To All Non - British people?

Question

Have you ever been anywhere in the UK? If so, where and what did you think. Honest answers please...

Answer 1

Parts of the South seem ok, lot of violence on your streets at night with what appears to be drunks,an the litter people i watched just throw it anywhere ,no pride in their town, if they live there,can`t say i will be sorry to leave but, the way things are going.?

Answer 2

I am not a Brit but I do live in London. I am leaving UK in 2008 so I have made a commitment to visit as many places as possible in UK. The most picturesque area so far that I have been to is Peak District in Derbyshire. Oh Its endless moors and green patches! I was so stunned by its scenary I visited there twice. Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire was also breathtaking, despite the fact I was visiting in the month of December.
Cotswolds is not very far behind in the "Most picturesque areas" list. Bibury in Cotswolds is probabaly the most beautiful village in Britain. This village, which also boasts of the famous Arlington Row (A row of houses built in 1700's - one of the most photographed places in Britain) is made just for picture-postcards and nothing else. Burford, Bourton-on-Water, Upper & Lower Slaughter are also very much worth a visit (or two).
The day after I landed in UK (this was 4 years ago) I paid a visit to the Sherlock Holmes Museum in Baker Street, not able to miss it being an avid avid fan of the greatest detective!
Stonehenge - visiting there makes you feel like travelling back 5000 years to the past - a must-see.
Portsmouth Dockyard - that famous battleship of Lord Nelson!
Last weekend I was in Dover to see the White Cliffs; it was magnificent, even though half of the day was a wash-out.
I have been to Hull a couple of times, purely because I had a friend there. Even though not a tourist attraction as such, it was good to see how the main cities are different from London. Also been to the Trafford Centre in Manchester, one of the biggest shopping malls in Europe.
Been to Cambridge, it is wonderful to see how they have blended the centuries' old university into the town. Shakespeare Village in Stratford-on-Avon is an attraction in its own right. Also been to Scotland for two nights, could not much appreciate the beauty due to time constraints. Hope to go there again soon. At the moment I am planning the next-month's trip to Lake District.

Answer 3

Last month I visited London, Oxford, Coventry, Durham, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Isles of Mull and Iona, Oban, Ullapool, the Isle of Lewis, Inverness, Culrain, and Manchester.

England was very interesting, and I'm glad I visited. I particularly enjoyed taking trains and watching the BBC. I made some good friends, too.

Highland Scotland was jaw-dropping, eye-popping, heart-stopping gorgeous! It was also very meaningful to me personally and spiritually. I made good friends in Scotland as well.

I ate at one fabulous restaurant in Inverness, and some pretty good Asian restaurants all over Britain. Still wondering why I can't get tea or chopsticks in the Chinese restaurants there (actually I have a theory about the tea). In general, though...well, I didn't go for the food.

I miss the money, pound coins in particular. Your currency is much more interesting than American money.

Answer 4

I've been living in this country for 10 years and have driven almost everywhere. I came here from Poland. It improved tremendously. Especially places like Newcastle, Cardiff, Belfast, Glasgow, Manchester and Birmingham changed very much for the better. And the food improved quite a lot. There used to be almost exclusively supermarkets, and now you can find (although still just few) farmers' markets, butchers, groceries. The quality of life improved as people started looking more at France, Spain and Italy rather than US. This results in small towns regaining their individual flavours. 10 years ago an awful High Street with just McDonald's, Woolworth, Pizza Hut and KFC used to be the norm. The biggest social revolutions over last ten years?:
1) Coffee shops - something that I really missed when I arrived here from Poland. I could only find few in King's Road in London. Now they seem to be almost everywhere.
2) Luxury apartment blocks - ten years ago Docklands was one of few places where you could find nice and comfortable apartments, like they used to build them on the continent. There wasn't something in-between council flats in horrible tower blocks and the very expensive detached houses. So as a result you would have these rows of these really depressing semidetached houses inhabited by people who cannot afford to maintain them properly. Now the choice is much broader.

Answer 5

I've lived in London for 3 months (1990), and come back for a week or two almost every year since then. London is such an amazing city, especially if you get away from the centre. We usually live in a rented apartment in Earls Court, and travel all over the city. We have a favourite pub tucked away in a back street in Hammersmith, love to go shopping in and around Islington and in Borough Market, try to visit a new park every year, take guided walks all over the place, search for historical pubs and new places to eat, visit galleries and museums... People are generally friendly, and the Dry Martinis in Duke´s are sensational! I simply love London!

Answer 6

I went to London and Oxford. I was on a long weekend jaunt and I absolutely love your country and It's people. I went to a West Ham/ Blackburn match and was treated like a local. They were all amused that a couple of yanks even knew anything about the EPL. My husband is a rabid Arsenal fan. We can't wait to bring our son in a year or so when he is old enough to remember the trip. I am a bit worried though about your current Muslim cultural collision. I do worry about another terrorist attack. I hope y'all figure it out. I would hate to see any of the British people die from the hands of a home grown terrorist. I consider you my brothers and sisters and I am thankful that our founding fathers were Brits. Thanks for Shakespeare, The Beatles and Monty Python. Y'all are the funniest people on the planet.

Answer 7

Been over most of England and spent some time in southern Scotland. Spent the most time in the Borders.

Everyone we met was very welcoming to us Yank visitors.

Outside of the larger cities, the scenery is quite beautiful. The ride to Alston from almost anywhere is spectacular. If I could retire anywhere, it'd be in the Borders, can't wait to return.

A very different and, to my mind, superior lifestyle to that in the US.

And football (real football) everywhere!

Answer 8

I have yet to go to the United Kingdom. However, I am planning on going next fall with Florida State University's International Program to London for 15 weeks. While there, I intend to visit London, Stonehenge, Glasgow (I have a family friend who lives there), Edinburgh, Stratford-on-Avon, Harlaxton Manor, Chillingham Castle, and as many haunted houses/mansions/castles and beautiful cathedrals as I can find.

Answer 9

For DREAD PIRATE ROBERTS: glad you include Harlaxton Manor it's was built by an ancestor and is now the UK campus of a US University [Edmondsville?] You'll love it - it was where the 'The Ruling Class' was filmed - hilarious and worth watching before you come over here.

Answer 10

I have lived in the UK. Best place so far - Wales.

Hated Kent and the South. London exciting but impersonal.

Like the North, i.e Manchester and like the accents up North