My travel friend and I finally decided RCI timeshares are NOT coming through and we need to set our dates and living spaces for our trip. I picked May because I've never been in England before in May and understand that lots of spring flowers are out then. And not as many tourists.
We will probably fly Max Jet so we land in Stansted. Does any one know if we can go to Norwich directly from that airport or do we have to go to London?

My tentative schedule right now: Vegas to Stansted, Norwich 4 nights and stay in a flat if we can find one, day 5, train to Bath, flat for week if we can find one we both like (two bedrooms with double or larger beds, not sofa bed or twins),week 3, train to London, week in London in flat. We are looking at Coach house which had been recommended in one of the reviews but we picked Milner ST...had the beds we want and lots of room and the all important washer and dryer.
However, I am also checking London Connection for a flat. I've used them before and know I can pay in dollars which I like.
We can switch the towns around as I just started emailing for apartments last night. We do like to end our last week in London so we are close to the airport for that last night. But could rearrange.
Questions on Norwich...this is the one area neither of us has been to. Is there enough to do for several nights? Is King's Lynn reachable without a car. We will probably get a train pass. I know many of you find it easy to drive in GB. We don't and find the train or a bus much less stressful so we will NOT get a rental car. Is there some sort of travel pass for the National Express? The train pass is about $800 for fifteen days but we aren't sure if it is also good for the bus.
Bath .... been there several times just on day trips and wanted to stay and see something more than the usual sites. Is there a bus of some sort that would go to Wells? Is there anything else that shouldn't be missed that is near by and we can get to on the bus/train. I have spent a week in Salisbury....use to drive back then so we did get out and about until I took a left turn too close to a pole and well, it is another whole story on how some Hells Angels helped us. But I do not drive over there anymore.
London... This is probaby my twentieth trip but I still find new things to do. I have been following the London on One Day thread and have seen several things we might want to try. Any ideas for things that would be on the "if I have time I'll go to" list? This may be my last trip over so I want to fill in on places. I love art and have done all the well known museums, do genealogy and have been to all the archives/libraries except for the one that contains all the newspapers (can't think of the name off the top of my head). Just anything that might be of historical interest as I use to be a historian of the pre-Tutor and Tutor periods.
Tea...is Brown's still a place for a great tea? I noticed the tea threads and it doesn't seem to be mentioned anymore. We always splurge on a well known tea place. Love afternoon tea.
Thanks for any comments.

VegasMs: Sounds like a great trip. I am missing England, and hope to get back there sometime soon!

We have a cousin in Norfolk (not in Norwich proper, but near Thetford), and have visited the area a couple of times. I'm not sure Norfolk warrants a full week, but there is a lot of interesting and lovely countryside to be explored. And if you go to thiswebsite you will find the public transportation options from Norfolk to surrounding areas. The same website home page also has a wealth of information on Norfolk itself.

I love Bath - several years ago we were able to take a local bus from there to Wells (which I think is my favorite cathedral in England); I think a google search of Bath, public transportation, will help you determine if that service still exists.

One question for you - you mention wanting to be in London your last week to be close to the airport. However, you say you are flying Maxjet to Stanstead -- so wouldn't you want to be closer to that airport the night before you fly home?

Sounds like you will have a fabulous trip.

Judy

You can get from Stansted to Norwich on One without going to London, but changing at Cambridge.

Yes, King's Lynn is reachable by train from Norwich. You change trains at Ely, which has a wonderful cathedral, so you might want to stop over there. Another nice place easily reachable by train via Ely is Bury St. Edmunds. It's been years since I visited Norwich and the rest of these places, but I did it all by train, based in Cambridge.

In case you don't know, National Rail has rail info for all of Britain, and the invaluable Man in Seat 61 has just about everything you might want to know about UK rail travel starting here.

quote:

Originally posted by Vegas Ms:
London... This may be my last trip over so I want to fill in on places. I love art and have done all the well known museums, do genealogy and have been to all the archives/libraries except for the one that contains all the newspapers (can't think of the name off the top of my head). Just anything that might be of historical interest as I use to be a historian of the pre-Tutor and Tutor periods.
Tea...is Brown's still a place for a great tea? I noticed the tea threads and it doesn't seem to be mentioned anymore. We always splurge on a well known tea place. Love afternoon tea.
Thanks for any comments.

I just posted separately about a newish book I found that might be the very thing you're after.

Have you been to the Geffrye Museum? Even if you have been in the past you might want to consider going again on this trip. An extension has been built and the gardens expanded. I love the Geffrye. There's such a lovely feeling of calm there.

Browns still does a lovely tea, and I often recommend it to people who enjoy that afternoon activity. The hotel was renovated a few years ago, and I haven't been there yet to see if the setting has changed much, but the dress code still remains jackets for men. Another nice spot is Sotheby's Auction House. Their prices are reasonable, and one can look around the galleries downstairs if that appeals. I read recently that Fortnum & Mason are doing a huge redo, so maybe their tea room will be new by the time you get to London.

Thanks for all the help. The bus to Wells is just what I wanted to know. I use to read Regency type books and have always wanted to get there, now I think it will make a nice day away from Bath.
The suggestion about Ely is great. I bought several books yesterday and it was mentioned but I couldn't figure how to fit it in, now I can see us taking the train over, spending a few hours and going on to King's Lynn....but I am just thinking it might be too much for one day. Hmm.
And thanks for the link to National Rail. I kept putting into Google, English Rail and wasn't getting anything. I knew I had the wrong name but just went blank.
And the Geffrye is also something I wanted. I had read about it last year and put the website into my favorites. We got a new computer last month the the fellow from the Geek Squad moved all my folders over but not the files. So nothing is there under England trip planning. I had several things about the Geffrye as it is getting a good bit of attention in travel sites.
We did the Bramah last trip and it was ok, but not great. Brown's has been my historic favorite but someone had a tea room/cafe listed last year that sounded great too. I am going to go through all the posts and see if I can find it.
Now we are busy looking at flat rentals in Bath and London. They all sound pretty good to me. My friend and I both want to have a room with a double or larger bed so that limits many places. Shoving two beds together doesn't make a comfortable bed! Most two bedrooms seem to have the twin beds to a single bed in the second bedroom. But it will all work out.
Anyway, thanks so much for helping out.
Beth

Here is a linkto the "Tea Council " web site and the feature about the London awards this year. The Dorchester came top for London but Browns was up there with the best. Fortnums anniversary refurbishments are nearly finished but as there is always a queue I don't feel relaxed taking afternoon tea there.
Don't forget "afternoon tea " is, to use my husband's description a "piece of theatre" and not just a cup of tea and a scone.
In the very best places you can linger as long as you like but the Dorchester is now so popular it has two sittings and you are asked to leave the table by 6 30pm. for the second sitting at 4 45pm. (I am trying to prepare you for the rather high prices which have been elevated of late because "Afternoon tea" is now very fashionable again.)
I hope you enjoy your visit.

Wendy
PS You will find some recommendations for afternoon tea in East Anglia on the tea site as well. Our favourite in Cley next the sea has changed hands and become a vegetarian cafe so I cannot recommend it any more as I haven't tried it out. (Our older son was at UEA in Norwich so it gave us a good excuse to discover East Anglia as well as discover the art collection in The Sainsbury centre on campus.)

Thanks Wendy. I will check the tea council site. I always do a splurge tea trip when in England and have to laugh because who in their right mind pays that kind of money for a pot of tea, tiny sandwich, a scone/clotted cream, and a pastry. Well, I do and so do lots of Americans. I don't know why it is so popular. But Brown's has always been my favorite and last time they didn't try and move us along.
Like doing the London Eye, it is just something my friend and I do and it never gets old.
Now back to looking for a flat in London and one in Bath.
B

quote:

Originally posted by Vegas Ms:
I always do a splurge tea trip when in England and have to laugh because who in their right mind pays that kind of money for a pot of tea, tiny sandwich, a scone/clotted cream, and a pastry.

Aah, you need a bit more scottish blood in your veins - or maybe I need a little less Anyway, it turns out one of my American work colleagues reckons she has had tea in every hotel in London. Her "best among equals" was the Dorchester but also told me about the Prêt-à-Portea at the Berkeley Hotel in Knightsbridge which sounds like great fun if you are looking for a bit of a change.

Vegas Ms, I don't know whether you can factor a side trip to Wigan while you are here or not but when I read this I thought of you.

Thanks so much! That looks like my cup of tea. I will have to locate it according to the train map and see if it is doable.
We have about decided to cross Norwich off the schedule and maybe just do a day trip from London. I think we have found a flat in Bath and we may take it for ten days and then have the next twelve days in London. There is just so much to do/see in both areas.
But everyday brings new ideas.

Don't know if you are still considering Norwich or not. I spent a week in Norfolk just north of Norwich in a National Trust cottage at Felbrigg Hall. We didn't find Norwich itself all too interesting but found lots to do in Norfolk itself. I do think it would be hard to visit a lot of the places without a car, however, as they are so spread out. You can reach some of them by a combination of bus or train but I think it might take a lot of time to get to them. If you do decide to spend a few days in Norwich I would at least try to get to one National Trust property such as Blickling Hall.

http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-fi...nghallgardenandpark/

http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-fi...gghallgardenandpark/

But I do think you would find more than enough to keep yourself occupied in the Bath area that it might be worth saving Norwich for another time and staying in the west country for those days instead.

Thank you. That was the conclusion we had. So we have a flat in Bath for 9 nights and the rest of the time will be in London. We had liked several places found on Coach House, which had been reviewed hereon Slowtrav. But the two we like the best, the owners don't want to commit about for May. So we are now working with London Connection who I have rented from before. One major consideration for London Connection is they have a office in Utah and we can pay by U.S. money in a check.
I think Norfolk has a lot of things to see but when I started looking at trains and buses,it seemed as if we had to be up and out at a train station or bus stop awfully early and get back very late and take lots of time to get to the place we wanted to go. So I am already looking at the next trip and thinking I might bribe my nephew into going if he will drive. But for now it is just Bath and London. And we are pretty excited it is all coming together.

Hi Beth,

I think your trip to London and Bath sounds great. We've really enjoyed Bath, and would love the chance to stay longer. I hope you'll share more info about the flat you found.

I noticed further back in the thread that Judy recommended a day trip to Wells. I second this suggestion. We stayed a week in the countryside near Bath a few years ago and ended up going to Wells twice. In addition to the beautiful cathedral, I loved the Bishops Palace and gardens.

And if there is any way to get to Stourhead Gardens by public transportation, this is also absolutely beautiful. I think we ended up visited there three times (using our National Trust cards) during that same stay.

Kathy

Hi,
Norwich is lovely it just takes time to get to know as it is not an "in your face" tourist destination. The cathedral is magnificent but I especially love the city's 1950's feel,which does not appeal to everyone.

Bath is fab I know the city well as I my Mother was brought up there so I used to stay in "The Circus" with an Aunt and Uncle as a child and didn't appreciate just how fabulous that was until I grew up.
Let me know if you need help with your accommodation search.
Wendy

Hi,
I haven't been around much lately but to bring this up to date, we decided not to do Norwich this trip. We have booked a flat in Bath in the Royal Crescent area for 8 nights and then will spend ten days in London. The first flat we are booking with the owner, which is a new experience for me as I am use to working with agencies. We had picked two flats we liked in London with Coach House but neither worked out so we are going with a place near Sloan Square which is rented through London Connection. I have used this agency before and like the fact they have a office here in the US so I could use dollars and/or charge it. We will still be using trains and local buses. I noticed in another post that someone mentioned that there are tours out of Bath to several places and so that is a good option for us.
Does anyone have suggestions about theatre in Bath? I read that West End plays "try" out there.
Beth

There is a nice small theater in Bath - I will go look up the website. We went to a play there one year - when we were visiting in May.

Do you have the link for the Royal Crescent apartment - I would love to see the photos. How amazing to stay right on the Crescent. We had an apartment from Rural Retreats about two blocks away once.

I think we went to this theatre:
http://www.theatreroyal.org.uk/

The Bath Visitors site has lots of good information:
http://visitbath.co.uk/

Hi Vegas,

Bath is highly recommendable and I would recommend you include the Bath spa and also take time to walk around all of the side streets and cool shops etc.
I personally would NOT spend 4 nights in Norwich. I am sure the people are very nice etc etc but as a tourist, it is not a place to visit in UK. You would be so much better off in Devon or Cornwall etc.
London of course so much to do. I would recommend the 'War Rooms' where you can see where Churchill was based during the war.

I second the recommendations of Brown's for tea of the comfy sofa variety, which is my favorite. Definitely don't make any dinner plans.

I also second the Geffrye, and advise that, if you can, arrange to go on one of the days when the almshouses are open, and book or get there early as the tours fill up fast. The museum has a nice cafe and a good book shop for house and decor-related books. It is a happy museum, not too huge and pretty much all on one level.

People drawn to the Geffrye might also like to walk by the Plain English kitchen showroom in Hoxton Square on the way (I think it's open by appointment. But their stuff is gorgeous. My noseprint is permanently on the glass.) www.plainenglishdesign.co.uk

Bath seems like a nice base for exploring in the area. I,too,recommend visiting Wells for the Cathedral and the Bishop's Palace. There is an Italian restaurant in Wells called Rugantino's. The back garden looks out onto the Cathedral Green. From the tables you can watch the late day sun bring out all the golden hues in the cathedral stone. Quite a beautiful spot for a drink or dinner.

Do not forget to put the city of Bristol on your list as well. It is a quick train ride (about 15 minutes) from Bath, and no car needed once you get there. The floating harbour, Brunel's Suspension Bridge in Clifton village, fine views of the Clifton Gorge, interesting shopping and restaurants, St. Mary Redcliffe Church,etc. are worth at least a day trip from Bath. The ss. Great Britain is there as a museum as well. We visited a few years ago, and found the city to be a very pleasant surprise. The Bristol Tourist Office has a website, http://visitbristol.co.uk.

Enjoy your trip!

egret