Durham is a small city nestled on the banks of the River Wear in the north east of England. It's famous for its Norman cathedral, 11th century castle and world renowned university, with this part of the city designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In his book 'Notes from a small island' Bill Bryson called …
Continue reading Day 1. A weekend in Durham
Getting there: By car: Blackpool has a motorway link direct to the centre of the resort – take the M6 to Junction 32 and the M55 will lead you there. By train: The town has 3 railway stations, Blackpool North, Blackpool South and Blackpool Pleasure Beach. With direct services from London Euston, Birmingham, Glasgow and …
Continue reading Blackpool – 12 top things to see and do
For our final morning in Manchester we planned a canal side walk that would be new to us. Making good use of our weekend tram ticket, we caught a service to the Etihad Campus taking less than ten minutes on the Ashton Line. The Etihad stadium is home to Manchester City football club and was …
Continue reading Day 3. Manchester canal walk – Etihad Stadium to Piccadilly
After the previous day's torrential rain, we opened the curtains to a dull but thankfully dry morning. After going out for breakfast our first planned activity was a visit to the People's History Museum in Spinningfields. We'd booked a timed entry for 11.00 a.m, and arrived promptly to look around this, the national museum of …
Continue reading Day 2. Manchester – Museums and a visit to Salford Quays
It was a dreary, damp morning as we made our way to the station for our weekend in Manchester. Conditions were no better on our arrival and as there seemed little likelihood of the rain easing we decided to spend as much of the day as possible indoors. We were more than happy to be …
Continue reading Day 1. Visiting Manchester on a rainy day
We planned a day in Oxford and arrived into the city's rail station mid morning. Oxford is located mid-way between London and Birmingham both approximately 60 miles (96 km) away and with trains from London Paddington taking from only 52 minutes it makes an ideal day out from the capital. It was a bright, pleasant …
Continue reading A Walk Around Oxford
We decided to spend the day in Reading, a town in the Thames Valley to the west of London. It's Berkshire's biggest town and also the largest in the UK to not have city status. Reading is a popular commuter town with a train almost every five minutes into London and the fastest services taking …
Continue reading Reading – A Walk along the Thames
Aldermaston is a small village in West Berkshire near to the Hampshire border, 46 miles (74km) from London and close to the towns of Basingstoke, Newbury and Reading. It is best known as the home of AWE, which is located just a mile outside the village, and responsible for the UK's nuclear deterrent. We'd planned …
Continue reading Aldermaston to Woolhampton on the Kennet & Avon Canal
Belfast is the vibrant capital of Northern Ireland and the perfect destination for a city break with a host of attractions to keep the entire family happy. Getting there: By air: Aer-Lingus, British Airways, KLM, Eastern Airways, EasyJet, Ryanair, Jet2 and Wizz Air all operate flights into either George Best City or Belfast International Airport. …
Continue reading Belfast – Top things to see and do
After checking out of our accommodation in the city centre we left our bags to collect later in the day and then walked the short distance across to Liverpool Central Station to take a train to Birkenhead Park. Our plan was to continue along the same line to New Brighton later in the day so …
Continue reading Day 4. Liverpool – Exploring The Wirral
