England and Wales Spring 2026

[katiecem]

Hello,

I'm new here and hoping this post fits in with the culture here.

Who we are:
We are in our 70’s and prefer slow travel. This will be our 4th (my 5th) trip to the British Isles. We travel by public transportation, mostly trains (love trains!), buses and some taxis or private drivers. We enjoy nature, gardens, historic buildings, novelty and people watching. We prefer towns and villages to cities, (we won’t be spending any time in London on this trip). We are foodies and like to stay in areas where there are lots of good, interesting food choices close by. I have some mobility issues mostly with up and down, so hills and stairs are a bit challenging. We won’t be doing any hiking. Gentle walks mostly. We like to take an occasional small group day tour with a recommended company. We are good with any kind of weather except for heat waves .

I'm fairly far into planning a trip to England and Wales next April and May but would love any input you might have. The only places we have already been so far are Oxford and Yorkshire. FYI, planning is one of my favorite parts of a trip.

Current itinerary is:
Oxford (4 nights). I lived here for 6 months once so we will do a "memory lane" day. Other ideas so far include a city day, gardens and historical sights and a day trip to Bradford upon Avon for a canalboat excursion.
Chester (3 nights) Ideas so far include the cathedral, city walls and Roman gardens.
North Wales (5 nights). Ideas so far include a stay in LLandudno, a boat trip around Anglesey to see puffins, a Sherpa bus ride up to Snowdonia with stops along the way, Bodnant gardens.
Liverpool (3 nights). Ideas so far include mostly a Beatles focus.
Skipton (3 nights) Ideas so far include day trips to Yorkshire Dales and maybe another canal boat excursion.
Lake District (5 nights) Ideas so far include stay in Grasmere and spend time there, a Beatrix Potter half day trip, a lake excursion and/or a trip to the coast (is that too far from Grasmere for a day trip on public transport?).
Northumberland (5 nights ). Ideas so far include a stay in Berwick upon Tweed, a day trip to Durham, a Vera tour around the area starting in Newcastle, a Farne Islands day trip, Alnwick Gardens and some time on the coast (Bamburgh?).
York (4 nights) Ideas so far include York Minster, City walls, York Museum gardens, Sunday Roast at Mason Arms, a day trip on North York Moors Railway to Whitby, a day trip to Ryedale Folk Museum.
Heathrow (1 night) stay near airport and leave the next day.

Again, thanks for any input.

Katie

 

[Ian Sutton]

My gut feel is that with traveling being via public transport, dropping one base location might be sensible, to enable you to bring minimum stay length up to 4 days. Liverpool/Chester feels like the easy pair to combine, as it's so quick to get between them. For us this would be too much crammed in, but we all travel at different paces.

Durham somewhat hilly from memory, but an enjoyable place. York has plenty to see, but the coastal resorts of Whitby, Robin Hood's bay, Bridlington, Scarborough and Filey also superb. Time of year might dictate forcing them into being a base themselves, or just a day trip 'taster' from York by train.

Worth investigating coach services to Heathrow, as whilst not as comfortable / enjoyable as the train, get you there direct, and might be possible to get an overnighter / early service to get you to the airport.

 

[katiecem]

Ian,

Thanks for the input! Combining Chester and Liverpool seems like a good idea. Especially since the hotel in Liverpool is more expensive and has iffier (is that a word?) reviews. I'm going to check into this. Plus it might give us one more day in Oxford.

Katie

 

[Eleanor]

This sounds great fun with plenty of time for the different areas. Just a few thoughts...

Oxford - Have you been to Blenheim Palace? If not it is easily reached by bus from Oxford

North Wales - If in Llandudno do consider a trip up the Great Orme on the Victorian Tramway. Also make sure you stop off for the Copper Mines Have a read here.

Conwy is only a few miles away and easily reached by bus. It still retains its medieval street pattern and you can walk along part of the walls. Don’t miss the bank of latrines (toilets) built along the outside of the walls to the west of Mill Gate.

The castle is wonderful and one of my favourites - There's lots of information about it on #3 here. Plas Mawr in the centre of Conwy is a lovely restored Elizabethan Town House and well worth finding.

Skipton - don’t miss the castle and the church i also worth going into for its splendid tombs. There's a nice short walk through Skipton Woods with views of the castle.

There’s also the Embsay and Bolton Steam Railway which will take you to Bolton Abbey station. From there it is a fairly easy walk to the ruined Bolton Abbey.

Northumberland - Durham is very hilly! However there is a shuttle bus that runs from the railway station to the Market Place and up to the Cathedral, which saves the worst of the hills! You can check the current timetable here. There is also Crook Hall Gardens which is a short walk along the river from Framwellgate Bridge (the shuttle bus might also take you part of the way there.) On a warm sunny day, they are delightful and also have a cafe.

Chose a calm day for the Farne Islands Trip. After strong winds the swell can still be pretty bad for the next couple of days...

Do visit Alnwick Castle as well as the gardens. Also don’t miss Barter Books in the old station building. It is one of the largest second hand book shops in the country (and even has a model railway running round the top of the shelves.) If you have chance do try and have a peep at the dining room of the The White Swan in Alnwick. The revolving door, main staircase and fitting in the dining room (panelling, windows, mirrors and plasterwork) came from the RMS Olympia which was a sister ship of the Titanic and as opulent. When the Olympic was scrapped in the late 1930s, the then owner of the hotel bought them to install here.

York - North York Moors railway is great fun and do try and go as far as Whitby . I love Ryedale Folk Museum, but it does need to be visited on a dry day! It doesn't have a cafe but the Barn Tea room just outside the entrance to the Folk Museum is highly recommended, especially the cakes
Hutton le Hole is one of the prettiest villages in th North York Moors with a stream running down through the centre of the village.

 

[katiecem]

Eleanor,

Thank you so much for your suggestions! I'm going to copy it all into my planning document

In North Wales, the Great Orme and Conwy are in the plans. In Skipton, thanks for into on castle and church. Great tip about Durham and the shuttle bus. We have ridden the North York Moors as far as Goathland (and a walk up on the moors) but not Whitby. I'm really looking forward to that. Thanks for the tips about Ryedale and Hutton le Hole.

Katie

 

[Eleanor]

Something I should have mentioned for Oxford - The Ashmolean Museum is on nerly everyone's list, and rightly so. There's also the Pitt River's museum which doesn't get the same publicity. It is reached through the Museum of Natural History on Parks Road. It is absolutely unique and very Victorian. General Pitt rivers was a soldier as well as an archaeologist and ethnologist. During his travels, he collected 22,000 artefacts from all over the world and these formed the basis of the museum. It has since grown and is almost mind blowing to visit....