So my in-laws will be visiting us this summer and will be coming on a camping trip. MiL is easy going and likes generally pleasant outdoorsy stuff, my FiL like cars and engineering, and my kids like the beach.

So – nice seaside, nice countryside and something like a car/plane museum or victorian factory stuff etc?

Lake District with a stop on the way in Manchester to go to MOSE.

Dumfries and Galloway

Home

D&G – nice.. like the area. Are there good beaches?

East neuk of Fife, lovely. Lots of museums over the bridge in Edinburgh too.

Northumberland.

http://www.alnvalleyrailway.co.uk

http://www.twmuseums.org.uk/discovery.html

Absolutely
http://www.visitscotland.com/about/nature-geography/beaches/dumfries-galloway/

And then you’ll need to go here

http://www.creamogalloway.co.uk/

Not Northumberland. It’s always freezing, wet, windy, no beaches at all, crowded, the pubs are crap & the folk taaalk queeor.
Stay away. Please.

Oh yeah!

Sorry it’s shit.

Purbecks, Dorset.

Beaches, hills, cliffs, Bovington tank museum, Beaulieu motor museum not far.

Also CTBM for your interest!

They were Scot-curious, but then I told them about midges… 🙂

molgrips – Member
D&G – nice.. like the area. Are there good beaches?

Aye.
http://www.bladnoch.co.uk/visitorcentre.htm
http://www.sulwathbrewers.co.uk
http://www.annandaledistillery.com
http://www.devilsporridge.org.uk
http://www.scottishpower.com/pages/visitor_centres.asp Tongland
http://www.leadminingmuseum.co.uk
Luce Bay Area
Mull of Galloway

http://midgeforecast.co.uk/smidge/about-smidge/

esselgruntfuttock – Member
Not Northumberland. It’s always freezing, wet, windy, no beaches at all, crowded, the pubs are crap & the folk taaalk queeor.
Stay away. Please.

Not much in the way of significant engineering history either…

https://www.mininginstitute.org.uk

Blist Hill and Iorn bridge for the FIL

http://www.ironbridge.org.uk/our-attractions/blists-hill-victorian-town/

then dive across Wales to Aberystwyth? Two stops I know.

Or down here south coast Christchurch / new forest area. Beaches @ Christchurch or head over to Perbecks for more beaches cliff top walks and some nice but not narcore riding. Bournemouth beeches if you like drunk chavs.

For the father in law there is Sammy Miller’s motor cycle museum, Beaulieu motor museum. Lots of cool industrial quarrying stuff on Portland, some of it old style abandoned.Bovington tank museum is close too. Abandons village of Tyneham.

Also a daytrip on the ferry to Isle of white and rocket testing station http://www.redfunnel.co.uk/island-guide/places-to-visit/isle-of-wight-heritage-attractions/needles-rocket-testing-station/

Stonehenge and Salisbury near for more day trips.

That mining institute looks cool! Must go!

Not much in the way of significant engineering history either…

Too true..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cragside

Whitby so you can head inland to the Moors, visit Eden Camp, go to Flamingo Land as well as all the beachy stuff.

Scottish West Coast, Glasgow to Fort William or Mallaig. a day trip on the paddle steamer Waverley with it’s awesome triple expansion steam engine will keep both of them happy


Heading north and west, there’s Oben, a bit short of beaches but alovely place, en route to which is Ben Cruachan, the hollow mountain which has a 440 MWatt power station inside the mountain.
Ben Cruachan, outside

inside


Oban’s a gateway to the island’s and Mull’s nice, outdoorsy but nothing on the engineering front. You can follow the coast road from Oban to Ballachulish then to Fort William which is a nice enough trip, but taking the road across Rannoch Moor and through Glen Coe is awesome. From Fort William, a steam train can take you to Mallaig or you can drive. Either way, you pass the Glenfinnan viaduct and if driving it’s worth checking the Jacobite timetable to see if you can catch it crossing the Glenfinnan viaduct.

There are other works by “Concrete Bob” Macalpine on the route. The combination of scenery and rail should work for both of them. If you do this, I’d strongly suggest a trip to Rum and a visit to Kinloch Castle, still ful of state of the 18th century art building technology. Some fantastic beaches up that way as well

I just got back from a wedding in Northumberland. What a dump eh?

It’s awful. Don’t rush back.

Look will people stop telling others Northumberland is great I’ve only been 12 times and every time I hate it, I only go back to remind myself how nice it is at home :/

Wot Nobeer….. said. No midges either.

North Wales has beaches Nice ones near Porthamadog

For Engineering there are steal railways and electric mountain (Hydro electric plant), the slate museum at Llanberis and a slate mine at Blaenau ffestiniog