Recommend an ‘interesting’ holiday town (England, mid)

Hi,

Planning for next year. Pensioners into history, architecture, “character”, walks (hosted or map made up country/river/canal) , bike bimbles(decent surface for Mrs), decent scenery, etc not hugely busy. After somewhere to spend a week but want some no driving days (but public transport is ok), and with some local pubs/decent food etc.

So after somewhere to combine with a week in Chester, so not massive travel from there (we’re based near Oxford), done – York, Liverpool, Wirksworth, Shrewsbury, Gloucester, Brecon, caenarvon, Barmouth, bath, bristol, Whitby, Lancaster, Warwick, Stratford, llangolen etc,

Is Knaresborough any good ?

Cheers

Clun.

I’m biased, but Ludlow ticks all your boxes. About 90 mins drive from Chester.

Sorry, forgot we’d done Ludlow and Telford,Ironbridge area, forest of Dan, pershore, but it’s been a while so will look at that, thanks.

Pensioners into history

When I saw this I immediately thought of Ludlow too!

Ludlow will take you easily to Hereford and Shrewsbury by train, both also really interesting places for days out, Mappamundi exhibition at Hereford for example, riverside walks at Shrewsbury (as long as it’s not flooded).

Easy back to Oxford from Ludlow (by train or car).

Ludlow’s worth a second visit 🙂

Buxton, Bakewell, Ashbourne??

Welshpool, Builth Wells, Newtown, Oswestry??

hmm, ok how about Bridgnorth, timber-framed buildings, ruined castle, nice walks aling the river, and steam trains and beer on your doorstep, what’s not to like 🙂

sort of en route from Chester to Oxford too!

Blackpool – loads of history and architecture like the grand theatre and winter gardens tours, the tower obviously, there’s the showtime museum now as well, Grundy art gallery. Then there’s the pensioners paradise Lytham st.annes just down the road, easy biking along the prom, some decent food to be had nowadays if you know where to look.

You said you’ve done Ironbridge and Ludlow, so might have covered Bridgnorth, but that’s a nice spot that no one has mentioned yet.

Edit – someone has now mentioned it!

Abergavenny is nice and characterful too, albeit perhaps a bit light on history.

Tewkesbury? Ledbury? Both slightly small but nice towns with some decent history to them.

Stratford upon Avon with a train ride into Brum on one day to walk some canals/museums/infamous streets, a visit to the theatre (book early), row a boat on the river, jazz night in a pub (can’t remember which night or which pub sorry)… .

I think you’d lucky to keep yourself occupied for a day in Knaresborough, but handy for Harrogate & some nice villages round about & not far to the Dales. So as a base OK.

Visit, Pateley Bridge, Grassington, Ripley, Ripon

Maybe Harrogate? Derby ticks a few boxes, easy access to lower Peak, flattish riding out to Nottingham on river paths/NCN 6

Clun above is a good shout, as is the nearby Bishops Castle.   Plenty to do between them.  Macynthlleth?

Is Knaresborough any good ?

as others have said, I’d plump for nearby Harrogate instead given a choice!

further south, Bakewell is pretty pleasant, plenty of ‘history’ aroundabout (Chatsworth, Buxton Spa, Peveril Castle, etc), and great cycling the (mainly flat) Monsal Trail…

Carlisle and/or somewhere along the Wall? Plenty to go at with days out if you’ve always headed for the lakes or Scotland but not the bit between.

Somewhere I went on a whim, and really enjoyed, was Lincoln and the Lincolnshire Wolds. A very lovely part of England.

Probably a bit out of your range but one for a future trip maybe

I was going to suggest Buxton although I’m not sure there’s enough for a week there!

Not far from some lovely scenery, the plague village of Eyam, Chatsworth House, Poole’s Cavern, plus there’s often some good shows on at Buxton Opera House. Monsal Trail isn’t far away either, that’s a nice out and back walk or you can hire bikes to potter along the trail.

Lots of Roman history around the town including the spa waters.

Short trip up to Winnats Pass for the caves (Speedwell, Treak Cliff and Blue John).

There’s a reasonable bus network around the place, but trains very limited – only one line up to Manchester.

Buxton/Castleton/Hope Valley or Church Stretton

hmm, ok how about Bridgnorth, timber-framed buildings, ruined castle, nice walks aling the river, and steam trains and beer on your doorstep, what’s not to like 🙂

sort of en route from Chester to Oxford too!

Also describes Dudley(ish)

Canals are just relaxed rivers anyway, right?

Bridgnorth and Much Wenlock ticks all the boxes or how about Cheltenham? But maybe that’s to close to home.

Worcester? You’re not far on the train from Birmingham or Malvern in the other direction.

I’d say Buxton too. Plenty on the doorstep including Monsal Trail (and hire bikes too some no need to take them), some good Industrial Revolution history nearby, Chatsworth, Eyam, Castleton caves and castle, stone circles a plenty, even striking distance from Sheffield.

Buxton

Alnwick – Berwick – Morpeth ?

As suggested above, Harrogate could be a good call.

Close to the Dales, Howardian Hills & Moors if out in the car.

Rail links to Leeds, York & beyond.  So many places to visit I doubt you’ll be bored.

English Heritage or National Trust members perchance?  Fountains Abbey is stunning and lots of other places to visit.

Harrogate – Fountains Abbey, Plumpton Rocks, Harlow Carr, train to York, lots of places to eat/drink  nice parks, Markenfield Hall a very odd place.

Stafford. Seriously, hear me out…

Just off the M6 (two junctions), nearby Stoke for the Gladstone and Potteries Museums – Staffordshire Hoard, dude, you have to see it, it’s amazing – plus a Spitfire… https://www.stokemuseums.org.uk/

Cannock Chase for walks (in the footsteps of JRRTolkein…) and cycling for all. https://www.forestryengland.uk/cannock-chase-forest

Stafford Castle (a bit biased), The Ancient High House, Shugborough, and the kudos that comes from finding somewhere amazing that nobody else has been to. https://www.enjoystaffordshire.com/

And, what is more, Oatcakes.

Skipton – lovely market town with a castle and a couple of good pie shops as well as easy access to the Dales and Forest of Bowland.  Also on trainline for Keighley (Keighley & Worth Valley Railway), Saltaire (Salts Mill), Leeds (lots of Victorian buildings and some good museums) and Bradford for a good curry.  Also handy for Haworth (Brontes), Ilkley, Bolton Abbey, Harrogate.

Wells, which gives you Glastonbury, Burrow Mump and the whole of the Avalon Marshes, Somerset Levels area. Wells Cathedral is wonderful, there’s the Bishop’s Palace, Glastonbury Abbey…

Pretty flat, by its very nature, so pretty easy to cycle around.

This is all well and good, and also Wells and good, but do you have oatcakes?

Harrogate already has some votes but I’ll add another.

Though you could easily get a train to Glasgow or Edinburgh and have a vast range of stuff to see and do, unless you are dead set on England (why?).

Llandudno very close to Chester if you want to see some seaside. There’s a big hill with a nice train that goes up it. Could combine with some Snowdonia and slate mine action.

Conwy? Castle,historic streets, near Llandudno, close to Betws y Coed.

Cheers guys, so Buxton, Harrogate, Ludlow, Bridgnorth and Lincoln (and others) to look into, so at least something to do indoors if winter is like last years ….

We’ve done Alnwick, Glastonbury, Llandudno, Cheltenham and quite a few others, and we’ve just done Edinburgh and Glasgow (and have done LOTS of Scotland in a motor home) , we’ve done lots on s + w coast so fancied a bit of variety, which for us is inland and middish England.

Wells, which gives you Glastonbury, Burrow Mump and the whole of the Avalon Marshes, Somerset Levels area. Wells Cathedral is wonderful, there’s the Bishop’s Palace, Glastonbury Abbey…

Did you even read the brief?

Slightly leftfield, but…Macclesfield

history, architecture, “character”,

Yup

walks (hosted or map made up country/river/canal) ,

Canal, Macc Forest, Lyme Park is not far, ditto Tatton Park. Possibly some hosted town history type stuff too

bike bimbles(decent surface for Mrs),

Again, Macc Forest (might be a bit hilly though), Middlewood Way to Bollington or Adlington/Higher Poynton, even Marple if you feel like it, canal back, is basically pan flat.

decent scenery,

Peak District on one side, Cheshire Plain on the other

etc not hugely busy.

Tick

After somewhere to spend a week but want some no driving days (but public transport is ok),

Buses to Buxton, trains to Manchester and Stockport (the area up by Underbank and the market is possibly worth a trip out for the history, architecture etc)

and with some local pubs/decent food etc.

Definitely.

Have you ever done the Heritage Open Days in September? https://www.heritageopendays.org.uk/

If you’ve done your local ones I’d be tempted to go away for a week to a town where they have some interesting visits to go on. (It would restrict you to going away during that particular week though)

There is also Hereford. You can then complete the set of historic English/Welsh border towns!

Hexham? Easy train into Newcastle or potentially the Western Lakes via Carlisle. Good bus links up to the Roman stuff, plenty of nice walks from the town itself. Not touristy in itself so likely to be cheap.