We loved Bath, now where should we go to escape the Olympics (first week in August)

[reshetima]

We have one DS, soon to turn 14. We love museums, bookshops, modern craft galleries (well not my son in the case of the latter.. but he'll be reasonably patient). We're looking for a town or city with lots of visual culture, historical interest etc. Ideally we'd want to be near to the sea or at least somewhere scenic. We're not at all outdoorsy (if you hadn't worked that out already). Two of us are vegetarians. We had a good time in Bath last year. Have 'done' Oxford, I will have visited Edinburgh in July, otherwise that'd be an option. Have been loads of time to Cornwall, which we loved (although loathed the long drive down from south Hertfordshire). Any ideas? Many thanks!

York would be great! Lots of nooks and crannies to explore and plenty of things from your wish list including scenic area.

Many thanks ginpalace I had York as an option at the back of my mind! Do you know of a good place to stay? Not to noisy and walkable to the centre?

Sorry I don't - I'm close enough to do day trips.

However I have used LateRooms.com often for many other trips and find the site very user friendly with usually very helpful reviews which often mention if noise is an issue. I have never booked somewhere through them and not got what I expected. So I would make that my first port of call. Their call centre (if you need it for any reason) is in Manchester and the staff are helpful too.

P.s on that website you get the official star rating but also the guest rating too and can sort the list order by either so you can bring up the highly recommendeds to the top to easily pick a good'un.

That's really helpful, thanks. Now DH has misgivings about the length of the journey so will put on 'maybe' list. Chatting with a friend about this just now: she suggested (on the theme of former Roman towns): Chichester. Off to look at laterooms.com.

Why not try Beverley? - York is a 50 min drive but you also have historic Beverley and the coast is just 12-15 miles away so you get the best of both worlds. There are plenty of free museums and some you pay for, the stately homes are great and Beverley is a lovely market town with lots of great places to eat. This website has a lot of info on the area
www.broadgatefarmcottages.co.uk/guide-to-beverley-yorkshire.html

We went to David Hockey at the Royal Acadamy and 80% of the works on display were of East Yorkshire

Have you thought about Norwich and Norfolk? Norwich is beautiful with lots of medieval buildings and churches, the cathedral is wonderful. It's about a 30 - 40 min drive to superb beaches all round the Norfolk coast. There are lots of country houses to visit and the weather in August can be superb.

Sadly I think that we're going to have to move away from the area but we're already planning to come back for holidays.

The north east! Durham and Newcastle both have great museums, places to explore and stuff to see and the Northumberland coastline is stunning.

What about Cheltenham and Gloucester? Or Chester?

Thanks cer100 and Cairnterrior. Norwich is interesting option. Not too far from Hertfordshire and lots of coastline within reach of an urban area. I like the thought of going into Swallows and Amazons land and might be persuaded onto a boat tour if the Norfolk Broads...

... and thanks everyone who's posting! This is my first initiated post and I'm overwhelmed by how many responses I'm getting!

You're v welcome! Oh and just a thought if you fancied a more 'touring' type of holiday, Orford on the Suffolk coast is lovely for a mooch around and Aldeburgh has lots of arty crafty type things and a modern art gallery. Burnham Market ( in Norfolk) is also good for galleries although can be pricey and get there early if you want to park! It's known as Chelsea-on-Sea for a reason and DH is pretty happy sitting with a pint in the sunshine car spotting .