UK Top Ten 'Must Sees'

[Gingernuts]

My wife and I are lucky enough to be heading off to Europe in about 4 months and are planning to spend nearly 4 weeks driving around England/Scotland. It's the first time we've been there and could quite possibly be the last (hopefully not, but you never know what life throws at you!).

I gather from various discussions that many of you have travelled and/or lived there, and I would love to get a few 'top tens'. Don't want to get home and realise the we missed something we really shouldn't have!

[JAS]

There's so much...what are you likes and dislikes?...some love the countryside some prefer the city stuff others prefer the history etc

I'd suggest you don't necessarily follow the herd and hit everything touristy. If it's a 'once in a lifetime' try and make it relevent to you both...eg if you love a specific soccer team then put their ground in your top ten or if the wife is addicted to something like Coronation Street then you can visit the set.

That sort of thing would be far more personal to you both and more memorable.

If you want any help hunting down info on anything then feel free to give me a shout.

I also put together a list of (hopefully) useful websites for bomber1976's travel forum...
http://travelbounty.forumotion.com/uk-h ... es-t23.htm

Regards
JAS

[Il Duce]

Agreed with Jas, When I went to the UK and Europe as a historian I try to hit every historical site (that i wanted to see) I could and being a football/soccer nut, I tryed to go to as many games in as many diffrent grounds as I could.

[Squawk]

In no particular order, a few suggestions:

1. A game of Premier League - just for the atmosphere alone. If you like the game, it's a bonus!
2. Tour of Lords - includes Real Tennis Courts which is a very unusual court.
3. Tour of Wimbledon
4. Stonehenge
5. The Yorkshire Dales and the Lake District
6. The Guinness Factory in Dublin
7. JAS
8. Tower of London
9. Windsor Castle
10. The Cabinet War Rooms

[therisingblues]

I've been on the tour of Lords also, and saw the unusual tennis courts. They were inside from memory, and the guide said something about Henry the VIII playing on similar courts I think.
I recommend the Lakes District. It is magic, everything that we (who come from a dry country) dream about. mountains, valleys, forests, rivers, creeks, lakes, mist, buildings hundreds of years old all interwoven with these narrow little roads and bridges which are bordered by these quaint little walls, built from natural rocks and stones gathered from around the lakes by locals hundreds of years ago. There's a real feeling of not knowing what's out there when driving through the lakes district.
Not far from there, I remember a road that starts innocently enough in a small town with houses on either side, and then it just goes up and up and up a mountain, as you climb it you see some of the most amazing scenery Britain has to offer (from my limited perspective anyway).
I cannot remember the name of the road, and when I visited there in about 1985 there was no real big sign to alert people to what lay up that particular road. We were lucky in that we knew a couple of locals who tipped us off. There are probably many roads that fit the description I have given, so if I asked a Scot (ie JAS) is she knew the road, she would probably reply with "Which one?" All I remember is that it started in a town North of the Lakes District, and that it eventually ran up a very tall mountain.

[JAS]

In no particular order, a few suggestions:

7. JAS

There are far more interesting ancient monuments to visit than that one

I cannot remember the name of the road, and when I visited there in about 1985 there was no real big sign to alert people to what lay up that particular road. We were lucky in that we knew a couple of locals who tipped us off. There are probably many roads that fit the description I have given, so if I asked a Scot (ie JAS) is she knew the road, she would probably reply with "Which one?" All I remember is that it started in a town North of the Lakes District, and that it eventually ran up a very tall mountain.

Which one?

It's been many, many years since I visited the Lakes and yes I think there'd be a few little back roads like that..for gods sake check before trying any of them if you have a caravan in tow...not only extremely steep but almost nowhere to turn round if it's a deadend. The Lake District is actually closer to JohntheClaret's neck of the woods than my adopted home so he might know it but looking at a road map my best guess for somewhere north of the lakes and high is Skiddaw or Saddleback just outside the town of Keswick.

If you're into history or just curious then another idea might be to see if either yours or your wifes family/ancestors were originally from the UK and have a look at where they were from or if you live somewhere that's named after a place in the UK take a look and see the original.

Regards
JAS

[Dutchy]

Lords
London Tower
London Eye
St Andrews
Loch Lomond
Loch Ness
Scottish Highlands and the small towns
Ed Castle

Thats all I can remember off the top of my head and we were only there for 5 days, but loved all of the above

[Dirko]

Most have been mentioned, but I saw the Edinburgh Military Tattoo, and it was fantastic !

Also if there for the summer, Cricket, at Lords.

I saw U2 at Wembley and that was fun, so try and catch a concert there if one is on.

[Gingernuts]

Some great suggestions here guys, thanks!

I'm a bit of a history buff and am currently reading up on my British history in prep to give me some idea of the historical sites that a worth a look.

Must get out to Lords, I will be there over summer so I might even be able to catch a day of a test match (not that the missus would be too happy about that! lol).

Thanks for the link to bomber's forum too JAS, I remember him plugging it and was going to check it out.

[Pseudo]

My exposure to the UK has been limited to London, Edinburgh and Glasgow so I couldn't do a full ten "must see" list, but here's a start.

London:
Natural History Museum. One of the best.
British Museum - if only for the Egyptian collection which is massive.
Camden Markets. Imagine the Brickworks but full of interesting stuff and as big as a suburb.

Edinburgh:
The Castle. There's a lot to see within, one could spend most of a day up there. Would be worth walking the royal mile to get there. Plenty of attractions to see on the royal mile.
The Real Mary King's Close. A tour underneath a building through the remains of the tenements which were built over. My kind of fun.
Calton Hill - worth the climb for the vistas over Edinburgh, but there are a few things to see at the top.

Glasgow:
Several museums, all of which are top notch.
The Barras. I am a sucker for markets. (See "Camden Markets" above)

[Dirko]

Camden Markets. Imagine the Brickworks but full of interesting stuff and as big as a suburb.
Edinburgh:
The Castle. There's a lot to see within, one could spend most of a day up there. Would be worth walking the royal mile to get there. Plenty of attractions to see on the royal mile.

Camden Markets are indeed good. The Royal Mile pub crawl = first class !

[zipzap]

As a Beatles nut I absolutely loved Liverpool. There are lots of big tourist operators there but we were lucky enough to find this guy who runs a small business, taking 5 or 6 people around in a Tarago, stopping off at all the usual sites and plenty of interesting, less well-known ones. He was very passionate and knowledgeable - a really intimate experience.

[Gingernuts]

Hmmmm. Just did a web search and apparently Australia will be playing in some ODI's and a 3 test match series against Pakistan while I am over there. Convincing the missus could be a problem but!

[Booney]

So Fanta Pants, have you narrowed it down to your top 100 UK sites to visit?

[Gingernuts]

So Fanta Pants, have you narrowed it down to your top 100 UK sites to visit?

Yep - might see if I can hit up the boss for another 9 weeks.

[gadj1976]

My knowledge is somewhat dated - going back to 1995, however I'll put my two cents forward.

Loch Ness was the biggest waste of time IMO. Nothing there except a lake and a gift shop.

Also, Penzance.....thought we'd see SOMETHING there (along the thread of the Pirates theme)... NADA, nothing, diddly.

Edinburgh was much better than Glasgow, so I'd put that on my list. If you happen to go during the comedy festival that'd be even better.

Others in no particular order:

Lords
Wimbledon
Stonehenge
Ireland (in general), in particular Dublin, Limerick
Wales (in general), just try and strike up a conversation with a local in a pub or coffee shop - it's a great laugh trying to understand them!
Durness & Tongue (Tongue in Scotland is the coldest place I've ever been to)
Madame Tussauds
I also enjoyed the Blackpool Leisure park/beach as well. Good for rollercoasters etc.
Buckingham Palace
Just read someone else's post about Liverpool and heartily agree. Liverpool is fantastic even if you are like me, not THE biggest Beatles fan.
St Andrews was fantastic to see in 'real life'.

[Rik E Boy]

I would take in the Black Museum at Scotland Yard.

regards,

REB

[SABRE]

Loch Ness was the biggest waste of time IMO. Nothing there except a lake and a gift shop.

You have to get there at feeding time.

[JAS]

Loch Ness was the biggest waste of time IMO. Nothing there except a lake and a gift shop.

You have to get there at feeding time.

Hey...stop picking on my local celebrity.

Gadj the clue was in the name...Loch = lake...can't say the Jocks didn't give you a hint

Loch Ness (like any other) looks lovely in a sunny day. Urquhart Castle (on the banks) is quite a nice ruin and the 'booze cruise' boat trip can be fun in good weather. If you want 'chocolate box' pretty then Loch Lomond is probably better and more crowded.

Hmmmm. Just did a web search and apparently Australia will be playing in some ODI's and a 3 test match series against Pakistan while I am over there. Convincing the missus could be a problem but!

Maybe a compromise you could both live with would be agreeing to spend one day doing whatever you want (ie cricket) in exchange for her getting one day doing whatever she wants (with no whining/sulking from you) I reckon that would be fair.

Regards
JAS

[gadj1976]

Gadj the clue was in the name...Loch = lake...can't say the Jocks didn't give you a hint

Loch Ness (like any other) looks lovely in a sunny day. Urquhart Castle (on the banks) is quite a nice ruin and the 'booze cruise' boat trip can be fun in good weather. If you want 'chocolate box' pretty then Loch Lomond is probably better and more crowded.

Yeh, I knew the bit about the loch, but I also expected SOMETHING else to be there (ie, not just water, a "ness" (more like emptiness) and a gift shop). We drove for what seemed hours to spend a whole day travelling and looking through a gift shop! Just disappointing, that's all.

Scotland is a top place overall, and thoroughly recommend going to Loch Ness there during feeding time (thanks Sabre) but circa 1995 it wasn't what we expected.

Agree, Loch Lomond was nice(r). Didn't see nor hear of the booze cruise. I mean, it was May, so it was heading into the good weather. I think the day we were there it was at least 8 or 10 that day!