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Holidays

Use our Travel forum for recommendations on everything from day trips to the best family-friendly holiday destinations.

Original poster

Child-free Christamas shopping weekend - where can you recommend?

59 replies

IndulgeMePlease · 27/10/2007 20:01

My delightful parents have offered to look after the sproglets on Sat 24th Nov so DH and I will be having our first child-free night away for over 3 years!

We are looking for:-

  • a good shopping location
  • accommodation near to centre of city/town so we can have a drink and walk back
  • restaurant recommendations
  • somewhere where we might be able to get (whispers in disbelief) 8 hours sleep - so comfy beds and a quiet location ESSENTIAL (this should have been top of the list, sod the shopping)
  • a vaguely romantic setting - we may muster the energy from somewhere...
  • within a couple of hours' drive from Birmingham, preferably.

Thanking you kindly for the deluge of hepful recommendations I am about to receive [fingers crossed emoticon]. Actually, make that [Hallowe'en amputated fingers crossed emoticon]

OP posts:
pointydog · 27/10/2007 20:03

I like York.

Original poster
IndulgeMePlease · 27/10/2007 20:07

York is beautiful, we went there for DH's 21st birthday weekend. I was thinking somewhere a bit closer to home might be better though, just in case an emergency return is needed.

I can't believe I typed 'Christamas' in the thread title. Hepful was bad enough!

OP posts:
pointydog · 27/10/2007 20:08

I'm not at all good with distances from Birmingham.

Chester?

pointydog · 27/10/2007 20:09

My sister goes there occasionally for a special shop trip - I don't know it

Marina · 27/10/2007 20:10

Oxford...with a raid on Bicester Shopping Village...tbh all the romantic destinations I can think of within a short-ish drive from Birmingham are not so great for proper shopping...Ledbury, Stratford, Ludlow
But Oxford has good-ish shops

Marina · 27/10/2007 20:10

Chester is very pretty but might be a bit far from Birmingham, esp. South side...

ScaryScienceT · 27/10/2007 20:11

Agree that York is good - it has everything within walking distance. We stayed in a very nice hotel there last year - across the river from everything, so central and quiet.

If you were interested in going by train and adding a bit to your journey, how about Lille? It supposed to be a fab shopping place, and also very reasonably priced wrt hotels and good food.

pointydog · 27/10/2007 20:14

oh I though Chester was really pretty close to Birmingham.

I'm rubbish with midlands geography

Marina · 27/10/2007 20:14

ScaryScienceT, that would be my destination too (Lille).
Great hotels and restaurants, fabulous stationery/art/bookshop, good branch of Marionnaud, huge new Galeries Lafayette just opened, Carrefour on way back to station for edible treats...

pointydog · 27/10/2007 20:14

I am the person you do not want on your thread, indulge

Marina · 27/10/2007 20:16

It might be me that's wrong though pointy. Chester's not north of Manchester is it? (clueless Southerner here). So it could only be two hours from Birmingham by road.

pointydog · 27/10/2007 20:18

Chester, I think, is southish west of Manchester

pointydog · 27/10/2007 20:18

but I am not at all sure

Marina · 27/10/2007 20:18

Voila. I like that knitting shop near the cathedral, only ever been there once though

pointydog · 27/10/2007 20:19

tell you what, indulge. How far are you from Winchester? We stopped off there when goiong on hols and it was very pretty. Quite Yorky.

ScaryScienceT · 27/10/2007 20:19

Chester is west of Manchester

Original poster
IndulgeMePlease · 27/10/2007 20:23

I do want you on my thread Pointydog, stay!

Also love Chester but I'm having trouble finding a nice hotel/B&B, I've looked on the Chester tourist-website thingy and they all look a bit...chintzy, if you know what I mean. But if that offends anyone becasue they know of some great places in Chester, please forgive me for long enough to tell me where!

Marina - tried Ludlow but they have a mediaevel festival on and everywhere is fully-booked.

Lille sounds gorgeous but beyond our budget I think...not too bloody awkward am I?

OP posts:
pointydog · 27/10/2007 20:24

Winchester then?

Original poster
IndulgeMePlease · 27/10/2007 20:24

mediaevel - what's up with me tonight? I've not even opened the wine yet.

OP posts:
Original poster
IndulgeMePlease · 27/10/2007 20:25

Going to Google Winchester and check it out...thanks!

OP posts:
sophierosie · 27/10/2007 20:33

How about Norwich - they've also got a festive fayre which looks good aswell as loads of independent shops.

TotalChaos · 27/10/2007 20:33

The Grosvenor Hotel in Central Chester is meant to be nice, can't personally vouch for it though.

Original poster
IndulgeMePlease · 27/10/2007 20:37

Aaarrrggghh, the AA Routefinder reckons Winchester is a 2h 39m drive from my house. That would probably translate into 5 hours once we've hit football traffic, stopped for a wee, got lost, argued about getting lost, stopped for another wee, etc.

Shame though, it looked very pretty. My current possibilities are Shrewsbury, Cheltenham or Stratford, but my brain is addled from trawling through websites looking for hotels (tried Ludlow, Chester, Brighton, Bath, Tewksebury) so I was hoping some fairy godparent would come on with the name and phone number of the perfect place.

Still, at least I know the precise geographical direction of Chester from Birmingham now!

OP posts:
Original poster
IndulgeMePlease · 27/10/2007 20:38

Sorry SophieRosie and TotalChaos, x-post...back to Google, ta

OP posts:
stressteddy · 27/10/2007 20:45

If you've done York, what about Harrogate or Leeds or Manchester?

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