day four it was no longer causing him stress. (DH had had very little experience driving a stick shift before that trip, but in Europe, rental cars with automatic transmission are generally twice as expensive as ones with stick shift, in our experience.) What ages are your kids? When I'm trip planing, I like to build variety into our plan. So, I try to find sites from a variety of historical times--prehistoric, Roman, Middle Ages, Georgian, Industrial Revolution, WWII, etc. I try to find different types of sites (museums, monuments, castles, ruined castles, great houses, open-air folk museums). Because our kids were little on our family trips to Great Britain, I also liked to use different types of transportation (bus with a tour guide when in a city, boat trips, train rides, taxi rides, etc.). Hmm. This is making me think we need another trip. ;-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loesje22000 Posted April 29, 2015 Share Posted April 29, 2015 Vindolanda, An archeological sit with Roman sites. Minimus lived there ;) And it gives good background for Eagle of the Ninth (Sutclif) One can drive along the wall and visit some musea or just enjoy the area. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harriet Vane Posted April 29, 2015 Share Posted April 29, 2015 The others have given great suggestions. I will just add that the Tower of London is one of my favorites. The Beefeaters make the tours memorable. When we were in the UK, we visited Stratford-upon-Avon and enjoyed it. It is very, very commercialized, though, so in some ways it feels like a trip to a Disney set. However, as someone who adores Shakespeare, I really liked being able to see the town and browse the museums. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FriedClams Posted April 29, 2015 Share Posted April 29, 2015 We just got home from 10 days in England. We rented a canal boat from Anderson Boats in Middlewich. I HIGHLY recommend them and the boat. It was a blast, super relaxing, and a great way to see England. We went to Chester and Nantwich, which were both beautiful. After turning the boat in we went to see friends and went to Avebury Manor, and did a drive by Stonehenge. After Avebury, we didn't see the need to pay for Stonehenge (and you can't get very close anyway). Anyway, I highly recommend the canal boat as a great way to see England, eat at pubs, and meet locals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JFSinIL Posted April 29, 2015 Share Posted April 29, 2015 My kids would love to take the Harry Potter tour http://www.wbstudiotour.co.uk/ I watched a documentary on the Tower of London (and the training to be a guide there) and would LOVE to see it, too. Take me with you? Pretty please? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted April 29, 2015 Share Posted April 29, 2015 Vindolanda, An archeological sit with Roman sites. Minimus lived there ;) And it gives good background for Eagle of the Ninth (Sutclif) One can drive along the wall and visit some musea or just enjoy the area. Yes - if you are driving up, then taking in Vindolanda on Hadrian's wall (and walking the wall a bit) is a great idea. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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