Welcome to the Historical Fiction Online forums: a friendly place to discuss, review and discover historical fiction.
If this is your first visit, please be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above.
You will have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed.
To start viewing posts, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Trip to England

Been to someplace of historical interest? Planning a trip? Have a question? Post here!
Ash
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 2475
Joined: August 2008
Location: Arizona, USA

Post by Ash » Thu September 9th, 2010, 12:12 am

I was soo disappointed at Warwick; we went back to get our admission returned, and not only did by the very nice sympathic young man, but also mentioned that we might really like Ludlow Castle. Bless him, we did!

Of the many trips we have taken to the British Isles, the places that stand out include (aside from London): the Welsh castles already mentioned, Edinburg, Hadrians Wall (we took a day long guided tour led by a professor from Newcastle university. It rained all day, and walked around with a lot of sheep watching us, and we didn't care, fantastic!) York, Lincoln Cathedral, Bath, and probably Dover, mainly for the Roman Painted House and the lighthouse.

User avatar
Miss Moppet
Bibliophile
Posts: 1726
Joined: April 2009
Location: North London
Contact:

Post by Miss Moppet » Thu September 9th, 2010, 1:52 pm

[quote=""EC2""] Warwick is one of those tourist trophy places that everyone expects you to see. It is spectacular, but you need to have your theme park hat on![/quote]

I went a few years ago one weekend when they had a fair and jousting. I had a good day out, but really all I went for was the jousting and I didn't bother with the rest of the castle. That alone made the trip worth it for me but I'm not sure what I would have thought if I'd gone to see the castle by itself.

User avatar
Tanzanite
Bibliophile
Posts: 1963
Joined: August 2008
Location: Northern Virginia
Contact:

Post by Tanzanite » Thu September 9th, 2010, 2:09 pm

I've decided to take Warwick Castle off the list - I appreciate the warnings from everyone!! I looked at the web site for Kenilworth and I think we may try to go there - it looks so pretty and romantic and my husband is a big fan of gardens (go figure...). I've spent the last couple of days re-looking at the sites on the list and trying to pare it down, but it's so hard! My husband said maybe we would just have to go back for a third trip. My daughter is thinking of doing a summer abroad study program next year which would include time in England, Scotland and Ireland so maybe we could go visit her!

User avatar
Michy
Bibliophile
Posts: 1649
Joined: May 2010
Location: California

Post by Michy » Thu September 9th, 2010, 2:30 pm

Plus, Kenilworth is where Katherine Swynford lived when she was married to Hugh Swynford. So if you like Anya Seton's Katherine I'd think that would be a good choice. :)

Edited: Hugh Swynford's estate was Kettlethorpe, not Kenilworth (What can I say? At least I got the "K" part right! ;) ). But Katherine did live at Kenilworth with John of Gaunt, so it would still be neat to see....
Last edited by Michy on Thu September 9th, 2010, 2:41 pm, edited 4 times in total.

User avatar
parthianbow
Compulsive Reader
Posts: 856
Joined: April 2009
Location: Nr. Bristol, SW England
Contact:

I'm a bit late to the party, Tanzanite, but

Post by parthianbow » Thu September 9th, 2010, 4:58 pm

I thought I'd throw in my tuppence ha'penny.
If there's a re-enactment at Hastings, GO TO IT! The guys who do that type of thing are always great fun, hugely knowledgeable and do accurate portrayals. It might help you avoid 2 nights in Maidstone, which, let us say, politely, is not the most picturesque of towns.

Rochester Castle - nor is Rochester. Picturesque, that is.

Ely Cathedral - stunning. Absolutely unmissable, IMHO.

York - ditto.

Bambaugh Castle - Bamburgh? Lovely!

Alnwick Castle - ditto.

Please, if in that area, at least try to go to one Roman fort (I know I'm biased) - Housesteads or Vindolanda are the best.

Edinburgh Castle - unmissable.
Palace of Holyroodhouse - great.

Stirling Castle - wonderful, esp for the statue of William Wallace.

Caernarfon Castle - amazing. On your way back in to England, call in to Avebury, which is far more atmospheric than Stonehenge, and has far less visitors.
Ben Kane
Bestselling author of Roman military fiction.
Spartacus - UK release 19 Jan. 2012. US release June 2012.

http://www.benkane.net
Twitter: @benkaneauthor

User avatar
Madeleine
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 5860
Joined: August 2008
Currently reading: "Mania" by L J Ross
Preferred HF: Plantagenets, Victorian, crime, dual time-frame
Location: Essex/London

Post by Madeleine » Thu September 9th, 2010, 6:36 pm

I went to Rochester last year and thought the main part of town (where the castle and cathedral, also worth a look) was quite nice, also the bit along the river near the castle was quite pleasant too.

Have to say that I went to Hastings, admittedly many years ago, and apart from the old town, I thought it was a dump. Sorry, Parthianbow, perhaps it's had a facelift since then, it was also full of bikers and you could barely move for them!
Currently reading "Mania" by L J Ross

User avatar
parthianbow
Compulsive Reader
Posts: 856
Joined: April 2009
Location: Nr. Bristol, SW England
Contact:

Post by parthianbow » Thu September 9th, 2010, 8:32 pm

[quote=""Madeleine""]Have to say that I went to Hastings, admittedly many years ago, and apart from the old town, I thought it was a dump. Sorry, Parthianbow, perhaps it's had a facelift since then, it was also full of bikers and you could barely move for them![/quote]

Re Rochester - maybe my memory is skewed from the yucky suburbs in it which I've seen.

I didn't say a word about whether Hastings was nice or not - I wouldn't know, I've never been there. What I said was that a reenactment event there (which wouldn't be in the town anyway) would be worth going to.
Ben Kane
Bestselling author of Roman military fiction.
Spartacus - UK release 19 Jan. 2012. US release June 2012.

http://www.benkane.net
Twitter: @benkaneauthor

M.M. Bennetts

Post by M.M. Bennetts » Thu September 9th, 2010, 10:51 pm

Hastings is a dump. So is Dover. St. Andrews is far from a dump--there's the cathedral ruins, the castle ruins, the university, the Old Course...I never played golf while there, but I'm told it's a bit of all right...Perthshire is beautiful. Stirling Castle was cold as I recall.

Mull is the absolute best--but you won't have time for that, sorry. Loch Earn is luscious. Loch Tay is also pretty mind-blowingly superb. Glencoe, I'm told, scares some people, but then I have MacDonald ancestors so it just seems homely to me and it's utterly gorgeous.

Seeing a play at the Globe isn't as great as it was under Mark Rylance, but it's still rather good. Going up via Norfolk is rather fine--there's a house there, dashed if I can recall the name, but it's got the coverlet worked by Mary Queen of Scots when she was incarcerated. Oh, in Kent there's Ightham Mote which is a superlative house--moated obviously, but really gives you a sense of what those ancient houses were like and how they evolved through the years--good gardens too.

User avatar
Michy
Bibliophile
Posts: 1649
Joined: May 2010
Location: California

Post by Michy » Thu September 9th, 2010, 11:50 pm

[quote=""M.M. Bennetts""]Hastings is a dump. So is Dover. [/quote]


But in the pictures on Wikipedia they look so nice!!! :confused: :(
Oh, in Kent there's Ightham Mote which is a superlative house--moated obviously, but really gives you a sense of what those ancient houses were like and how they evolved through the years--good gardens too.
And Ightham Mote plays in Anya Seton's Green Darkness, so if you liked that book then this might be of interest.....

Ash
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 2475
Joined: August 2008
Location: Arizona, USA

Post by Ash » Fri September 10th, 2010, 1:16 am

I so agree about Ely Cathedral, and Stirling Castle is fantastic. Also agree with Avebury; we kept far away from Stonehenge and found what we were looking for there (tho honestly the most amazing places of that time period for me were the sites in Cornwall. Another incredibly good local guide, spent a whole day exploring iron age sites. No circles, but it didn't matter.)

Post Reply

Return to “Travel”