Anyone want to help me plan a trip through England (and either Wales or the Scottish borders)?

[englandroadtrip]

I thought I would ask the collective wisdom of mumsnet for their suggestions, for inspiration.

In the summer we'll be travelling home from France, and will be driving the whole way through England to do so. Instead of making this just the journey home, we want to stretch this out and have a look around us on the way. If you were driving from the south coast, doing three or four stopovers to do a bit of sightseeing on the way, what route would you take? We are a family of four - two adults, one teenager and one nine year old. And we like things like castles, historic towns etc. We'd be looking at staying in Premier Inns or something of that nature, rather than luxury hotels, so probably would need to do our stopovers in decent sized towns to make that realistic. But we wouldn't rule out air bnb as an option.

We'd probably be arriving in England in either Newhaven or Portsmouth, but wouldn't rule out Dover. And we could either drive the whole way through England up to Scotland and go home that way, or head to Holyhead and go home that way (our eventual destination being the north of Ireland) so really the world is our oyster!

I know that is ridiculously vague but we have done this journey a few times and always end up in the same places and I thought a bit of local inside knowledge might take us off the beaten track.

I'd look at English Heritage and Historic Scotland websites , they'll give you an idea of castles, houses, stone circles etc in areas you might want to explore.
Then google the areas you might want to stop in. You'll find other things to do and see

Thanks. We have already visited England on holidays quite a few times so we're no stranger to the English Heritage website and know that there are castles and towns all over the place that would suit us. We generally can manage to find something of interest wherever we go, we're quite low maintenance that way. But actually that's part of the 'problem' - England has got so much history and so much to see that it's hard to narrow it down.

Was thinking more that thousands of people in various parts of England must drive to France each year so maybe someone would have some suggestions based on their own previous journeys?

I know the Scottish Borders well. Good things to do - Visit Smailholm tower, Floors Castle, Bowhill, climb The Eildon Hills, vist Lochcarron mill, loads of other good walking., trip to Bamburgh, fish and chips at Eyemouth golf course club (open to all) Great train line form Tweedbank into centre of Edinburgh.

Carlisle
Last English city before Scotland
Lots of history (castle, cathedral, citadel, museum, hadrians wall)

Then continue on to Edinburgh (100 miles away)

You can buy English heritage tourist passes for a few days if you’re an overseas visitor, I believe... or join the national trust I’d you’ll be based in the uk for longer.

First: where to start. Dover Castle is apparently amazing. Portsmouth Dockyard History.

If you join the NT, somewhere like Baddesley Clinton or Kenilworth Castle (might be EH) would be a good Midlands base.

The north East of England - the big obvious ones like York and Durham but also Whitby, Fluntains Abbey, would all be great stop offs. Then up to Scotland.

Dover, then across to Stonehenge and a few days around Bath. Then north to Chester. Then across to Hollyhead.

Have you looked on Trip Advisor to see what the Americans do when they come to the UK?

I've always wanted to do a factory tour in the potteries, such as at Wedgewood (M6) or Denby (M1). Emma Bridgwater does one too.

There's plenty to do in Stratford upon Avon/Warwick and you could easily fill 2 or 3 days there. Plus Warwick Castle.

Would the DC want to go to Alton Towers? There's a fab YHA near there called Illam Hall. In fact there's a nice YHA in Stratford too.

You could stop off in the Lakes, if you were going via the M6. (Again, another YHA in Ambleside!)

Or if you're going up the other side, Durham is a nice stop over and the Premier Inn has connecting rooms (not all of them do). And you could go to Beamish, the living museum which is great.

The best castles I've been to have been in Pembrokeshire, in particular Pembroke castle. Even more interesting if you know a lot about the Tudors.

Liverpool, in particular the free museums in the Albert Docks, is well worth a few days. Amazing city and great shopping!

How exciting, I love a good road trip.

If you’re going via Dover and want to go up the A1, there’s plenty to choose from, with cathedrals, castles and probably lots of other cool stuff:

Canterbury
Cambridge
Lincoln
Harrogate
York
Durham
Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Bamburgh castle
Lindisfarne (Castle on Holy island)
Berwick-upon-Tweed
Edinburgh
then over to
Glasgow
down to
Ayr
and on to the port at
Cairnryan.

The English Heritage pass sounds like a great idea. I wonder when they say overseas do they literally mean that anyone who has to cross the sea to get to England is eligible? Or are they using it as shorthand to mean non UK? I was reading the website and it wasn't actually clear. I don't have a UK passport, so even though my address is in the UK, the ID I'd be providing to confirm that I am who I say I am would be an Irish passport...

I'm already a National Trust member and I remember last time I was in England thinking that all the best stuff fell under English Heritage!

Portsmouth
Bath
Bristol
Chester
Conwy (Bodnant Garden)
Holyhead

Newhaven
Brighton
Cambridge
Stamford
York (Fountains Abby)
Whitby (Staithes, Robin Hoods Bay)
Alnwick (Cragside
Edinburgh (If August will be fesival, great but ver busy and might be hard to find accomodation)
Glasgow

Portsmouth
Bath
Bristol
Chester
Keswick
Galloway Forest Park

Take a look on Lonely Planet and the Rough Guide - they have listed itineries for various parts of the country so that overseas visitors can cram the most in a week or so. Just pick the best/most convenient bits for yourself.

It sounds like a great idea: I am slightly envious!

Hi, we've driven from Northumberland to France and Northumberland to Cornwall a few times. I would recommend stopping at Folkestone or Brighton after the ferry, then Bath, York or Newcastle. If you were then venturing further North , Bamburgh would be a great stop off point (Bamburgh Castle, Alnwick Castle, Cragside and Wallington Hall all within an easy drive). X

If your coming near Wales,Monmouth and Raglan are lovely historic towns with castles etc. Also got the Raglan Lodge very basic but lovely clean rooms, normally £39 for the night on booking.com

Thank you everyone. Loads to consider here, some great ideas. I'm sitting with about ten websites open and google maps, having a great time imagining my travels. I do love a road trip

If you are going to go through sussex visit Arundel Castle, it is the home of the Duke of Norfolk and well worth a visit.