By Australian road trip standards, England is easy, right? The country is only a few hours from top to bottom, isn’t it? Ah, well. I’ll stop you there. Yes, there is less territory to cross. But there are a few things it’s best to first be aware of. Once you’re sorted out, enjoy the wonderful sights – there are so many!
First thing – the car
Okay, first up – my mistake. I booked to collect the car first thing on Easter Friday. I knew we’d be in for a wait when I saw the line of other people waiting for their reservations practically spilling out of the office. Public holiday. Great. We did catch a break once we finally got to the front of the line – an upgrade was available. Adam insisted we take it, and I can see why: we got a nice big Peugeot that he could actually fit into, instead of the WV Golf I’d gotten. It had an added bonus because the Peugeot had a GPS. We bought a map of Great Britain in Australia, which I knew within 5 minutes would be absolutely USELESS. The road system is quite bamboozling.
Tip: If you’re renting a car, get one with a GPS. You’ll thank me.
One caveat to that tip, however: if you’re familiar with GPS’s, you’ll know they’re not all created equally. Ours got us by, but it was somewhat outdated and sometimes wanted to send us on a way that was clearly no longer the most direct route. You also had to learn its quirks – if there was a turnoff coming up you weren’t taking, such as the left hand turn you see below, it would tell you to ‘bear right’ – which is saying the exact thing as ‘just keep going’. It would be less distracting if it said nothing at all!
We were on the road for a little more than a week and I’ve plotted our course on the map below. I’ll outline each of the stopping points with a mini description.
1. Stonehenge & 2. Bath
Google Maps told me Stonehenge was a little over two hours from where we were picking up our rental car. In the end, it took over five hours to get that. THAT’S Easter traffic! It was still lined up late in the afternoon – the highway goes right past Stonehenge (you can get a view driving past). Yuk. But Stonehenge was good. Freezing! You have to park a long way off and either walk up to the site or catch the shuttle bus. They are very frequent, so we didn’t have long to wait in the rain.
Potential Money Saving Tip
I bought a 9 day English Heritage Overseas Pass before leaving Australia – specifying what day, and place, I would collect it from once we arrived. I wrote I’d collect it from Stonehenge and printed off the receipt ‘just in case’. As all of our pre-booked ticket collections had gone so smoothly until that point, I didn’t expect the ‘no receipt, no ticket’ response I got at the office.
“Can’t you look us up on the system?” I asked, despairing, knowing before the lady even said it that I would have to go back out in the rain to dig through the boot of the car to find it. Luckily I did, otherwise it would’ve been money down the drain.
Anyway, the reason I bought it was because I figured out it would be cheaper to get that pass than pay regular admittance at Stonehenge and Whitby Abbey combined. We had access to so many other sites, they were a bonus. This is exactly how we got into Rochester Castle – basically, for free!
Sadly, we didn’t arrive into Bath until late in the afternoon. First port of call in the morning – the amazing Roman Baths. Goodness – go. Go, go, go. We loved it. The children’s audio commentary is especially great (and free). Riley listened to everything, wouldn’t even take it away from his ear for photos! See below.
You even get to have a taste of the spring water towards the end of your tour. Most people did, although some preferred not to. Look, it doesn’t taste fabulous, but it’s part of the experience, isn’t it?!
3. Stratford-Upon-Avon
There was a craft/activity tent set up at the back of Anne Hathaway‘s house for school holidays and – honestly – it was just as well because it didn’t really have much in the way for keeping kids amused. Shakespeare doesn’t mean much to my two yet, so they were happy doing bronze rubbings out the back. I enjoyed it, though. You can help but marvel at how places like these still survive. The floor in the kitchen area dates from the period he was alive. I literally walked where he walked. Millions of people in between that, true, but still.
Stratford is a very pretty town and, like Bath, has locks. We spent some very pleasant time watching boats rise and fall, making their way along the canals. It’s something we just don’t see here. Free fun!
4. Warwick Castle
5. York
If I have a regret, it’s that we didn’t spend more time at York. It’s a terrific city – reportedly England’s most haunted. We bunkered down overnight just to get close to Whitby and duck over there early the following morning. First, though, we paid a visit to Clifford’s Tower – another place our English Heritage card would’ve gotten us into! Alas, it was quite early and not open. So we climbed the hill for a look-see and came down again.
6. Whitby Abbey
I’ve already talked about Whitby here, but just a quick note to mention their little Easter activity. If you completed it you got a chocolate coin. Also, have to say, in comparison to others, their audio commentaries were disappointing.
7. Derby
Our original plan was to go to the Lakes District, but honestly, by the time we hit Whitby and experienced the rather extraordinary traffic backups, I wanted to head back in two days, not one, like the original plan. I was determined not to spend the whole road trip in a car, pushing to make destinations and come out of it not actually experiencing a place. I’m glad we did it too – otherwise we would’ve never visited Rochester Castle, an important place in Jacobean times.
The audio commentaries here were on iPods – a nice touch, but these devices were very sensitive. I had to hand mine over to Keira when hers died; the battery life wasn’t great. But the kids, as you’d expect, loved that extra dimension to the learning experience.
8. Slough
“Why Slough?”
This is a common question I’ve been asked. Why? Well, as you can see on the map, I chose it because I knew it would be a good base for our final few days in England.
Harry Potter and LEGOLAND were locked in as choices. The final toss up came down to Windsor Castle or Hampton Court Palace. The ultimate winner was Windsor Castle – and, again, that was for the traffic factor. It was literally only ten minutes from our hotel. In hindsight, knowing what I now do about LEGOLAND, I would’ve insisted on Hampton Court Palace (I love it), but oh well.
We visited Windsor Castle on a Saturday, when the Queen is usually in residence, so that was a bit of a bonus. It’s an interesting place, being oldest and largest occupied castle in the world. A tip though – as usual, get there early. By lunch, when we were leaving, the line to get through the gates/security was around the block.
9. Heathrow Airport
Another reason for choosing to stay at Slough is due to its excellent proximity to Heathrow Airport. We had to get to there by 6am for our flight to Venice, and at that hour were there in ten minutes. Another plus was we got to drop off our car there too!
I hope you liked this post and found it useful! Let me know if you have any questions. Leave me a comment if you do.
