Where to go in the UK next? Theme[s] required

[Brock]

Inspire me! Tell me where to go [again].

 

At the start of this year, you gave me some great options for places to visit in the UK.

 

http://www.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/Motorhomes/Motorhome-Matters/What-are-the-must-visit-in-a-motorhome-GB-places/36970/

 

Of the suggestions that tickled our fancy, we have just the Isle of Wight and Bristol to do - both booked in for September and October. We've had a great year in the van, certainly the best since we ditched the children!

 

Next year we'll probably go to the Dusseldorf Show and do some touring of the German wine regions. Or we might nip over to Hymer's factory if we continue to have problems with the van.

 

That leaves us with a couple of free months this year and 11 free months next year. So where now? We've discounted the Coastal Route. We want a theme or two to see us through 2015/16 to broaden our understanding of Britain's industrial/agricultural/social heritage. Living museums are out but we do like small, local museums. Happy in rural or urban environments. We like the unusual/quirky/different but tend to shun traditional tourist places. We like buildings whether they be terraced houses or cathedrals. Maximum time away at any one time is 3 weeks and probably 12 weeks in the UK in total.

 

Give us a clue on the sort of themes that inspire you and might inspire us.

 

[Gwendolyn]

The smallest UK cathedral "cities"? I'm thinking of Wells in Somerset, Lichfield in Staffordshire, St David's in Pembrokeshire, Bangor in Gwynedd. These have a feel of market towns rather than "cities". There are, no doubt, others.

 

Visiting period film / TV programme locations? Do the research on the IMDb website.

 

Not sure why "living museums are out" for you as they have so much to offer. And the staff at one [i think it was Beamish] said we'd be welcome to park up there overnight. But if 'small and local' is what you prefer, then I visited a lovely rural life museum in the Yorkshire Dales last Autumn - in the village of Dent. Google Rural Life Museums and many come up.

 

Aberdulais Tin Works and Waterfalls in the Vale of Neath is a small industrial heritage site with the added interest of its being a place painted by Turner. Nearby - a short stroll - is the confluence of 2 rivers [Nedd and Dulais] and the junction of 2 canals [Neath and Tennant], with an old aqueduct. From there it's an easy drive up the Heads of the Valleys road to Blaenavon World Heritage Site and the Big Pit Museum.

 

Or how about heritage railway stations? Many of the waiting rooms and tea rooms on the platforms are furnished in period style. I particularly like the one at Winchcome on the Gloucestershire and Warwickshire Railway. The tea rooms Carnforth [not a heritage railway] is furnished just as in "Brief Encounter", which was filmed there.

 

Or chose the work of a particular architect for example and visit notable places designed by him / her. My particular favourite is William Burges - Cardiff Castle, Castell Coch, Knightshayes Court, among others.

 

Do you like the notion of Open Air Theatre? In the summer months there is a plethora of open air productions usually performed in the grounds of castles / abbeys / stately homes and so on. [Given our uncertain weather you have to wonder why..... but it happens every year.]

 

 

 

[Billggski]

National trust membership will give you a framework for a road trip, as will English Heritage or the RHS.

We've just done Yorkshire Sculpture Park, the Hepworth and Leeds museums, where you also have the National Armouries, and a free bus between sites.

You can then go over moors to the east coast, holy Island, Robin Hoods Bay and down to the Wash.

You could trace the burial places of British monarchs, some unexpected places like Derby and Peterborough.

The Potteries also has unexpected highlights, the new Wedgwood museum, Hanley museum with the Staffordshire hoard, Gladstone Pottery, Dudson Centre, Etruscan Bone Mill, Cheddleton Water Mill and Biddulph Grange.

[Guest Peter James]

Brock - 2015-08-31 12:46 PM

We want a theme or two to see us through 2015/16 to broaden our understanding of Britain's industrial/agricultural/social heritage.

 

I would put Beamish, followed by Black Country Museum at the top of the list, and say get there early as you need at least one full day. But then you say you don't want living museuems. Which just shows the difficulty of recommending anywhere for somebody else :-S

[Brock]

Thanks for this, so far! Living Museums are out because we have done nine in the last three years if you include the Severn Valley Railway and special days at the National Waterways Museum [Ellesmere Port] plus Liverpool Docks. We just fancy a change.

[Gwendolyn]

If you fancy linking our industrial heritage to literature, then you could explore the South Wales Valleys and read the novels by Alexander Cordell and Richard Llewellyn.

 

Or DH Lawrence / George Elliott / Arnold Bennett / Mrs Gaskell and various associated locations in the Midlands and the North.

 

One haunting novel is "The House Under The Water" by Francis Brett Young. It explores the flooding of a Welsh Valley to provide a reservoir to water England. You could link that to a visit to the Elan Valley dams. The novel is based on that Victorian enterprise, and is itself part of his Mercian novels sequence. All the fictional places have real life counterparts in the border counties.

 

[Billggski]

I forgot to mention Trentham Gardens in my eulogy about the potteries, you've just missed the wild flower meadow which is now just going to seed (like me) but the labyrinth and Italian gardens are still splendid, with a huge playground next door, boats on the lake and narrow gauge railway, and not forgetting the monkey forest, sit down and chat with Barbary apes!

You can stay a Cannock chase with it's cycle trails, or further up in the Peak District towards Buxton.

[Brock]

Billggski, we used to go on school trips to the Potteries to look at houses falling down because of subsidence. Occasionally I still go up to Mow Cop, a stopping off point for school trips. I have my motorhome serviced at Platts of Longton and usually spend the day wandering around Longton - got some lovely photos of the dereliction and the impressive library - or walking up to Hanley shopping centre to be greeted by a large B&M shop and the most dismal new bus station! Gladstone Museum is excellent. Spend a lot of time on the A50 going to the M1/east. I was a child when I last went to Trentham Gardens. I've never been on the Churnet Valley Railway. Last time I went to Biddulph Grange was with our boys. A beautiful, melancholic place given its history.

 

I have a soft spot for the Potteries though and perhaps a spell at the CC site at Leek beckons. I could easily link in a trip to the Potteries with a wander down the Welsh Valleys suggested by Gwendolyn, perhaps pushing into the Cotswolds or up to the Welsh railways so that looks like one trip sorted.