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| A UK road trip from Southampton to St. Andrews, 40 years in the making |
We just wrapped up a two-week road trip in the U.K. that, one might say, was forty years in the making. This month, my husband, Chris, and I, celebrated our fortieth wedding anniversary driving over 1,400 miles around England and Scotland, stopping at "wish list" destinations and, the icing on the cake, (or as we prefer to say here at BTS, the clotted cream upon the scone), meeting up with family for a few days in middle of our stay for even more celebration.
But, how best to describe all the highlights? Well, as one of our tour guides in Bath told us, with the appropriate amount of condescension, Americans tend to say the same three words: awesome, interesting and really? Maybe I fall prey to such stereotypes, as I can tell you all, this two-week UK vacation WAS awesome and interesting. Really!
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| First stop, Windsor Castle |
In future blogs, I'll detail some of the castles, tearooms, tours, restaurants and other historic venues we visited, but for today, just a smattering of our road trip adventures.
As noted, we'd been planning this trip for some time. Chris and I had both been to England four times before, three times together. Chris first came to England with his buddy back in 1975 and they biked across the country for two months. Fast forward to 2011, I accompanied our daughter Rachel to London a week before her six-week study-abroad (through MSU) started.
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| "Becky's Cottage" in Crawley, where Chris and fellow biker, stayed a few nights in 1975 |
Along the way, with family and friends, we have hit many of the "must-see" places like The Tower of London, Stonehenge and Harrods, but this year, we wanted to explore more via rental car and cozy inns. Chris had his set of desired stops, as did I, and then there was a hefty overlap in our Venn diagram of venues. Actually, I think we'd agree, most fell into the latter category.
But before I list off the premium choices, a few words to the wise who may be planning a similar sojourn. First, the driving takes a little getting used to - the Brits using the other side of both the road and car. My husband mastered the roundabouts quickly, but the parking lots are a whole new set of treachery. They are tiny, narrow and places of cutthroat competition. Pack your patience along with your suitcases.
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| Driving on the other side, narrow roads |
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| Driving side where passengers sit in US. |
The other item worth noting, if you are taller than me (just shy of 5'5") and staying outside standard Hilton or Holiday Inn accommodations, watch your head. Chris has a few battle scars atop from a couple of unforgiving low-beamed ceilings. Many of the pubs and inns were built several centuries ago, when being my height would have been viewed as "statuesque".
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| Watch your head if you are taller than me. Some beams do have some protective cushioning. |
So, with keys in hand, and a loosely structured itinerary, we hit the "other side of the road" with a quick stop at Windsor Castle before heading to Southampton. Here we located the small village of Crawley and the charming cottage, with a William Thackery connection, that Chris and his buddy stayed in for a few nights back in 1975.
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| Staying at Austen home in Bath |
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| Tea at the Pump Room |
After that, we were onward to Bath for three days of Jane Austen/Bridgerton immersion. And, speaking of abodes with literary connections, Chris and I stayed at No. 4 Sydney Place, a one-time residence of the Austen family. We also had tea at the Pump Room and had a Bridgerton tour of filming locations where I, without the appropriate amount of humility, am excited to report, won first place in the Bridgerton Triva Quiz. (I summoned up a ton on the ton). 😉
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| Bridgerton Tour |
From Bath, we headed to the Peak District, staying at a working farm, and taking a walk to town in true Lizzy Bennet form (a mile in muddy terrain, leaving the hems of my garments rather unbecoming).
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| Peak district, B & B on working farm |
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| Walk to down, messy but like Lizzy B. |
But, the peak of the trip was not just in the countryside. We met up with our New York couple, son and partner, Matt and Jenna, in the lake district. The sole purpose of this location was to dine at a three star Michelin restaurant, featured in a movie we saw in 2010. It was -well, okay, it really was- awesome.
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| Meeting up with our NY family at fancy restaurant in the Lake District. |
Next up, was Edinburgh with our favorite New Yorkers, where we stayed for two nights just off the Royal Mile. We began with a 17th century underground city tour and ended with a visit to the castle on the hill, hitting as many fashionable woolen merchants and Scottish pubs as possible, treating ourselves to haggis and my newly acquired three favorite words: sticky toffee pudding. Oh, and one incredible tea room (more on that to come!).
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| Two days of shops, tours and sticky toffee pudding! |
We then dropped off Matt and Jenna at the Edinburgh airport (as they were concluding their two week stay in Europe as well), and drove north to St. Andrews, for, yes, you guessed it, tea and tee times.
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| Elegant afternoon tea in Edinburgh |
Unfortunately, weather did not permit us to walk much of the "old course" once we arrived at the famed golf venue. The celebrity golf tournament scheduled that weekend was delayed for a few days, but I did spot one on a passing golf cart. However, tea time was not to be postponed. We found a vintage hotel dining room that overlooked the golf course, and we had a tasty, and very welcomed, pot of piping hot Earl Grey.
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| St. Andrews, rain and wind on 18 |
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| Tea time not delayed |
Leaving the rain and wind behind, we headed back to England, this time to explore areas in Yorkshire. We found two villages where Chris' ancestors lived, learned about the "mouse man" furniture maker from Kilburn (and purchased a tea trivet with his signature trademark) and made the trek to Harewood House. The latter was the home of Princess Mary with a bit of Downton Abbey ties (and a few surprises we'll be sharing in our future DA tea talks!).
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| Store and museum near our B & B in Kilburn with "mouse man" furniture |
In our final few days in the UK, we parked in London and shopped and dined, and revisited a favorite "must see", Harrods, getting in one last cream tea before our flight home. Back to the land of appropriately-sized doorways and spacious parking lots, but, sadly, the mushrooming of roundabouts, which I think should stay across the pond.
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| Harewood House, once home of Princess Mary with Downton Abbey ties |
Aside from the few challenges, which truly didn't take much navigating, this trip, forty years in the making was, to shed some tired American descriptors and borrow from the land of our recent stay, positively brilliant!
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| Our last cream tea at Harrods before returning home. |
Another string of words we are fond of at BTS is "stay tuned". We'll be featuring different UK adventures worthy of their own blog story in upcoming blog stories.
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