Holiday from the US (not London!)

[americaninboston]

Hello! I live in the US with my husband and our 4 year old, but we really love the UK. I'm trying to plan a trip for next August. We'd likely be flying in and out of Heathrow, but we've been to London several times and would love to go elsewhere. I'm thinking of spending 3-4 days in a small city, and 3-4 days somewhere more rural or at the beach (ideally somewhere charming / not too touristy/kitschy). Also - we'd love to do this without renting a car - a bit nervous about driving on the other side of the road!

Some ideas I had are York + Scarborough, or Oxford + Bournemouth, or Chester + Llandudno. Thoughts? Other ideas? Are these terrible ideas? Thanks you!!

Flight time from the east coast of the US is barely any longer than going from northern England to the canaries, Greece or North Africa and no one bats an eyelid about that for their annual summer holiday!

Yup! The flight to London is faster than flying to California.

Canterbury + Margate/Broadstairs/Whitstable.

I would do Oxford and the Cotswolds, then up to Scotland and some time in Edinburgh and a loch side hotel. Or Lake District.

York and Whitby are a great combo. You could easily get a bus from Whitby to Scarborough for a day. For me Scarborough is a good day trip but I wouldn’t want to stay there.

Best coast is Devon/Cornwall but tricky without a car and heaving in August

Or Chester and Anglesey - again a car would be better. visit Llandudno en route.

Devon is very accessible by train. Exeter is worth a visit and by train you can get to Exmouth Dawlish, Teignmouth Torbay, Brixham, and even Barnstaple which is north Devon. You can walk sections of the coast path, then get the train or a boat back. There are cycle paths down the river Exe estuary to both Exmouth and Dawlish. Also from Exeter you can get the bus on to Dartmoor.

Get the train to Bath for your city fix, then get the train to Tenby in Wales for a real seaside experience.
You could stop off in Bristol or Cardiff too. Cardiff has some lovely museums, especially St Fagans ( taxi ride but not far outside of Cardiff)

York is the perfect city for a 4 year old and has loads in terms of history/culture/food or just chilled out drinks by the river. Lots of green spaces and ruins to play in.

Then Whitby or, for a perfect English seaside spot, Saltburn. Both on the train. Don't go to Scarborough.

We had a great Northumberland holiday before we had a car, staying in Newcastle, Alnwick and Bamburgh - we got the train to Newcastle and then got the bus around - though our lovely B and B hosts in Bamburgh offered to give us a lift to and collected us from Lindisfarne! No idea what the buses are like 20 years later though...

The Northumberland beaches are stunning and there are great castles. I think Seahouses will probably give you the arcades/mini golf experience as well.

Fly into Manchester and go straight to Liverpool - then to Grasmere.

Pembrokeshire coast is stunning.

Chester is good because it’s such beautiful city and close to Liverpool, Manchester, clwydian mountain range, Anglesey for beautiful beaches, snowdonia. So you could get quite a range of cities, mountains and beaches within a couple of hours of travel.

edited to add- make sure if you do Chester to Anglesey that it’s not on August bank hol because the A55 is insane on bank holiday weekends

Whitby!

Your & Whitby would be doable without a car as long as you get fairly central accomodation. There are frequent fast LNER trains from London Kings Cross to York, and York's a pretty compact city where parking is a nightmare anyhow. Then get the Coastliner bus from York to Whitby - voted the most scenic bus ride in the country a few years ago.

you are desperate to see the Edinburgh festival then it’s best avoided in August as accommodation will be very expensive. Fabulous city to visit but not in August.

Liverpool is amazing and definitely worth a trip.

You could stay in Bristol which is a 20 minute train journey from Bath, You could visit the S S Great Britain and Suspension Bridge in Bristol. A day trip to Bath to see the Roman Baths and the Royal Crescent. Then so a day trip to the Cotswolds and/ or Blenheim Palace which is beautiful.

There is so much to see and do in the West Country eg see Stouhead where Pride and Prejudice was filmed or Montecute House ( Sense and Sensibility) . You could also do a day trip to Warwick Castle/ quick pop over to Stratford upon Avon.

If you are quick and efficient you might even be able to buy tickets to Highgrove gardens near Bristol but you might have to be a UK citizen - they take passport details.

Frankly all of that is a fab holiday in itself.

You could then drive to Cornwall stopping at Castle Drogo en route, In Cornwall you could see the Eden Project / Lanhydrock and any of the fabulous gardens

Take out membership of the National Trust

I think if you are going to Heathrow I would look at Oxford or Bath and then across to South Wales tfw.wales/ways-to-travel/rail/ticket-types/rovers-and-rangers

Came here to say this. There are good reasons British people head south west for holidays, and Bristol is a proper city.

Exactly what I was about to say too! Stay in Alnwick, it's beautiful. We often stay in a gorgeous cottage opposite the castle gates. Our happy place. That whole coast is stunning.

Or how about Cambridge and Southwold/Walberswick or Aldeburgh?

Edinburgh and St Andrews?

Have you looked at the Landmark Trust properties? You may have to spend on taxis if you don't want to drive, but you'll have a holiday to remember for ever.

https://www.landmarktrust.org.uk/search-and-book/

Don't stay in Scarborough or Llandudno, they're definitely not the best of the UK

Lyme Regis hasn’t been mentioned.

York and Whitby here too. You've only got a relatively short time and Cornwall is a long haul, packed in August and rubbish without a car. Rain highly likely and doesn't have as much of the amusements/minigolf etc. 3 days in York would probably be enough though. Great for a 4yo-mine loved Dig!

I do love Northumberland but the OP doesn't have ages when you factor in airport faff and might not want to keep travelling around. York, Whitby and Scarbs all doable on public transport too.

The trickiest things about a UK holiday is that there is no guarantee of summer weather- August can actually be wet and a bit rubbish. If your tied to US school holidays it might actually be better weather wise coming in June but is a bit crystal bally.

I have changed my mind about Northumberland if you have to fly into Heathrow as it's pretty much a days travel each way.

In England I would do Bristol and Bath. (They are only 20 minutes apart by train). You can then catch a train to Weymouth. However I wouldn't do it in August because its peak holiday season.

If you want to travel in August I would fly into Glasgow and then go out to the coast. Edinburgh is also nice but busy because of the Fringe Festival

Scottish school holidays run from end of June to the start of August, whereas English and Welsh run from end of July to the start of September.

And not a million miles from Heathrow