Going out in the UK

This is by no means a comprehensive guide, but it is all that I have done or plan to do, plus a few handy websites for those who have different ideas of what to do on their days out.

1)      Places to go in the UK: Whether you be visiting the UK or living here and looking for a day out this is a list of places to go, things to see and things to do. It is mostly just things I have done or plan to do (haven’t been to the highlands of Scotland or to Ireland yet). Often when you live in a country you don’t discover the delights because it is more exotic to go overseas…I have included websites at the bottom so you can search for your own places of interest.   

Places to visit:

London Aquarium Art Galleries (National and Tate Modern etc) Buckingham Palace Covent Garden Globe Theatre (summer time only) Horseguards Parade Houses of Parliament and Big Ben (the bell) London Eye London Zoo Madame Taussauds Marble Arch National History Museum Parks:Regent Park, Hyde Park, St James Park etc River boat rides Science Museum Theatres (West End)       Tower bridge Tower of London   Trafalgar Square       St Paul’s Cathedral West End       Whitehall Windsor Castle The underground (Tube/Subway)

South of England Chessington World of Adventure Croyde Bay (for surfers)   Drayton Manor (adventure park) Hampton Court Legoland New Forest (Hampshire) Stonehenge    

East of England Canal boats Stately homes Waterways. (Norfolk broads)

West of England Beatrix Potter (Gloucester) Battle Trail (War of the Roses) @ Tewkesbury Cotswolds – many villages and places of interest scattered throughout.  Forest of Dean Shakespeare’s Birthplace (Stratford Upon Avon)  

Midlands Alton Towers (adventure park) Black Country   Cadbury World (Birmingham) Oxford Blackwells books   Oxford Botanic gardens (but also in other parts of the country) Oxford Punting on the river (Very Oxford thing to do) Oxford Story   Oxford University (mostly is private)  

North of England Blackpool tower and illuminations Hadrian’s Wall Jorvik Viking Centre Lake District (Wordsworth country) Pennines  

Wales Beaches Brecon Beacon Ferry to Ireland Snowdon Wye Valley  

Scotland Edinburgh Castle Edinburgh Zoo Glasgow Gretna Green Highlands  

Ireland Donkey rides around the country

General Arbouretums Butlins/Pontins/CentreParc etc (Holiday centres) Castles/Cathedrals/historic places of interest Cheese Rolling Museums (most towns will have a museum of what founded that area – eg Northampton in the easy midlands is a shoe town, so the museum collects shoes from across the ages)

National Trust Sites http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/

Wildfowl and Wetlands centres http://www.wwt.org.uk/  

I hope that people find this useful. There is so much available in the UK and a lot of it is reasonably priced. If you live in London and have never done the tourist thing shame on you! And give it a go. Be a tourist for a day. I know they can annoy people, but that stands the world over. London has so much to offer.  

2) Methods of transport:  
Travel in London: http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/
National Express buses: http://www.nationalexpress.com/
National Rail (trains): http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/
Stagecoach Buses (cheaper than National Express and occasionally faster too!): http://www.stagecoachbus.com/    

3) Useful websites for much information:
http://www.enjoyengland.com/
http://www.britainexpress.com/index.htm
http://www.discoverireland.com/gb/
http://www.visitscotland.com/

Peace.
EF.x