A couple of comments;

I think you'd be barking mad to miss York for Warwick Castle (you have York as 'hope to' and Warwick as 'must see') - York is an entire town crammed full of history of many periods vs just one castle - plus, (its many many years since I've been there), my understanding from comments here is that Warwick has been 'Disneyfied' and its often recommended here as very suitable for kids - so maybe less suitable for adults?

Arundel - I visited it this past summer and you'd probably enjoy the "castle" , which is a curious mix of many different eras from 1300's (?) castle up to stately home (1800's)- but simply because its out of the way to all the other places I'd say skip it on account of that , plus you are visiting more castles than anyone should visit anyway, especially your husband :-) BUt OTOH ARundel is aneat littel village which you'd probably really enjoy :-)

At last we seem to be on the same page, Joe! I tend to agree w/you re: Arundel, but IF we can squeeze it in, I would probably still enjoy seeing it. The things in the south that we were orig. going to visit first are now the things we'll visit last. (Since we are standby, if we are delayed, I will change our date to fly home - prob. only if we haven't seen Hever as my dh knows that is THE place I just MUST see!)

RE: York, I am pretty sure we'll get it in as we will most likely stay there a night when coming "down" from Edinburgh. But Warwick - you are preaching to the choir, so to speak, here. I used to LIVE one hr. from Disneyworld in Florida! And it is one of my favorite places on earth! So I don't think we'll mind the wax figures or the children (the figures no doubt add interest and tell a story, I'd think. At least stories like those of us who just HAD to dine in Cinderella's Castle at Disneyworld love to think of!).

Bath is really one of the places I'm very uncertain is a "must do". (Now, watch - we'll go there and I'll LOVE it!)

Thanks and keep the opinions coming!

Warwick Castle Vs York? York.

Warwick Castle Vs Bath? Bath.

However, if you are a castle person then no amount of contrary advice will change your mind.

what could you leave out if you run out of time? You could leave each and every one of those things out if you were running out of time - *you'll* decide best based on *your* interests!

Another quandry for you: Cotswolds Vs York? York again for me. Cotswolds is nice but it is just glorified English countryside when all is said and done(and I'm a fan of Stow, Broadway, Bourton et al).

How long have you got ? need more detail on how long you are planning to spend in each place, and how planning to travel. e.g. Edinburgh to Bath would take a day by car.

don't want to start making you reconsider your whole trip but between Edinburgh and York are some truly fantastic castles, along the very picturesque Northumbrian coast.

Look up:

Bamburgh Castle (look at THIS pic http://www.bbc.co.uk/tyne/content/image_galleries/northumbria_icons_castles_gallery.shtml?3)

Warkworth Castle

Alnwick Castle

Holy Island & Lindesfarne Castle

Dunstanburgh Castle

Some ruined, some still used (although not to defend from Vikings)

Oh dear - here we go:

Must NOT miss: Edinburgh and York - medieval YES!

You are driving and like castles - drive south from Edinburgh towards York and pick up all the great Northumbrian castles as mentioned esp Bamburgh, Lindisfarne and Warkworth - you won't believe them - you like Disney (so do I) - these castles esp Bamburgh have featured on movies and TV.

About an hour north of York try to "do" Durham - medieval town and much which is older - as with Lindisfarne one of the UK cradles of Christianity.

Warwick is a good castle but as we've all said IS touristy.

Stratford - drop. Stonehenge - drop. Bath - drop!!!

Arundel - if you can but it's well off your track.

Cotswolds - pretty - I used to live fairly near (in Oxford) - but could be missed.

Oxford - many 15th and 16th century colleges.

Blenheim is fantastic but maybe too modern for you!

not going to repeat what others have said - but I haile from Yorkshire, and had many a woderful holiday as a child in Northumberland, it's stunning!! The drive down the coast from Edinburgh will take your breath away!

And as for English countryside - York is less than an hour from the Yorkshire Dales (where I find my peace) there's nowhere else quite like it for me - the moodiness of the dales, changing shape, colour & tone just on the whim of a passing cloud!! And more history than anyone could wish for!

Have fun - it's fab up north!

Linda

I think you could skip the Cotswolds, actually, seeing as you'd rather see castles, and maybe skip Blenheim Palace. Although it is a pretty area, I suppose. You could possibly combine it with Warwick Castle...

If you don't particularly want to visit Bath, then don't! If you don't go there, you won't miss it. I've never heard the Brontes mentioned in the same breath as Bath before... that's a new one. Normally it's all about Jane Austen.

Knole House isn't a castle, although I'm sure it's an interesting house to visit. All I can remember about the place is feeding the deer in the grounds (which the National Trust now ask you not to do)

I like Stonehenge. 5000 years of history, it's an icon. If you're passing then it's no hassle to stop for a look, but you may prefer not to go out of your way to see it.

What is it about Hever Castle that you HAVE to see? I'm just curious. I like Hever, but it's not on a grand scale like Arundel, Warwick or Edinburgh would be. Has anyone mentioned Bodiam Castle to you yet? ☺

Arundel is well worth a visit, as is York. Definitely so.

LOL, mlbcruiser . . . I do get quite a chuckle out of your postings . . . no offense intended whatsoever!

Your trip sounds as if it will be quite frantic and hurried, but I get the feeling this is how you travel ;-) Figured you get lots of different responses to this question, so here's my $.02.

Bath - I have never been there and don't think I've missed much for my personal interests.

Stratford on Avon - Skip it. Major congestion.

Warwick - Won't change your mind about this, lol, just be aware it's quite spendy.

Arundel - One of my favorites, lovely, but it is out of the way for you, I think.

More castles - I like HarryFossettsHat's suggestions for these on your northern swing. Have been to four of them and enjoyed them. I much prefer castles that are more off the beaten track and not quite so "touristy".

Blenheim - Never been.

Stonehenge - Yes, do see it, in my opinion.

Cotswolds - Pretty. Yes. So is *much* of England!

Would like to make a [gentle] suggestion that while it's all well and good to take a minute-by-minute itinerary, don't overlook allowing time to simply stop at something you see that looks interesting!

Also, unless you plan to take motorways whenever possible, do bear in mind that English roads are slower than ours. Many good roads still wind right smack through the center of towns, slowing your travel time down considerably.

Oh, lots of wonderful info. on these posts! This is what I was after!

O.K. I just saw the movie DUCHESS last nt. While the Royal Crescent looked . . well. . . like I expected, I think I'm going to cross Bath off our list - unless we are very close at some point. (Movie was not all Bath, for sure, and has FABULOUS sets. I imagine some were perhaps in the real deal castles, etc?) Actually, we could stay in Scotland for some terrific scenery and LOTS of castles if that was all we were after.

I BELIEVE I read that one or two of the Bronte's lived a short while in Bath. But I'm prob. wrong. I knew Jane Austen did for sure, and there were a couple of well known male authors who hung around the "society" there for a while mentioned as well. No matter. . .

The Northumberland route sounds wonderful! That is the way the major mapping services route the drive from Edinb. to York. While I know there wouldn't be time to see all of those castles (and I am not too interested in most of the ruins of castles, though I'm sure the settings and other things can be very interesting), that is the way we will drive. How often we will stop is another matter and I have to work w/my dh on that issue! He may get really castled out, but since he hasn't expressed interest in anything other than seeing Edinburgh (because he doesn't read up on any of this stuff), I mostly get to be in charge of the itinerary.

As for why do I need to see Hever? Because of who lived there, and who visited there, of course! BIG deal in history and a favorite attention getter re: the entire history of Great Britain.

I was planning to use the Cotswolds as time to sort of chill out and take a breather from the hectic pace that we usually like to travel at. We will go through that area, for sure.

If we spend more time stopping along the way to York, maybe it'll only be for one night, though. The Yorkshire Dales sound interesting,too - though perhaps a bit less important to us. Kansas (do you know the Wizard of Oz story?) is right next door to our state. They sort of have "moors" of their own - extreme flatness sometimes but also rolling grasslands of the rising in altitude prairie that can seem moody, or a place to reflect, w/almost NO ONE around for miles and miles. Maybe not really THAT much like the moors, but the other park - Yorkshire Dales- also sounds pretty. Anyway, prob. NOT ENOUGH TIME! Stonehenge - definitely we'll stop from the road, but may not be over that way if we don't visit Bath. Blenheim? Might skip it.

It will be interesting to see how much of my hoped for itinerary will be dropped. We have 7 days. So far 2 nts. in Edinburgh. One in York. One to two somewhere in the area from Warwick to the Cotswolds. that will leave 2 more, at least, to play around with, but I'm sort of figuring one of those will be going to Sussex for at least. We don't HAVE to actually be in London until day 8, and I'd prefer to be there by noon. So, if we use day 7 to visit Hever - even in the afternoon - we should be where we need to be. I will write a report eventually after our return and let anyone interested know how we did. Thanks for the help!