Fairly recently, one of my U.S. friends asked me for recommendations of places to visit, when he comes to the UK for two weeks or so. I put together a list, and think it may be of interest to others who are planning to visit the UK. Obviously, there’s a lot more to do here than one can do in two weeks, but I gave a lot of suggestions so as to provide a good range of options!
As for places to see, Sarah and I love local food, beautiful scenery and architecture, history, and some luxury and relaxation on our vacations. We like to hike moderately as well, and I'd love to get into the English countryside.
See the list at the end.
We must tour castles, maybe stay in one.
Well there’s lots of castles! I list some further down.
I don’t know if you can stay in any- English Heritage might be a good place to begin a detailed search.
Edit: Thornbury Castle in Gloucester has 25 bedrooms and costs about £128 -presumably, per night- for B&B, but costs may rise by the time you visit the UK.
I'd love to see old country houses--any biographical tour type things for C.S. Lewis or Tolkien?
I don’t know, but a Google search might help. They were based in Oxford, weren’t they? There’s a castle there, and the city’s worth visiting anyway! I imagine that there must be something about them- eg. about The Inklings.
[Damn; just realised I haven’t included any country houses here.]
I'd love to see ancient battle sites, learn a little more history.
Most battle sites are likely to be long-ploughed fields, but may have information centers nearby. In any case, Hastings and Evesham had two important battles. In Evesham, Simon de Montfort was killed by the forces of Edward (later Edward 1st).
My Dad suggested visiting “Battle” (yes, that’s a place!), near Hastings (in Kent); he also suggested that you might like the Brighton Pavilion, built during the Georgian era.
See Catholic cathedrals.
At first I thought there weren’t any, following Henry VIII’s actions. For catholic cathedrals, France/Italy/Spain are a better bet. But if you’re interested in modern ones, there are some in the UK, because they were all built in the latter half of the 20th century. Eg, Liverpool (nicknamed “Paddy’s Wigwam”, because of its design). BTW, the Liverpool one is on a big hill not far from the Protestant cathedral, and the two universities. It’s also not far from the Everyman Theatre, which has a great vegetarian café in the basement. Even if you’re not vegetarian, you’ll still enjoy the food! Liverpool also has- of course!- the Beatles Bus Tour (which starts at the docks) and The Cavern, and one interesting location- Williamson’s Tunnels- which I don’t know if is a tourist site is the following. Apparently, in the 19th-century, a rich merchant surnamed Williamson built a series of tunnels under the city, and nobody knows why!?!
Liverpool is also about an hour/two hours drive away from the Lake District, if you wish to walk there.
There’s also a Catholic cathedral in London as well (don’t know its name or where, though).
Isn't there some sort of tourist thing being developed for Harry Potter? I know Orlando, Florida was working on a theme park, and I thought you had something there.
At King’s Cross Station (north London), platform 9 ¾ has a sign and half a trolley sticking out of the wall. I think the latter was put in because some tourists tried running into the wall! (rolls eyes!) Of course, I might be mistaken about the latter point!
But I’ve still got no idea about that one! Maybe there will be more news in the future.
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Here’s a list of recommendations, aside from places noted above; note that I’m assuming you’ll be hiring a car at some point!
Places that might interest you in London:
The Museum of London would probably interest you; it’s not too far from (and north of) St. Paul’s Cathedral, which you should also see.
Charing Cross Road (at the other end of Oxford Road) has lots of second-hand book shops. At the southern end of C.C. Road, you can easily get to Leicester Square (and then it’s a short distance to Piccadilly Circus), or Trafalgar Square (which is very near the National Gallery, National Portrait Gallery, and St. Martin’s in the Fields [a church you might like]).
The Natural History Museum and the Science Museum
The London Eye/Parliament Square (for Parliament). These are just across the river from each other. You can enter the public galleries of the House of Commons and/or the House of Lords if the queues aren’t too long.
The Tower of London.
Buckingham Palace. You might enjoy a walk through St. James’ Park, too (which is near the Palace), and is has ducks, black swans, geese, and pelicans in the lake.
You could also see one or two shows, but it makes sense for you to look at what’s on closer to your trip. (The Globe theatre is in London, too.)
And of course, there’s hundreds (thousands ?) of good restaurants in London.
Just a bit different:
You can get a boat ride up the Thames.
Visiting the Thames Barrage (I don’t know if this is a tourist attraction).
Imperial War Museum
Cabinet War Rooms
Harrods and Harvey Nichols are two very “posh” department stores in Knightsbridge.
Liberty’s, just off Regent Street has lots of nik-naks, and is very olde-worlde in style; your wife would love it, I’m sure, and maybe you too!
Just outside London, there are Hampton Court (Henry VIII’s chief residence, after he took it from Cardinal Wolsey), Windsor Castle, and Dover Castle. The last castle is in Kent- which also has Canterbury- and aside from the medieval aspect has been well used, even during World War II!
Places that might interest you in the North:
York itself has a great (Protestant) cathedral. There’s also The Shambles, an area of cobbled streets and Tudor buildings that you can wander around. There is Jorvik, a famous Viking museum.
Not far from York is Leeds, which has the National Armoury (and the other branch of Harvey Nichols in the UK, if the Armory doesn’t appeal to Sarah!). York also has the National Railway Museum, if that appeals.
Near York, you have the Yorkshire Dales and the North Yorks Moors, if you wish to do some walking there.
Chester, in the north-west (not far from Liverpool) has lots of medieval architecture. The majority of its medieval city walls can still be walked round.
Places that might interest you in South Wales and Southern England:
Caerphilly Castle (north of Cardiff) was one of the last traditional castles to be built in the UK, and thus the flower of castle design. It was never attacked, although I’m not sure how much stands now. Apparently it’s also the second biggest castle in the UK (after Windsor Castle), and has a famous leaning tower.
Caerleon (north of Newport) has a Roman site and the best-preserved amphitheatre in the UK; this place isn’t too far from Caerwent- another Roman site, either.
Cardiff is great for several reasons. Cardiff Castle was re-built as a kind of major folly by a rich nobleman (the Marquess of Bute, IIRC) two centuries or so ago, and is very baroque. On the grounds there are remains of a Norman castle, and there’s a small amount of preserved Roman Walls, too. Cardiff is also where Doctor Who and Torchwood are filmed. At Cardiff Bay- an area you may be aware of- a barrage was build across the old harbour. It’s down there that you can see the pillar above the Torchwood base (in the story, anyway), and the bay also has lots of restaurants and the Norwegian Church that Roald Dahl went to when he was a child.
It’s also not too far from the Brecon Beacons- another possible site for walking.
Across the river Severn, in England, there is Bath- which has some amazing Georgian buildings, and the Roman baths, of course! It’s also near Stonehenge.
Gloucestershire is very close to the above places. Also in that county is Slimbridge, a famous wildfowl centre.
In Bristol there are the Clifton Suspension Bridge, and the S.S. Great Britain, the first steelclad ship and also first steam-ship in the world. Overall, I don’t really rate Bristol much though!
In Warwickshire, there’s Stratford-upon-Avon, and Warwick Castle. (Note that the second “w” is silent in those words!)
You might also be interested in Snowdonia (in north-west Wales) and/or the Lake district for walking.
Well, that’s probably enough to keep you going! If you need more suggestions, just ask.
I’m sure that there are lots of websites about accommodation in the UK.
Tip: If you are going round the country it might be a good idea if they join English Heritage and Cadw as visitors as it will save you a fortune in admission fees. Also lots of museums are free if you are short of money places like St pauls and the eye etc in London would soon eat into your budget.
