One week in February in the UK?

Question

We have two weeks in England/Scotland in February. We will be spending one week at work at Spadeadams base on the border between Scotland and England. From there we will have 1 week Fri-Fri to tour the UK.

What do you think? Should I spend a few days in Scotland and go to London? Split the time between just Scotland and Ireland? What are your suggestions as far as what to do? As it will be February, many of the "tourist" things won't be open. I'm going to buy Lonely Planet guide from some more suggestions as to what is *MUST SEE* in the UK.

I'll take all the suggestions you can give. What would you do, put on the border, and then you have one week to sight see?

Answer 1

How much you can see will be limited by how much you have to travel. If you can limit the actual transit time, since time is your most precious commodity, you can get a lot in.
Be realistic -- you can't begin to see everything in England, or Scotland, or Ireland, in one week. I would concentrate on the direction of where you will end up at the end of the week.
If, for instance, you're flying out of Edinburgh, you might focus on that city, and anything in the area between you an it.

Likewise, if you're going to end up in London, you might want to focus on stopping at a couple places for a day each on the way there (like York and Cambridge); then spend the rest of the week exploring London.

If you're ultimately leaving England from the Spadeadams base, make that the center of your day trips, to explore an hour or so outwards by car, bus, train, etc. Or again, take a train to a larger city (York, say) and explore it. A week will never be enough to explore any place, but you should be able to get a real good taste.

Keep in mind that you'll be there in the dead of winter, so any travel plans may very well be impacted by the weather (esp. if driving). You may only be able to explore your immediate surroundings. Given the choice in bad weather, I'd take a train or fly to London. There's always something to do, and see, and the weather's a lot better than up on the Borders.

When my wife and I went to UK in Jan/Feb a couple of years ago (our 5th trip then in the past 10 years) we stayed in London, and aside from exploring more of the city, we took train day trips to Canterbury, Warwick, Windsor, Eltham, and Bournemouth.

We've learned we enjoyed our trips more when we stayed in one place for serveral days and do day trips out, rather than rushing from place to place over too ambitious an intinerary in order to try to see everything.

Answer 2

i've been in yer situation before and if u manage yer time right, it can be an AMAZING experience. first, make sure to do some research. in ireland, make sure to see the BLARNEY STONE!
also, if u do enough research you'll find that all of the major sight-seeing countries in the UK are connected by water or railroad. so what should u do? spend a few days in one country, and hop on the boat or train to the next. not only do u get to see one or two countries, u get the adventure of being on yer own traveling across europe, but u will be able to see the countries people in their everyday life. sounds retarded, but its really an amazzing feeling to be in someone elses hometown just wandering arund. but try not to look too much like a tourist. because if you do...the people will think yer an eejit (ireland), tart (england), or an american (france) :)

Answer 3

S H _ T could you elect to purchase a vowel? February climate is gray, dismal, chilly and bleak. It rains, then it rains some greater, and then it snows. The temperature is wintry chilly, the rain is heavy and oppressive and the snow is... properly, it is snow. final February, it snowed so heavily that London delivery grew to become into stopped for 2 days earlier the bus drivers refused tochronic in such destructive situations. some years in the past it snowed so heavily throughout mid February that somebody lost administration of their automobile and wrote off my parked automobile. It snows. in my opinion, February is the worst month to pass to the united kingdom. It has no redeeming characteristics.

Answer 4

You can do London in a few days so split yout time between the two...it will probably be covered in snow in scotland come february! Enjoy!

Answer 5

i don't think there are any 'must see' things in England, oh they aspire to be but they just fall short... angel of the north and millennium dome come to mind!
go to Ireland, at least you can say you've been abroad! lol!