Base from which to tour England?

Well done for knowing there is more to England (and UK) than London.

Driving several hundred miles a day is tougher than you think in England. The main roads can be congested. You wouldn't have much time to visit the places you wanted to see.

However, you don't have to join an organised tour. You could tour independently in a rental car. You could try Farm Stay for accommodation. There is a choice of Bed & Breakfast or self catering. You would be able to stay right out in the countryside.

If London is on your list, don't use a car when visiting. There's nowhere to park. The roads are congested. You have to pay a congestion charge. Public transport is very good.

However, when outside London, a car will take you places you would never see from a train. You could travel at your own pace and eat in country pubs. They offer nice food in a cosy atmosphere. You don't have to drink alcohol.

Have a good time!

Hi,

You can really split England up into three parts.

The South - New-quay, Cornwall, Dover, Winchester. There is a lot to see there - Winchester was the old capital of England www.visitwinchester.co.uk. Dover has the white cliffs and some beautiful walks along the cost. You could even cross over the the Isle of White during Cowes week regatta!

A good base would be Hampshire - New Forest or something like that!

The East - Here you have London a your base, and an endless number of things to see there of course. But day trips out to Norfolk, Ely and Cambridge would be cool. Cambridge is a beautiful city you can go punting, see the university on a walking tour of the colleges (these guys are good: http://www.oxbridgetours.com/ they are in Oxford too), and From a London base you can also visit the West - Peak district, Wales, again which is very pretty - and Oxford!

The North - As you go north you'll find bigger hills - Stay in Manchester which is a great city, and travel up as far as Hadrian's wall. See Yorkshire and the railway museum if that's your thing : http://www.nrm.org.uk/ Maybe even head over to Scotland if you get time!

Enjoy your visit

This is feasible, but I wonder if you are aware of the driving conditions in England as opposed to Texas. First, you are driving on the wrong side of the road in a car which (unless you specified otherwise when booking) has a manual gearbox. Second, roads in England are (by the standards of Texas), hideously congested, and off the motorways (freeways) narrow and usually far from straight and level. This applies especially to minor roads in the more touristically attractive areas, like the Lake District, The Yorkshire Dales, the Cotswolds, the West Country (particularly in Devon) and the Welsh Marches, where narrow single-track roads less than 10 feet wide with blind bends and bordered by high hedges are regularly encountered. Not saying it's impossible, but don't kid yourselves about the realities of driving from a rented cottage in a pretty enough place in the Midlands and close to a handy motorway, let's say in the Warwick/Leamington Spa area, to Padstow AND BACK in a day. Followed by maybe a quick excursion to Keswick and back the day after. Most natives would think twice about this. A succession of early starts, long drives and not a lot of time at your destination is not the way to appreciate your surroundings and will slowly wear you down. A much more feasible variation would be to work your way round the country in two or three-night stays at hotels, exploring the immediate surroundings as you go. Either way, let's hope you've set aside enough money in your budget for fuel costs, which even if you rent a small economical diesel will be pretty eyewatering. The points already made about the advisability (not!) of driving in London are valid, and I would also add Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds/Bradford, Newcastle and Bristol to that list. Far better to use public transport in these places.

You have had plenty of advice so far and a mind-boggling variety too. Reading through the answers I wouldn't know where to start if it was my holiday.

So let me add to your confusion. It all depends on how long you plan to stay and what you want to see but here is my opinion.

I would fly into one of the London airports and spend a few days in London doing the sights. No car yet because public transport is so much easier in and around London. You can also take the train from London to attractive towns such as Canterbury, Oxford, Cambridge and Windsor , all within one hour journey time.

Then I would think about hiring a car and have a two centre driving holiday but centred where and for how long is open to debate.

Perhaps Stratford upon Avon and tour the Cotswolds with lots of Olde Worlde towns and villages that feature in period costume dramas and lovely gardens too open to the public.

Perhaps York which is a very attractive town and then tour the Yorkshire Dales and parts of northern England

If you specially want Tudor history and Henry VIII etc then base your self in Kent , perhaps Canterbury and there are lots of historical palaces, castles , gardens etc to see in that area.

I would travel independently and not on a tour. And I would not base myself in the centre of England and drive everywhere from there. Sounds sensible but is not the best idea in the end.

And there are lots more possibles too but I will stop there.

Tricky one. My gut feeling would be close to your idea. Joining a tour

and you're tied. Plus finding one that encompasses all that you want

may prove hard to find.

Personally I would always want to rent a car and move about.. However

if you have one single base which you always come back to then you're

restricted to how far you can go in a day. Driving in the UK is not like the US.

Everything is smaller, more congested, your progress will get impeded more often.

Instead of just basing yourself somewhere in the middle of the country, why

not think of staying B&B/cottage in the various regions for a number of nights

and move around that way. Proper road trip. I suppose it will come down to

time, money (which you'll need plenty of) and planning.

Fuel is more expensive here by some margin.

And whilst your here, if you have time, try and take in Scotland/Wales as well.

I'd rent a car near your port of entry,heathrow probably? Then tour around stopping at Inns and hotels on your way.Renting a cottage sounds fine in principal but driving across country day in day out will get wearisome.You say you're used to large distances but 50 miles on the M25 isn't the same as 50 on the i10 to dallas.I also wouldn't bother with an organised tour as you say they wouldn't encompass your wishes fully

You could stay in central points in different areas such as stratford on avon to visit .....guess what? Or gloucester to tour the cotswolds,york for the north east and london for the south east.London is most likely going to be the big one but london isn't really england.I think you know that already.I'd further suggest you'd like wales too. Try this website http://www.visitengland.com/ee/

You don't need a single base. You need a tour. Get a cottage for a few days in the south west and do Devon Cornwall and Somerset and of course Wiltshire for Stonehenge..

Move to someplace outside London like St Albans, named for the first Christian martyr in Britain and where I come from, which is good for the M25 and M1, and do the south east and also Windsor and Cambridge.

North of Cambridge is Boston where the Pilgrim Fathers were imprisoned and you can visit the cells they were in.

http://www.fromoldbooks.org/Wharton/pages/046b-Pri...

Then northwards to Liverpool/ Manchester area and do Snowdonia the Peak District and the Lake District, over to the east for the Yorkshire Dales and Northumbria and then move into eastern Scotland, then the west and get the ferry to Ireland...

All those places cover areas of good scenery and historical stuff with loads of castles and Roman remains,Viking and local cultures and accents which vary a lot but you'll still have an awful lot of driving to do with just those few bases.

Google each of them and you'll see the wide variety we have in a small group of islands.

Here is the unique music of the north east on the Northumbrian pipes played by the lovely lady champion of England with a couple of minutes talk about them first

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiuMwskhsGk

This is a Yorkshire girl who writes and sings very well, the Barnsley Nightingale.

Austin TX has Nanci Griffith, Barnsley in Yorkshire has Kate Rusby

Again with talk, her Yorkshire accent and a Scottish interviewer before the old Irish ballad at a Cambridge festival.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZkjrgS_lKY&feature...

Have a great time

We can't accurately answer from the information you've given us, but a solid tour of England needs more than a base to make day trips from.

It seems to be a common misconception in this forum that England is the size of a city or a small county - it isn't. It's hundreds of miles across and it would take days to drive from one end of the country to another.

Your best bet is to find hotels near where you want to visit and stay in those consecutively.

I should probably add that growing up in England, driving over fifty miles is going to empty your bank account.

Do not join a tour. You will be taken to lots of places you don't want to go, lose the ability to improvise and stop somewhere you like the look of, and have no choice about the length of time you spend in places. To really enjoy England you need to get off the main roads and do some hiking too

to really explore the beautiful areas. We also have a dense frequent rail network, so when you want a day off driving you can always park your car at a railway station and go somewhere by train

www.nationalrail.co.uk

www.britrail.com

www.cottages4you.co.uk

There's no two points in England that can't be reached in under a day.

Geographically it's probably Birmingham, but that's a horrible city in a horrible area.

Cambridge is slightly too far south but it's not far from the A1, a major South-North road, and it's very nice indeed.

Maybe Nottingham actually.