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.

Unfortunately rightly or wrongly exploring the UK is tricky without a car.
One place to think of however is York, good trains there and back, plenty to see and is cycle-friendly (you must be able to hire)

Generally though I have to say that all our UK hols- there have been a lot- have been in the car. Places like Snowdonia are just fantastic. Exploring the countryside is very difficult without, that said parking charges in popular places can be high.

If you want to be able to explore the UK one of you needs to learn to drive so that you can hire one. I know from experience that having a car in London can be impractical.

Neither of us drove until we were in our thirties. Like you, living in London it wasn’t really necessary. U.K. breaks in that time by train that worked really well were:
-Liverpool. Excellent local rail service, trains to Chester every 30 minutes at least or up to Crosby or the Wirral. Lots to see on foot in the city itself, theatres, music etc.
-Lake district. We stayed in Ambleside (bus from station), easy base for walking, ferry, lots of pubs
-Cornwall. St Ives by train, beach, gallery, lots of walks
-York. Easier to get to by train, at least 3 days worth of stuff to see in the city.
-New forest. Brockenhurst on main train line from Waterloo. Nice hotels, forest walks, cycling,
It helps if you like walking or cycling as you can obviously go further under your own steam!

As pp said if you do want to enjoy your uk holidays without a car I think you need to do a bit more planning and also remember that towns/cities in a pandemic is never going to be a good combination.
We just had a very relaxing week by the coast In Whitby. Yes we had a car but just realise it could have been doable without as there is a coastal bus service-not mega frequent but every half an hour at least. So coastal walls (getting the bus back), day trip to Scarborough etc all doable and Whitby is totally walkable.
If you don’t want to learn to drive then you need t adjust your expectations, especially in the middle of a pandemic.
UK has such amazing countryside it is definitely easiest to explore it with a car but doable, with a bit more planning, without. A real shame that you seem to not be very positive about holidaying in your own country.

Another vote for the kent coast here. The train stops at lots of lovely bays and you can looklat herne bay, whistable, margate, broadstairs. Im not sure if you can get round to dover with its castle or if you have to switch to a bus. You can also hire bikes and do the viking trail. Canterbury is a nuce day too.
But holidaying during a pandemic is different as places that would normally occupy you are shut or reduced capacity. Thats not really the fault of not having a car.

There's a back to back museum in Birmingham? How funny. I live in a back to back (in Yorkshire, not Birmingham), I didn't realise it was worthy of being in a museum!

garlictwist the Back to Backs museum is great, though I think it's closed at the moment. There are 4 houses with shared yard and each is decorated in a different era, from early Victorian to 1960s. It's National Trust - I wish they had a few more properties that focus on ordinary lives rather than stately homes.

We'd planned a holiday near Brum and had hoped to go to the B2B museum (pre Corona) as we ahd looked for local NT.

I'd never heard of Back to Backs before! I love the way they show how life used to be and didn't know people still lived in them. They can't have windows...?

Pineapple, I've just been looking at this and I think I've remembered the layout wrongly. I remembered it as 4 houses with a small shared courtyard, but the website makes it sound like there are more houses, including back to backs with an actual shared back wall and no yard.

I think I need to visit again when it reopens. Definitely one of the most interesting NT properties I've been to, along with the Southwell Workhouse.

York is lovely and lots of places nearby on railways like Knaresburgh or Whitby. Not sure what is open, normally Minster / walk the city walls / boat trips / good cafes and small shops.

I agree with a previous poster, with covid you need to do more planning before you go on holiday. You can't just rock up somewhere and assume you'll get into attractions or restaurants. You need to research and book in advance.

Likewise you need to plan to use public transport outside London as it isn't as frequent.

I think both you and your husband's lack of awareness of what outside London is like and the impact of covid on attractions and cafes is what spoilt your holiday rather than the destination.

Liverpool

Tbf most of the rest of the U.K. is nothing like Stratford upon Avon. It's a weird little time capsule with a Shakespeare premium on every possible thing.

@PerditaProvokesEnmity actually thats what attracted me to it.

I did do research beforehand and booked the attractions in stratford upon avon (shakespeare museum, tudor world etc). We usually have quite laid back holidays so i thought it would be enough and we could spend the rest of the days just walking around and eating- we do this quite a lot in nuremberg (my DH and I have been there 1000000 times, esp DH who has been there every year since in utero so we have done all the tourist stuff) but we do have a lovely time.

DH has been to the countryside before he met me, but he was a lot younger and he was ok with biking for 12 hours a day. His mother and sisters can't drive either but they manage quite well in the countryside, i think they just walk for 4 hours to get to a beauty spot, but i guess i am not willing to do that!

@PerditaProvokesEnmity they have to do things like eat instant noodles in the rain when it starts raining cos they don;'t have a car to shelter from. I guess i am less hardy?

Pineapple I live in a back to back house, it one of the last inhabited streets left in the UK. I had no. Idea either 😂😂😂

Oooh I'm interested What! Are the back rooms entirely enclosed with no windows? Bedrooms?

Pineapple, we have windows 😂😂😂

The bedroom at the back which backs onto the other house is very long, narrow and quite dark with a small window at the end.

Ours is a 3 bedroomed house which would have originally had a courtyard for the 4 houses in the square but at some point walls were put up. Each house had an outside loo too and we still have ours.

At the time it would have been a 3 double bedroomed house but at one point a bedroom was. Split to make a bathroom and boxroom. So quite nice as far as back to back houses go....... I don't know much about its history but do know from the deeds it was originally bought by a single, widowed lady in the 1880s and that at one point 4 adults and 11 children lived here. Which baffles me as my living and dining room are only about 11 ft square. 👀

I only know back to back houses are odd because a very excited town planner was telling me the history of the houses and asked to take some photos........oh and my chimney. Breast in the dining room is in a stupid place. Instead. Of being on the far wall it runs up along my staircase wall which is in the middle of the house. Our street is only tiny too, only 6 houses on my side and of course 6 hanging off the back.

I think most of the ones with shared back walls (& no back windows) have been demolished because they were considered unfit for habitation.