Great British journeys

The ultimate journey

UK travel,Good Housekeeping,travel advice car in the sunset

Frustrated by airport queues and security screenings? Good Housekeeping\'s travel editor David Wickers chooses 12 journeys based in Britain, where getting there is as interesting as being there

Scenic drive

in the country,UK travel,Good Housekeeping,in the car,travel advice Robin Hood\'s Bay

Britain\'s collection of National Parks encompasses more than 5,000 square miles of our most precious scenery, ranging from the wild landscapes of Exmoor to the challenging contours of the Lakes, and from the bleak expanse of the Brecon Beacons to the bosky woods and heaths of the New Forest. On a single drive across the narrow neck of England you can scoop up three National Parks in one journey, with just two slim corridors of not-so-precious countryside in between. Starting on the Yorkshire coast near Robin Hood\'s Bay and finishing on the Cumbrian coast, the snaking, weaving drive falls almost entirely within the boundaries of the North York Moors, the Yorkshire Dales and the Lake District National Parks.

 

As well as investing in a good road map, detailed enough to pick out the minor roads across the fells and along lesser-known dales, check out www.nationalparks.gov.uk.

 

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Beautiful British drives

Postal service

in the country,UK travel,Good Housekeeping,travel advice posting a letter Apart from when there\'s a strike, most of us only think about the Royal Mail when we post a letter or receive one, but you can experience part of what happens between the two events by joining the postie as he collects and often delivers the mail in rural communities throughout the country. Postbuses carry more than 50,000 passengers a year on a variety of mostly daily routes and they can be hailed anywhere along the way, subject to obvious traffic constraints. The Postbus Route Finder on the Royal Mail website outlines all the routes with departure days and times and number of seats available, so there\'s nothing to stop you planning a full round-Britain whizz.

For details: 0845 774 0740; www.royalmail.com.

A country walk

Southwest,UK travel,walking guides,Good Housekeeping,travel advice footpath in Chipping Camden

Of the hundreds of miles of signposted footpaths that criss-cross the countryside, the Cotswold Way offers the most quintessential of English landscapes. The 100-mile path, which starts in Chipping Campden and finishes in Bath, combines superb views, fresh winds and changing skies along the crest of the hills, with soft green cuddly valleys and a series of handsome, honey-shaded villages to explore. As well as easy gradients, there are also lots of hotels, pubs and B&Bs to break your journey, making the route one of the most userfriendly of official long distance footpaths.

Check www.cotswoldway.co.uk. If you want it really easy, with someone to lead the way and transport you to and from the start/finish points each day, contact HF Holidays (0845 470 7558; www.hfholidays.co.uk), which has guided week-long trips with departures on 2 April, 10 July and 4 September, from £615 per person full board.

 

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Long-distance footpaths

 

Water course

outdoor pursuits,Southeast,UK travel,Good Housekeeping,travel advice boating on the Thames

There is nothing, according to Ratty in \'The Wind In The Willows\', ‘half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats\'. Having travelled 900 miles on England\'s canals and rivers while researching his book \'The Water Road: A Narrowboat Odyssey Through England\' (Robson Books), author Paul Gogarty picked the Thames Valley as his favourite stretch of water for its rich mix of ‘gorgeous countryside, historic sites, fabulous waterfront homes to ogle, restaurants and pubs to pull into, and swimming wherever you fancy.\'

For an official guide to all the country\'s canals, rivers and lakes, visit www.waterscape.com.

On your bike

eco friendly,Northeast,UK travel,Good Housekeeping,travel advice Bamburgh Castle The ultimate in green travel, as well as the healthiest and least expensive, is to journey under your own steam. Sustrans has developed some 12,000 miles of the UK\'s National Cycle Network, including several long-distance cycle routes throughout the UK. One personally tried and tested example is the Coast and Castles route that links Newcastle and Edinburgh. Part one runs in tandem with some of England\'s finest beaches, as well as passing a stock of Northumberland\'s castles, including the Renaissance treasure house of Alnwick, the so-called Windsor of the North, the hag molar ruins of Dunstanburgh and the not-to-be-missed (not that you could if you tried), colossus of Bamburgh Castle, turned into a home by munitions magnate Lord Armstrong. The 200-mile route then turns inland through the Scottish Borders via both Kelso and Melrose to Edinburgh. You can access the route at Newcastle and Edinburgh (as well as Alnwick and Berwick on Tweed en route).

Details: 0845 113 0065; www.sustrans.org.uk. Sustrans also publishes a guidebook and map pack (£12, plus £2.50 p&p), as well as a free bike info pack covering your local area.

Coastal cruising

by the sea,UK travel,Good Housekeeping,travel advice Isles of Scilly You can not only join a number of cruises sailing from a UK port, but also choose an itinerary that will take you right around the coast, enabling you to explore Britain and Ireland from a traditional maritime perspective. Fred Olsen, for example, has four circumnavigation sailings in 2010 on four different ships. One of them, the Braemar, has a very British feel (right down to the Boddington\'s on tap!). It is setting sail from Dover on 20 May on a 10-night trip including Dartmouth, Tresco on the Isles of Scilly, Dublin, Belfast, Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis, Kirkwall in the Orkneys (famous for its ancient Neolithic settlement of Skara Brae), and Invergordon in north east Scotland among its ports of call.

Details: 01473 742424; www.fredolsencruises.com.

Coach parties

UK travel,Good Housekeeping,travel advice Hampton Court Palace Travel in company, with a driver to worry about the traffic and a manager to take care of everything else, on an escorted coach tour. Titan HiTours\' wide choice of holidays at home and abroad includes a five-day visit around the Surrey Hills, featuring an excursion to Hampton Court Palace and Kew Gardens. Accommodation (four nights\' B&B) is in the Mercure White Horse Hotel, an old coaching inn at the base of Box Hill. Tours operate on selected dates in March and October, and prices from £495 per person include a VIP pick-up from home. Among other UK options available are trips to Yorkshire, Chester, Stratford-upon-Avon, the Cotswolds, Cambridge or Wiltshire.

Details: 0800 988 5858; www.titanhitours.co.uk.

Riding the rails

Southwest,UK travel,Good Housekeeping,travel advice steam train

Sit back, relax and let the train take the strain on your next trip to Britain\'s wild west - especially appealing at peak travel times when the roads can become seriously clogged. The Cornish Riviera - aka ‘God\'s Wonderful Railway\' - from Paddington to Penzance also offers one of the most jaw-dropping of all mainline window-gazing experiences, especially where Brunel\'s miracle of engineering runs right beside the sea along the South Devon coast, backed by towering sandstone cliffs. If the sea is rough, the carriages can get a soaking from the waves as well as receive the odd garland of seaweed. Be sure to sit on the left-hand side on the way there, right on the way back (the rail version of POSH!).

Details: 0845 700 0125; www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk.

 

 

 

 

Classic motoring

UK travel,Good Housekeeping,in the car,travel advice classic British car Push back the clock - but not the speedometer - by travelling in a snazzy old sports car such as an Aston Martin V8 Volante or E-type Jaguar. It\'s motoring at its best, purring along the country lanes of, in The Grand Touring Club\'s case, East Anglia, with a picnic in the boot and one of the region\'s top hotels, such as Milsom\'s at Dedham in the heart of Constable country, all ready to welcome Mr and Mrs Bond at the end of their ultra-smooth day. Prices vary according to the car and the hotel as well as the number of nights.

Details: 01449 775270; www.grandtouringclub.com.

One-horse power

Ireland,UK travel,Good Housekeeping,travel advice horse-drawn caravan Rent a self-drive horse and gypsy caravan and enjoy a gentle plod along the rural Irish byways of counties Mayo, Galway, Laois and Wicklow. Forget mph - you\'ll be lucky if you cover a dozen miles a day. The horses, which come with an owner\'s manual and instructions on harnessing, grooming, feeding and watering, can be pastured overnight on fields belonging to a number of cosy pubs. Prices vary; reckon on around £600 for a week for up to four people (short breaks also available).

Details: 00 353 94 903 2054; www.irishhorsedrawncaravans.com.

Ferry ride

by the sea,Southeast,UK travel,Good Housekeeping,travel advice 123 isle of wight needles

Often some of the simplest, most functional of journeys can be the most exciting. Even a jaunt across the Solent to the Isle of Wight, just five miles, is as promising as sailing to a foreign port and especially exciting at night when, as you approach, you can just see a fairytale of lights both from the shore and from the flotilla of boats plying one of Europe\'s busiest waterways. It\'s the ‘Isle\' bit that has kept Wight special. As one regular visitor told me, catching the ferry ‘is as relaxing as switching off the bedroom light at night\'.

Details: Wightlink (0871 376 1000*; www.wightlink.co.uk); Red Funnel (0844 844 9988; www.redfunnel.co.uk).

 

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