Planning a visit to the UK. What should I NOT miss?

Marks and Spencers is a massive chain of shops, and not really a tourist destination.

If you want to find exclusive shops go to Bond Street or Sloane Street, and visit Harvey Nichols.

As for castles, Windsor Castle is near London and is a magnificent castle. Hampton Court is a beautiful house to the south of London, whilst of course you also have the Royal Parks, Buckingham Palace, Kensington Palace, The Tower of London etc.

http://www.hrp.org.uk/

http://www.royalparks.org.uk/

In terms of Chuches/Cathedrals in London, Westminster Abbey and St Paul's Cathedral are must sees. When it comes to Gardens Kew Gardens near Richmond in London, is a UN World Heritage site.

http://www.kew.org/

There are numerous Cathedral Cities arounf the UK, probably among the best examples being York Minster, Durham Cathedral, Wells Cathedral in Somerset (near Bath), Lincoln Cathedral, Salisbury Cathedral and Canterbury Cathedral.

Wells Cathedral

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/86/227718017_ddac13...

As for what is the most beautiful part of the UK that is a matter of personal preference, for natural scenery Scotland is breath taking, as is the English Lake District , Northumberland and the Scottish borders with the areas many beautiful castles such as Bamburgh, Lindisfarne, Alnwick etc and Snowdonia and Pembrokshire Coast in Wales.

In terms of interesting historic towns and cities Oxford, Cambridge, Bath, York, Durham and of course Edinburgh are all well worth a visit.

British Heritage Cities - http://www.heritagecities.com/

A further possibility would be to go to the Eurostar Website and see what deals are available between London and Paris from St Pancras International Station in London. Paris is only just over 2 hours by train from London and Brussels is even less. So you could combine London and Paris.

http://www.eurostar.com/dynamic/_SvBoExpressBookin...

http://www.stpancras.com/

Castles and gardens: the tower of London, Edinburgh Castle, Alnwick Castle in Northumberland with its gardens. (Northumberland has lots of castles within a small area in fact, it's probably the castliest part of England!)

Churches: Westminster Abbey and St. Paul's cathedral in London, and I would also recommend York Minster and especially Durham Cathedral in northern England. Bill Bryson, in his capacity as ambassador for English Heritage, considers Durham Cathedral to be the finest church in the land, and I think he's right.

I think the Northumberland national park, the Lake District, and North Yorkshire (the Yorkshire Dales especially) are the most beautiful parts of the UK.

I recommend you don't get a tour guide and simply research and plan your own trip, you'll have a better time and are more likely to discover places "off the beaten path" as it were. I would only recommend a guide to a non-English speaking visitor who would seriously struggle without one.

May I just stick up for Marks and Spencer - though it's a large chain of shops (every medium-sized British town has one, and London has many), it is probably the quintessential British middle-class shop and offers a shopping experience I don't think you'll find in any other country.

If you're interested in the history of this company, and you're ever in Newcastle upon Tyne, I suggest you visit Marks and Spencer's Penny Bazaar in the Grainger Market, which dates back to Victorian times and is one of the original market stalls from the very earliest days of the business.

Anyway, enjoy your stay, I hope you have a wonderful time!

in London I'd suggest you start off with an open top bus tour such as

www.bigbustours.com

www.theoriginaltour.com/

www.city-sightseeing.com/

maybe not getting off the bus too much to go into places, but use the trip for orientation and to identify which places you want to go back to in more depth ... DON'T buy an open top bus tour before you arrive, buy the ticket when you want it ... after that get a London Transport travelcard

http://www.londontoolkit.com/briefing/travelcard.h...

and use public transport to go back to the places you want ... here's the underground map to help you

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/standard-tu...

after that it rather depends on how much time you have and how adventurous you are ... if you don't have loads of time some coach trips might be good, such as

www.goldentours.co.uk/

www.evanevanstours.co.uk/

these pack an awful lot into one day

there are hundreds of castles worth seeing, everything from Windsor Castle with the Queen still in residence, to great ruins such as Bamburgh Castle, or Caernarfon Castle in Wales, Warwick Castle with its re-enactments ... oh far to many to list

gardens ... again, loads and loads ... how about Eden Project in Cornwall or Kew Gardens (the botanical gardens) in London

I love mountains so to me the most beautiful areas of the UK are the Highlands of Scotland, or Wales

whether you go with a guided tour or not is more down to you ... personally I like to go my own way, but I must admit that on a guided tour you get to see (and understand what you're seeing) more easily and quickly

PS: the best cathedral in the country is in Durham

you should try to get on the set of top gear