Just returned from 5 days in Stratford upon Avon. Longest time I have been outside London in the UK and I found it very picturesque but far more stressful than being in London

[Desiringonlychild]

The main reason is that neither DH and I drive. Its usually fine for city breaks (1-2 days) because we just mosy around the town centre and visit all the museums/attractions within walking distance and its all really lovely. However with covid, a lot of the restaurants are booked out (due to reduced capacity), a lot of the attractions are closed, so the relaxing country holiday in the shires becomes really boring unless we venture outside the town (which is hard to do without a car). the town centre and museums in stratford upon avon were fun for the first 2 days but then after a while we ran out of things to do and reverted to shopping. We had a day trip to birmingham which we did not really enjoy (apologies to all brummies!) but the roads in birmingham seems mainly built for cars

I didn't grow up in the UK. DH grew up in London. Our usual holidays are to Asia to visit my parents or European cities which almost always have better public transport than London. However with covid, we are pretty stuck in the UK. Could anyone suggest nice destinations within the UK which are good for car free Londoners with plenty to do within walking distance (we don't mind walking for hours, but not five miles to the nearest village). We enjoy sightseeing, museums, walks in parks/woods that are easily accessible by foot, good restaurants, quaint old buildings.

Also this trip has convinced me that I can't live outside London despite property prices. Its just not possible without a car.

York is easy to do by train- we did that from Birmingham

I bet the Birmingham back to backs were also closed - they really are a must see. I see what you're saying though, I'd struggle to spend 5 days anywhere in the UK without a car, except London. Not impossible, but difficult(buses) or expensive (taxis).

There are lots of lovely places outside of London where a car isn’t a necessity. In the majority of cities a car isn’t a bonus.

Bath, York, Lincoln, Leeds, liverpool, Edinburgh are all perfectly accessible without a car. As for you not enjoying Birmingham, are you sure you visited the correct place?
Birmingham is wonderful, this was on Quora only today.

“ It’s a vibrant, cosmopolitan city offering everything that London has but a whole lot cheaper.

it’s small enough to easily navigate by foot, the people are friendly, great shopping whether you like the markets for fresh foods, the bullring for all your needs or the Mailbox for your high end and luxury goods.

Michelin starred restaurants, we got em, green spaces, we got them too in fact more parks etc than any other city in Europe! Canals, yes we’ve more than Venice. Theatres, ballet, just about every cuisine you could want, china town, the NEC, the indoor arena, and the old Barclaycard arena all host plenty of concerts.

A mainline train station that’s bright, shiny and decidedly futuristic will get you to London in under two hours. Or maybe move just a few miles out of the city centre and really reap the savings! The Sandwell borough is such good vale, fancy a new build home, three bedrooms a garage, drive, garden, en-suite shower and family bathroom with change from £200k Check out this property for sale on Rightmove!

Theres nothing to dislike about Birmingham, trust me, I’ve lived just about everywhere from London to Derbyshire to Shropshire, Nottinghamshire and beyond. Brum is brill.”

You seem very hard to please. Everyone has had to adjust and lots of people have had to cancel, postpone or reschedule holidays, myself included. Stratford upon Avon is a lovely place for a weekend, I think you were expecting a lot from a small town for a five day trip.

Getting a driver’s license just to be able to drive once in a blue moon in a rental car, in unfamiliar surroundings is not a good idea. Hence she is asking about easy walking and pedestrian friendly places- and not about her (un)ability to drive. Some people are really mean. You need to be a confident driver and drive regularly to hire and drive a rental car and not be stressed 99% of the time.
Londoners don’t need a car- it’s a nuisance to own and run one in London. Not to mention driving it.
My suggestions: York, Bath, Edinburgh, Leeds (you can be based there and take day trips by train or bus to York and Harrogate and the moors. Plenty small cute towns also accessible by bus or train: ilkley, rippon etc)

Everywhere is shit just now though. And I mean everywhere. I'm in Edinburgh which has been mentioned on this thread: half the attractions are still shut, there's no festival, restaurants are complicated cos of Eat out to help out, the weather has been SHITE all month so there's no way you'd be hopping on the train to go to a beach... it's all rubbish.

Um, sorry CatSmith but I've lived in Birmingham for 25 years...and it's really not all that! And Sandwell is one of the most deprived boroughs in the UK, on a par with the most impoverished parts of Glasgow.

And yes, everything is still closed in Birmingham except shops...

It's really hard to enjoy towns with COVID because everything needs prebooking. I would rent a cottage in the country, get food delivered and go on nice walks

This is surely more of a covid issue than anything else? Most places are not exactly on top form for entertainment and holidays at the moment, car or not!

@Desiringonlychild
Agree that stratford upon avon is lovely for a weekend. i did find it very beautiful and i really enjoyed walking around the town centre. I thought my DH was going to book for 2 days but I think he got trigger happy with the premier inn rates. we paid £30 per night or even less than that so i think he allocated our usual holiday budget, hence the increased number of days.

As it was all on foot and very impromptu (when we realized it was £10 for both us to travel to birmingham via rail), its entirely possible we saw the wrong end of the jewellery quarter (most of the shops seemed closed? covid?). The museum was also closed. I liked the shopping centre a lot though, its much nicer than the ones in London and i got great buys there.

I had a lovely week in the Isle of Wight on public transport many years ago - train to Portsmouth harbour, right next to ferry. Ferry goes to Ryde right to the train at the end of the pier. Cute little train line down the east side of the island (we stayed in Shanklin), and we got buses round the rest of the island.
Doesn’t have to be a city. As long as you don’t mind a quieter/ slower pace!

@Allgreyeverything
Also and i am hoping that international travel would be allowed soon so that I can see my parents and 86 year old grandma in Asia soon (currently if i go, i have to be in a hotel under quarantine for 2 weeks). And that soon the fear of quarantine would be lifted and we can travel to Germany and see my DH's elderly grandparents and to Israel to see his sister.

Basically, I hope that UK holidays (with required driving) would not be the norm forever. I don't know what I would do if it becomes the norm! But i still want a holiday like everyone else. I can see that flying may become far more expensive in future, but I always figured that I could try to cut back by taking flights with cheaper airlines (currently use Singapore Airlines and it is pricey but for now I can afford it).

I honestly can't understand anyone who decides the middle of a pandemic is the best time to discover a new place. Seems utterly pointless.

Cities particularly. All the towns and cities mentioned have their attractions - and most of those depend on institutions located in buildings, requiring staff, maybe performers, and a critical mass of other people to make the thing fun. None of that is happening right now.

The countryside would surely be more rewarding. If you could get there ...

I second everyone else’s recommendations of Bath, Bristol, York, Brighton, Edinburgh, but if you want countryside I would highly recommend Ironbridge Gorge where I went on holiday this year. It’s basically a suburb of Telford so it’s a quick taxi ride away from that train station, but once you’re there there’s endless wood and riverside walks, lots of interesting buildings to see, loads of places to eat, and a whole bunch of museums - you can walk to all the museums if you don’t mind a bit of a hike or there are buses or taxis to speed things up.

...but not all of the museums are open right now.

Five days in Stratford! You must have seriously underestimated the size of the town. Five hours would probably be enough

Shame you didn't take the short trip to Warwick, Leamington and Kenilworth (15 miles)

Actually Edinburgh is a good recommendation op - as its often a base for international visitors wanting to see Scotland, there are from there coach trips to lots of more rural settings eg loch Ness, whiskey distilleries etc - though again probably restricted at the minute.

We’ve travelled in England without a car, but we did get buses, ferries (Lake District) or done an activity eg surfing lessons on a beach for a week. Otherwise you are restricted to city breaks. My own view is you should hire a car for a long rural break to get the most out of the countryside!

I can't drive. DH can but we don't have a car.

We take public transport to one place then explore it lots.

Pembrokeshire, the Lake District and the Hope Valley are all favourites.

I'm glad it's not just me who dislikes Stratford. I went there for a friend's 40th (she's from there) and it seemed very dull.

I remmeber meeting people in Lodnon who had never really explored the rest of England and only knew London. I'd hate to have only seen a big city or only go on holiday to shop. But I guess other people might hate exploring places as we would or don't like countryside/exploring/walks etc. would be boring if we were all the same!

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A day trip in Stratford is always more than enough for us. It is dull unfortunately.

Bristol is a good choice next time and you can pop over to bath on the train.

"The roads in Birmingham are built for cars". Er, yep.

I can't relate to this post. I am not clear how you spent your time; if sounds like you need to be endlessly entertained. We just went camping (in a car) for more than 2 weeks and only used the car to got to the supermarket. Otherwise we just knocked around the campsite. Bit of walking, bit of cycling, bit of reading. Meal or two in the only restaurant.

I know city breaks are not like that exactly but in a visit to 2 towns/cities there should be enough to keep you entertained?

(there is more than one museum in bham btw)

Other than London, after 2-3 days you will run out of things to do in any smaller place, can you drive? Rent a car perhaps or get adventurous and rent bikes, kayaks, etc. Otherwise I recommend a tour once they restart, cruises also are good for car free visiting once safe.

Ordinarily I’d agree that holidays in other cities would be the best choice for non-drivers, most cities have enough to keep someone busy for a week.

But now, with all the Covid restrictions, is a bad time for city breaks. So many of the usual attractions are closed or need to be pre-booked.

And more rural holiday locations are difficult if you can’t drive because public transport isn’t usually good out of the cities.

Something like CentreParcs might be a better idea at the minute because they’re set up for customers to do lots of activities on the site. IIRC some of the CentreParc sites are fairly near train stations.

Knew the first post would be telling the OP to learn to drive 😂. Like it's a thought that had never occurred to them or a bit of brand new information.

A lot of people don't own cars because they're expensive and impractical in London - parking permits, commuting to work, normally excellent public transport etc. And renting a car isn't always cheap.

What about visiting the Kent coast? You could town hop - visit Whitstable, Margate, Broadstairs etc.

But with patience many places are ok car free eg I went to the Shetlands and there's a comprehensive bus service, reliable but not frequent.