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Wife wants to go to the UK this summer. Planning on 2 weeks, flying into Heathrow. Wants to do some sights in London but mainly wanting to go to Scotland and Ireland. Wants to see Stonehenge and the Waterford Crystal factory. Other than that no other real ideas.

Anybody else been? What were some of your favorite things to do and see?

Can't imagine going there and not trying to get a tour or even a visit to any of the old, great gun makers. Holland and Holland, Purdy, Boss etc. Peterson Pipes too (for me).

See Manfred von Richtofen's engine from his Fokker Triplane in the Imperial War Museum. Visit an aviation museum:


https://www.britain-visitor.com/museums-in-britain/aviation-museums

IWM Duxford (near Cambridge) is Europe's largest aviation museum.

+1. I have done H&H, Rigby (try to get into the collector museum) and Purdy.

Tower of London, Hampton Court, York. sterling and Edinburgh castles along with Rosslyn chapel in Scotland.

My favorites were york and Scotland. Tolok the rain from lo London to York then York to Edinburgh.

Enjoy.

Spent 10 days last fall in Ireland, Great time, The Pubs, the People, so memorable.

Apparently Scotland is the unmentioned gem.

Regarding Ireland, Dingle Pennisula is popular, While there the Dingle Pub is a must,

Did Cork, Killarney, and Galway, Personally I thought the Castle Blarney was wayover rated,

Boat ride out of Dingle to the Blaskin islands was likely the surprise highlight of the trip, Whales Dolphins and Seals,

And the seafood chowder is crazy good in most places there,

If you’re in the area of Killarney, Muckross estate is worthy, For 5 star lodging there stay at Muckross Hotel and Spa,

Farmers market in Cork was outstanding, otherwise Cork is your typical city, Meh…..

Kylemore Abbey is worthwhile along with a dozen castles who’s names escape me right now.

Don’t be afraid to visit Belfast.

Hunt roe deer in the Highlands!

Wales is laid back for the most part, and it has a bunch of cool castles that Edward Longshanks built. If you go to the North, you can see Hadrian's Wall, and the Roman ruins where they have some have artifacts from the forts. I went to Holy Island where Lindesfarne castle is, and nearby Bamburgh Castle is worth a look as well. I went off the beaten path as far as tourist haunts, and the people were actually glad to see you. Ireland has the best food, or at least it did in the early 1990s. I'd try to stay away from the larger cities where ever you go over there. They are having migrant troubles these days. It seems their government hates them like ours does.

In no particular order: St Paul’s Cathedral. Downing Street. Trafalgar Square and the National Art Gallery, Natural History Museum, Buckingham Palace & changing of the Guard (Arrive early) Big Ben & Parliment, Downing Street, Westminster Abby, the Battleship there on the Thames. There’s a riverboat tour offered there too. As mentioned earlier, The tower of London & the tower bridge. All these are within walking distance if you’re in shape. If you’re time is limited, jump on one of the double decker tour buses running around for a good overview, then hit whatever looks best to you and your available time. Winsor castle is worth seeing but it’s a bit removed from downtown London. The above will keep you busy for the better part of the week.

I did see Stonehenge and Sherwood Forest about ten years ago. Personally, they would not be all that high on my priority list.

Edenburgh Castle and the Royal mile along with the surrounding area offer a lot of things to see. My wife liked seeing ‘Hogwarts’ and the ‘Harry Potter home’. She likes that series (I could have skipped that and been just fine). My dad lived in Aberdeen for a year or so but we couldn’t make it over there or to Wales during our last trip due the the weather and flooding. We took the train but I would fly back and forth if I were to do that again. We flew in and out of Heathrow as well both times I’ve been there.

Whatever you do, use the Tube, Uber or similar to get there. Don’t attempt to drive yourself.

As many have noted, London/environs chock full of sites and venues - particularly very special architecture, museums, historical buildings/sites and some excellent performances. I have enjoyed it every time and still not seen it all. Browse a good Guide book and choose for your special interests.

York was a very special place for a couple of days (the cathedral) on our drive to Edinburg (the Tattoo) and also had a great visit south to Bournemouth/Portsmouth and a fine auto museum at Beaulieu.

Cornwall and Wales offer slightly different scale, culture and pace - and well worth the time.

Overall, just too much to cover here. Have a great trip.

The distilleries in Scotland all give tours. Even if you're not a Scotch drinker the tours are Interesting. Lots of cool hikes in the highlands.

What Football/Soccer and drink beer, there’s nothing else to do there.

Went about 20 years ago.

Flew into Gatwick as it is further away from the crap that is London. Even then, the lady hosting me complained about what London had become mainly because of the muslim immigrants. Because of that we avoided London like the plague, pun intended. If I were to go again, I would definitely avoid London. It has only gotten worse.

We drove over to Wales where spent a few days to get some work done. Then on to Scotland. I enjoyed the countryside way more than I thought.

Be sure to stop in little towns and eat at the pubs. Food I had in general was not good (trying to be polite). But the pub food was good.

The environment of little local pubs is awesome.

We only made it into Edinburgh (sp?). That was a pretty cool day and a half.

I ended up driving about the whole way. We put close to 1500 miles on during that week. The driving was a bit tough. Takes way more concentration to drive there than you expect. Felt like I was a new driver again for the first couple days.

Can't help you any more than that. Good luck

Bovington Tank Museum.

Battle of Britain aerodrome/museums.

Don't know your timeline or how much you might enjoy but this is going on first week of June.

I'd certainly look into something along those lines were I to ever get to the British Isles.

I'm a bit of a soccer fan so I'd try to get tickets to a Spurs game if I was there during the Premier League season. Might even take in a lower division game just to watch crazy fans rooting for their favorite teams. (I'd not want to go to any HOCKEY games they might have there, I'd be supremely disappointed in the quality of play)

Most certainly would try out of the way places and find their regional foods.

I dislike big cities, so those would mostly be out of the question for doing touron stuff, other than a football game.

Would want to go to places like the Outer Hebrides and perhaps Jersey.

Wander over to Covent Garden and hit The Lamb & Flag for a pint or two and some fish and chips.

Drink Boddington and eat Yorkshire puddings