I want to go away for the weekend in England

[TrillianAstra]

No children.

Cheap.

Maybe a nice city we could walk about and have lunch etc?

Not walking/outdoor activities of any kind because it is November.

Not West Country because then we would have to go see my family.

What's nice?

Canterbury is nice

Chester

Shrewsbury

Bury St Edmunds

Where do you live - you don't want to go too far if its just for the weekend, but a bit further than you would go for a daytrip.

If northerly, Lincoln or York.

If you choose Bury St Edmunds, you can hope that one of the family asks, 'why Bury St Edmunds'.....

'cos he's dead'

Don't live in the North but willing to drive as far as York, maybe not as far as the Lakes (plus see note above on it being November).

What is nice about these places?

Chester is a lovely city - very pretty, good shops, nice cathedral, lots of lovely places to eat & drink. Plenty of hotels of varying prices.

We recently stayed at the Crowne Plaza - central, pretty reasonably priced, nice spa etc.

chester is my favourite

Lots to do, you can wander around the walls and the rows - it has great shopping and good places to eat and drink.

Chester is pretty, compact, river, nice old buildings, some good restaurants. No theatre or cinema though. York is a bigger version of Chester but with cultural stuff as well.

York - several museums/Jorvik, Minster so there's plenty of indoor stuff if the weather is foul - oh, and the train museum.
City walls to walk round if its nice.

oh - just realised you said 'no children' but we used to do those things when we lived near york pre-DD

Lincoln - cathedral etc, interesting shops (vg specialist tea/coffee), humungouns pie shop

York is lovely - Do a tour of the Minster it is fascinating 9if you like that kind of thing), Yorvik is ok but the horror dungeons are fab! good shopping too (not at the horror dungeons obv).

Dp has just said that if we go to Chester his mum will wonder why we don't go on and visit her.. so York it is.

Know any nice B&Bs? Or hotels?

right in the centre

There's lots to do in York. We used to go quite often, but it's not cheap unless you're into steam trains! The National Railway Museum is still free I think. I've spent many happy hours there with DH and 5 DS.

Looks beautiful but did you notice where I used the word 'cheap'?

All the touristy places are expensive.

They charge to go into Lincoln Minster too.

How about Birmingham....good for shopping, and it is our second city!

Or may be Newark, Stamford,....they may be better in the summer.

Leicester, Nottingham, Coventry. Not touristy maybe but they do have restaurants and museums.

Ah....yes it is a bit pricey....I think you'll have the usual suspects like travelodge, etc nearby.

Shame, I was rather hoping you would say 'oh yes my auntie runs a lovely little B&B and it's not too expensive but just lovely'

York is lovely, quaint little shops (as well as usual high street stuff), lots of restaurants/bistro's

Windsor - Travelodge right in the middle of the shopping centre (opp Castle), weatherspoons for cheap meals.Nice and clean, quaint shops, boat ride on Thames

Shamelessly bumping for evening people... :)

Lincoln is actually pretty cheap. And lovely.

How cheap do you need?

The Lincoln hotel is right next to the cathedral, so really pretty location. From the website it looks like 175 for a double B&B for two nights ... but I am sure that you could find B&B for 30pppn somewhere else. The lincoln hotel evening meals are a little bit pricey but there are lots of cafes near.

You have to pay for the castle, but the cathedral is free if you go after 4.30pmish. But I would definitely say that the 6 entry to the cathedral is worth it, you can go on a roof tour and potter around the cathedral for ages/look at where they filmed the da Vinci code etc.

Museum of lincolnshire life is free, and quite entertaining in an old fashioned history kind of way and the tea cakes in the tea shop there are only 60p.

Try to stay "up hill" not "down hill" as it is prettier.

Alternatively if you are in Lincolnshire and have a car then a really fascinating day is to potter around all the RAF history sites from the second world war.

Lincoln is worth a visit. It was a regular day out place for us when the DC were younger and really into castles etc. Tend to go for the Christmas market now. Nottingham is pretty good too. The castle and caves are interesting, as is the Trip to Jerusalem pub.

How about Oxford ? Lovely city - pretty, good shopping, good places to eat & drink, plenty of culture.

We have stayed in the Four Pillars Oxford Spires which is pretty reasonable and a lovely 15 minute stroll along the river into the city centre

We had such a good time in Chester

Have now booked for York but will remember this for future excursions. DP ws sold on York because you can do a tour of the brewery

Staying here if anyone is interested, £170 for 2 nights.