November 18, 2025 • 53 mins
This week on the podcast Tracy chats with listener Lauren Eanes, who turned her family’s shared love of books into a literary-themed UK adventure. From Dickens’ Broadstairs and Winnie-the-Pooh’s Ashdown Forest to Tolkien and Lewis in Oxford and the landscapes of Watership Down, Lauren shares how stories shaped their itinerary - and how she kept her teens engaged along the way.
You’ll hear practical tips for planning a smooth family trip: combining trains with short car hire, using Airbnbs and meal deals to budget for splurges, and building in rest days for happy travellers.
Packed with inspiration, logistics, and lessons learned, this episode shows how to bring Britain’s literary world to life for the whole family.
⭐️ Guest - Lauren Eanes
📝 Show Notes - Episode 176
🎧 Listen to next:
- Episode #46 – Discovering the Magic: A Guide to Visiting Harry Potter Studios in London
- Episode #13 – Trip report: A fun-filled family adventure in London
- Episode #123 – Family Fun in London: Cathy Stephens’ Trip Report
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (00:00):
In this episode of the UK Travel Planner Podcast, I
chat with listener Lauren Eansabout how she planned a UK trip
with a family of four builtaround a literary theme.
You'll hear how books inspiredtheir itinerary, the highlights
they enjoyed, and Lauren'spractical tips for making travel
with teens smoother fromtransport to food to downtime.
SPEAKER_02 (00:20):
Welcome to the UK Travel Planning Podcast.
Your host is the founder of theUK travel planning website,
Tracy Collins.
Each week, Tracy sharesdestination guides, travel tips
and itinerary ideas, as well asinterviews with a variety of
guests who share their knowledgeand experience of UK travel to
help you plan your perfect UKvacation.
Join us as we explore the UKfrom cosmopolitan cities to
(00:42):
quaint villages, from historiccastles to beautiful islands,
from the picturesque countrysideto seaside towns.
SPEAKER_01 (00:54):
Hi, and welcome to episode 176 of the UK Travel
Planning Podcast.
If you're planning a UK tripwith kids or teens, this episode
will give you plenty of ideasand inspiration.
I'm joined by listener LaurenEanes, who used her sabbatical
to design a literary-themedadventure for her family of
four, turning shared storiesinto memorable travel
(01:16):
experiences.
Lauren shares how she createdtheir itinerary with stops
linked to Dickens, Roll Doll,Winnie the Pooh, Tolkien, and
C.S.
Lewis, amongst others, and howthey balanced sightseeing with
downtime.
You'll also hear how they usedtrains and a short car hire, why
starting the trip with a privatetransfer from Heathrow made all
the difference, and how theykept on budget with Airbnbs and
(01:38):
meal deals.
By the end of this episode,you'll have a clear picture of
how to plan a family-friendly UKtrip that keeps everyone
engaged, cross-practicaltakeaways you can use for your
own itinerary.
This is part one of my chat withLauren next week in episode 177.
She'll be back to share thesecond stage of her sabbatical
after the kids flew home.
(01:59):
For this episode, Lauren, wouldyou like to introduce yourself?
Tell us where you're based, whoyou traveled with, and when you
visited the UK.
SPEAKER_00 (02:08):
So my name is Lauren Eanes.
I live in Harrisonburg,Virginia.
I traveled to the UK in July of2025 with my husband Nate and
our four kids who are ages 18,16, 14, and 12.
And for the last week of thispart of our journey, we met up
(02:30):
with some other family as well.
But the most of it was the sixof us traveling together.
SPEAKER_01 (02:35):
And for this episode, we're going to kind of
focus on that first part of thetrip when you were traveling
with your mainly teenagers and atween as well.
Yeah, no, she may be 12, butshe's she's been a teenager for
at least a year.
That's a bit of a daughter,isn't it?
Because honestly, that that'swhat happened.
Absolutely.
(02:56):
But what fascinates me, and uhyou you actually emailed me to
kind of say you you love thepodcast, and you told me about
your itinerary, which I thoughtwas absolutely fantastic.
And it was based around literaryfigures, uh books that you
enjoy, obviously books that thekids have been inspired by and
(03:18):
enjoy too.
So you developed this whole kindof a literary-based itinerary.
So, how did you decide to dothat?
I mean, what was that kind ofdecision and how involved were
the kids with all of that?
SPEAKER_00 (03:31):
Yeah, so um, I'm a Lutheran pastor, and pastors are
encouraged uh typically to takea sabbatical, often after like
seven to ten years of ministry.
And I am just starting my 20thyear of ministry and I'd not had
a sabbatical, so it's a bitoverdue.
Uh so planned the sabbatical,and uh it's four months long.
(03:54):
Um, and there's a foundation inthe United States that offers
grants for pastors onsabbaticals to allow them to do
things like travel.
Um, I decided to apply, eventhough it's super competitive.
I thought I'm probably not gonnaget this, but it's worth a shot,
right?
So um filled out this crazy longapplication, but the main
(04:14):
question that you had to reflecton was what makes your heart
sing?
Like, what could you do duringyour sabbatical that would make
your heart sing?
And I knew that the answer forme was to go back to the UK.
Um, I had studied in London fora semester during my undergrad
25 years ago and just fell inlove with the country and just
everything British.
(04:35):
And I really wanted to sharethat with my spouse and my kids.
But then we had to think aboutlike what specifically would we
do?
Um, and so we chose a literarytheme because of the role that
reading together has played inour family.
Um, we're a blended family.
When Nate and I got married, hiskids were six and twelve, and
(04:56):
mine were eight and ten.
And we both, before we gotmarried, had the ritual of you
know reading a chapter or two ofa book uh to our kids before
bed.
And when we got married, wethought, well, we don't want to
do that separately.
We'll do it together.
Um, the kids were not sold onthis.
My kids didn't like it when Natewould read, and his kids didn't
(05:18):
love it when I would read.
They wanted their own parents'voice, but we were like, no, no,
we're gonna do this.
This matters.
And so the first book that weread together, all six of us,
was Janny the Champion of theWorld by Roel Dahl.
And about a week into readingthe book every night, I came
into the kitchen one morning andthe kids were sitting there
(05:38):
eating breakfast and they weretalking about the book.
They were making all these jokesabout pheasants and like
sleeping pills and raisins fromthe book.
And I thought, oh, like I justhad this mom moment of like, oh
my gosh, like reading thesebooks together is giving our
family shared stories, our newfamily, these shared stories.
And so we kept doing it.
(06:00):
And then, I mean, it was COVID,and we literally had a captive
audience every night.
We during lockdown, we wouldread an hour, hour and a half
every night.
Um, and we realized that in thefour years we were able to do it
before like our oldest kids hithigh school, and it became a lot
harder to get everybodytogether.
(06:20):
Um, that in those four yearswe'd read like 40 books
together.
And they weren't all Britishauthors, but a lot of them were.
And so we thought, what if wewent on this trip?
What if we went to some of theseplaces that inspired these
stories that we shared together?
And our oldest had justgraduated from high school, so
(06:42):
things are changing in ourfamily, and this seemed like the
perfect capstone to this seasonof our family's life to revisit
these shared stories together.
So I put all that in the grantapplication, and apparently they
really liked the idea because wegot the grant, which was
fantastic.
(07:02):
Um, and so we involved the kidsin just what what books you know
did you like the most?
Where would you want to go toexplore these things?
Um, and just had fun dreamingtogether about what the trip
might look like.
SPEAKER_01 (07:19):
So when once you'd made that kind of, obviously you
got the grant.
I mean, when you made thedecision about right, we're
gonna go over, we know we'regonna do it based on the books
that that we've enjoyed as afamily reading, then how did you
start putting that itinerarytogether?
And I guess choosing which ofthose books were the most
special or the authors that werethe most special that kind of
(07:40):
appealed to you.
So, kind of how how did youstart doing that?
And then how did that kind ofitinerary come together?
SPEAKER_00 (07:47):
Yeah, um well, I really enjoy planning trips like
this.
I just I loved planning everysingle detail of this trip.
And so it took a long time and alot of research to really nail
down the final itinerary.
Um, you know, I read guidebooksand I was reading things, you
know, looking up all sorts ofthings online.
(08:09):
I um I listened to on Audible,they had um uh, you know, the
great courses.
Uh they have one called GreatTours, England, Scotland, and
Wales.
And it was this professortalking about, it's like 18
hours of this college professortalking about traveling in the
(08:33):
UK.
And I listened to all 18 hours.
Um, even though at that point,like I pretty much narrowed down
where we're gonna go, but I waslike, well, like I might get
more ideas, and I was justhaving so much fun um dreaming
about it.
Um, and then you know, ofcourse, the the podcast uh and
the website and the Facebookgroup helped with getting into
(08:54):
the details too.
But in terms of how to decidewhat books, um, we just made a
list.
We made a list of all the books,and we knew for sure, like I
wanted to go to Watership Down.
Like that was one that was likeon the list.
We're going there.
I want to stand on the downs andlook for bunnies.
So that that got on the listpretty quick.
(09:17):
And we did a lot of roll doll.
And so I knew I wanted to go toGreat Missenden.
Um and then we just kind offilled it out from there.
SPEAKER_01 (09:26):
So how long in total were you in the UK for?
Was it a couple of weeks?
Yeah, so this part of the tripwas about two and a half weeks.
Okay, so so you've got aboutsort of say about 17 days to
kind of fill fill up.
So obviously you can't go kindof bombing across the whole of
the UK in that time.
So you've got to kind of thinklogistically as well about where
(09:47):
you're gonna start and whereyou're gonna end.
So I kind of I know youritinerary because you shared it
with me.
But do you want to kind of talkabout where you started, um, the
different places that you wentand kind of what had inspired
you, which book were associatedwith it with that?
Now we can we could spend two orthree hours talking about this.
I know that.
And I I kind of want to go intoso much detail because there is
(10:07):
so much to talk about.
But I think let's kind of pickthe the main highlights that you
really, really enjoyed and thekids really enjoyed as well.
That you kind of went, oh, youknow, that that was really
special and that made that waswhat the trip was about.
So I know when you you you flewinto Heathrow and talk to us
from that point and where youwent.
SPEAKER_00 (10:26):
Yeah, so um, before we left, I'm envisioning that
moment where it's 6:30 in themorning and we've been on a
plane all night and nobody hasslept, and I'm standing in a
crowded Heathrow with fourexhausted and and overwhelmed
teenagers.
And and I and and our first stopwas Broadstairs, which is a
(10:48):
couple hours away in Kent.
And um, I knew from experiencethat it wouldn't be that big of
a deal to like take HeathrowExpress or Elizabeth Line into
town and then take the tube toKing's Cross and then get the
train.
But I thought, oh my gosh, Ican't do this with kids who have
never traveled internationallybefore and haven't slept all
(11:09):
night.
And um and so I think one of thebest decisions we made was we
decided to uh have XFA uh driveus from Heathrow to Broadstairs,
which I didn't know if theywould do.
It's a long drive.
Um, but you know, I could Iwrote for a quote and it like
didn't cost as much as I wasafraid it might.
And so I was like, all right,let's do this.
(11:30):
And that moment when we gotthrough customs and walked into
the main terminal area, and ourdriver's standing there smiling
at us, and he walked us justright out the door.
The car was right there.
We didn't have to think aboutanything.
We just dropped our luggage andcrawled in and and and rode in
the British countryside for acouple of hours.
It was that was a beautifulmoment.
So um, and our driver wasawesome.
(11:53):
I'm so embarrassed I can'tremember his name, um, because
he but I was tired.
Oh my god, he was wonderful andjust chatted with us.
The kids were asking him allsorts of questions about like
words that you know, this is howwe say it in America.
How do you say it here?
And and just different customsand food and stuff.
(12:13):
And and so we just talked thewhole time and and it was
delightful.
And he dropped us off, you know,right at our door in
Broadstairs, and it was it waswonderful.
So I have nothing but thehighest of praise for Riz and
his crew.
Um, that was so worth it, and Iwill probably plan to do that
every time I travel.
(12:33):
So it felt like such a splurge,but it it made our trip start
well, and that was huge.
That was huge.
Um so yes, we started inBroadstairs, which is maybe an
interesting place to start.
But we I wanted to startsomewhere that was a little
(12:55):
slower paced, that was a littleoff the beaten track.
London's a really busy city andcan be really overwhelming.
And I thought we need to justget used to being in England for
a little bit first.
And Broadstairs is not really onthe radar, like it's not really
in guidebooks and stuff.
And so we didn't, I think we raninto one other American tourist
(13:17):
the whole time we were there.
There were British touriststhere, but that was fine.
Like we we wanted to like be inBritain, right?
And so, and not just do touristythings.
So Broadstairs was a great placeto start.
School was still in session, itwas you know the first week of
July, so the beaches weren'tcrowded, we had beautiful
weather, so it was a great placeto just settle in.
(13:38):
Um, but the other reason wechose Broadstairs was for
Charles Dickens.
Um, we'd read a Christmas carolwith the kids, and then the
older two had read GreatExpectations and one or two
others, I forget, but they readsome Dickens, and so I learned
that Dickens spent many of hissummers in Broadstairs.
(13:59):
He actually visited there like19 times, I think, for weeks or
months at a time, and wrote partof at least part of eight of his
novels there.
And he had this real affectionfor Broadstairs, and they have a
Dickens House Museum inBroadstairs that was just
absolutely delightful.
(14:20):
The man who walked us throughwas so passionate, and they had
these interesting exhibits, um,and and we learned about just
things that were inspired byBroadstairs and Dickens'
writing, and that was reallyfun, and and it was nice to have
it be on a smaller scale and notso overwhelming.
So um that was our first stop.
(14:42):
And then the other reason we didBroadstairs is because another
author that we read a bunch ofbooks um from is Anthony
Buckinridge, which uh with theJennings series, which is not
super well known in the UnitedStates.
Uh, but when my husband wasgrowing up, he they had a
British friend of the family whointroduced him to these books
(15:05):
and he remembered enjoying them.
And so he's like, let's do oneof those.
So we like went on eBay and gotan old book and and read it.
And um, it's about a group ofBritish schoolboys in the 1950s,
and they're hilarious.
We just loved the Jennings andDerbyshire series, and we
probably read five or six ofthose books with the kids.
(15:26):
And as he was writing thosebooks, he was at St.
Lawrence College in Ramsgate.
And so we took the bus, it wasan easy bus ride there, and
there's nothing really to see.
I mean, it's just a school, it'sa you know, day in boarding
school.
Um, but it was fun to walkaround there and we got a
picture of the the blue plaqueon the junior college wall
(15:48):
honoring Anthony Buckinridge.
Um uh so that was fun, and thatwas the other reason then for
that.
So when we realized we could hittwo authors in that one place
and enjoy the British Seaside,we were sold.
SPEAKER_01 (16:01):
Oh, I just I just love it.
I just love the fact that thethat the kids were able to, I I
think it's that connection withthe past.
And it's like, you know, we weread those authors today, but
you know, they they they arefrom the past, but we can
connect with it by going andvisiting the places and seeing
those places that inspired themor where they worked, where they
(16:22):
lived.
And it just makes it feel alittle bit real, doesn't it,
when you kind of, you know,you're walking in the same
footsteps as these people.
Yeah, it kind of gives you thatconnection over the centuries,
you know.
Um so after Broadstairs, wheredid you head next?
SPEAKER_00 (16:37):
Yeah, so we actually took the train then from
Broadstairs to Tunbridge.
And we were headed to AshdownForest.
And originally I thought, well,we'll take the train there,
we'll rent a car, we'll drivearound Ashdown Forest, then
we'll go back to Tonbridge anddrop off the car, and we'll take
(17:00):
the train up to London, whichwas our next stop.
And the more I looked at that,just the logistics of getting
from the train station to thecar rental place, we'd have all
our luggage, renting the car,getting it back to the car hire
place before they closed thatafternoon, like all of that just
felt like it caused me anxiety.
(17:23):
And so I started looking um fora for a tour, and I found online
a tour operator.
Um, it's called Pooh Trux.
And uh Jerry is the guy's namewho does the tours.
He offers private tours for upto six people.
Normally he picks groups up fromEast Grinstead um train station
(17:48):
because people are usuallycoming from London.
But I wrote and said, Hey, wouldyou be willing to pick us up in
Tunbridge instead?
And he said, sure, yeah, we cando that.
And so again, we just steppedoff the train and onto a van and
off we went, and we didn't haveto worry about directions.
And it really was invaluable tohave a guide through Ashdown
Forest.
He just made the whole placecome to life.
(18:10):
Um, he knew so much, not justabout A.A.
Milne and EH Shepherd, but aboutthe ecology and the plants and
the birds and the history.
Like, I didn't know that AshdownForest had been used to train
soldiers in World War II tolearn how to drive tanks there.
And so just reflecting on thejuxtaposition of like this is
(18:32):
where Winnie the Pooh wasinspired, and um, and then there
was war training there, youknow, it just um it was really
phenomenal.
It was really phenomenal.
And and he was so good with theteens too.
Like two of them were reallyinto it, and the other two were
like, Winnie the Pooh, come on,you know, we're too big for
this.
But he just kept talking withthem and engaging them, and at
(18:55):
the end of the day, theyadmitted it was it was a really
fun day.
Um, all four of them reallyliked going down to the
Pooustics Bridge and playing.
SPEAKER_01 (19:04):
I was gonna ask, I was about to say, I was gonna, I
had to ask that question.
Did you guys pay poo stics?
You have to have done poosticks.
Of course, yes.
SPEAKER_00 (19:12):
Yeah, absolutely.
For sure.
Um and so, yeah, by the time wegot to the bridge, they were
into it, they were playing towin.
Um and I think they they wereable to put aside the I'm too
cool for this and just accessthat kid that's still in there
(19:33):
and just have fun and revisitsome of these stories.
Um, but also like on a deeperlevel, too.
Like I said, with looking atsome of the other dynamics of
that forest and that space andthe history there, um, and just
learning more about the life ofAA Milne, so much that I I
(19:55):
didn't know.
And that was that was reallygood.
Um, and we also then we went hetook us to Pooh Corner in
Hartfield, which is a tea shop,and it had really good food, and
it has this small museum um thatwas they definitely geared
towards like older like teensand adults.
Uh you know, it's not like alittle little people place.
(20:18):
Um and so we got to see a bunchof photos and a bunch of like
one of the original like Winniethe Pooh bears and things.
And so it was it's just a reallyenriching day.
And and I think that day was ahighlight um of the the whole
trip for us.
SPEAKER_01 (20:34):
It's it sounds really cool.
And I I have to confess that Ihave not been to Ashtown Forest,
and I'm like, I have to go.
I it's you know, I really haveto.
I don't know.
Um it it's it's so popular aplace for people to go and
visit.
And we often get asked aboutabout visiting um, you know,
there's so many people who lovelove Winnie the Pooh.
(20:54):
It's just it's such an iconic,uh popular books, but also just
the character of Winnie the Poohhimself and Piglet, of course.
SPEAKER_00 (21:01):
Well, and it wasn't crowded, it wasn't crowded at
all because honestly, it is alittle harder to get to, and so
um, so it's not a place whereyou're seeing hordes of
tourists, which also made itspecial.
Like we we felt like we reallywere, you know, could explore
the place.
And I think in retrospect, likewe could have done it without
(21:21):
the tour, but I, you know, Ididn't know before we got there.
But but you know, there arethere are maps and they have
different suggested walks at theforest center, and and you can
access those online.
And and there are little parkingplaces all throughout where you
can park and get out and walkaround and then drive a little
more.
And but I didn't know thosethings.
And so, and also like we if wehad had a full day, like a
(21:45):
really full day that we couldtake the time to just explore
and get lost and find our wayback out and all that.
But we really like we got offthe train at 10 a.m.
We were back on the train at 4p.m.
So for us, the tour reallyhelped us maximize those six
hours um and see things and hearstories that we wouldn't have
heard otherwise.
SPEAKER_01 (22:04):
So I think that's the thing about um when you've
got a when you've got a guide,they they're gonna tell you
things that you you you wouldn'thave no idea about because they
they know all that information.
They've got they either live inthat area, they've done all that
research.
So um I always think having aguide is so invaluable and it
just always enhances theexperience for sure.
(22:24):
And that's so you know youjumped back on the train.
So where did you go next?
SPEAKER_00 (22:29):
We went up to London and we spent five nights in
London then.
And um, and actually, London,there's so many literary things
you can do in London, and weactually didn't end up doing a
ton there that was literary, uh,just because we wanted to hit,
you know, the Tower of Londonand Westminster Abbey and you
know the places you have to go,National Gallery.
(22:51):
Um, but we did do an afternoontour um that was Shakespeare and
Dickens Old City.
And that was through um LondonWalks.
And uh we chose it uh because itkind of fit into our schedule.
Like we wanted to do somethingwith Dickens andor Shakespeare
(23:11):
while we were there, and thishad them both, and it fit in our
our time frame on a Sundayafternoon.
Our guide was a RoyalShakespeare actor, company
actor, and he recited like largesections of text in different
places that I mean it just madethe stories come to life.
So that was that was phenomenal.
Um, we also on our own, anotherone of the books we read was
(23:35):
called Sweep by Jonathan Auxier,and he is not a Brit, but the
book is is he's actually fromPittsburgh.
But the book is um is based inLondon, and one of the key
scenes takes place at the themonument to the great fire, so
we made sure to go there.
There are a couple other placestoo that we that are prominent
(23:56):
in the book, and so we made surewe got those to those places.
Um and we went to bookstores inLondon, of course.
That was another literary thing.
I really wanted to go to Dauntbooks, and I oh I just loved it.
Love, love, love.
Could have lived there, couldhave moved me in.
I'd been happy.
SPEAKER_01 (24:12):
Oh, I I'm terrible every time.
I every time I go into any ofthe bookshops in London, I say,
I'm never gonna buy anything.
My husband's exactly the same.
Doug was just we're terrible.
We go in and go, we're not gonnabuy anything, we're just gonna
get ideas of what we'd like tobuy.
We inevitably will come out withfive books each and go, so he's
actually at my mom's at themoment, because he's flown over,
(24:33):
and he's he he's realized that Ihave got something like 34 books
that my mom was like, Would youlike to please take these back
to Australia?
So he's now going through thesebooks.
It's just impossible, isn't it,to go in and go, oh my goodness.
It's just yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (24:45):
So yeah, we were carry-on only on the way there,
and we definitely checked asuitcase back with books, full
of books.
We we like went to a charityshop and bought an old beat-up
suitcase and filled it up withbooks and checked that bag.
SPEAKER_01 (25:01):
Oh, that is that is absolutely perfect.
So you had a great time inLondon.
You you did to see a lot of thegreat things.
You can't go to London withoutGoglet Tower London and see
Westminster inexperienced andand you know, it's just and we
saw a show.
Yeah, just so yeah, we we we didLondon.
Yeah, but the kids loved that.
So now after after London, wheredid you did you take the train
(25:22):
again?
Or did you go out what did hirea car?
What did you do next?
SPEAKER_00 (25:26):
Yeah, so we uh took the train out to uh Slough, so
not very far.
We just wanted to get outside ofthe city, um, and that's where
we rented a car.
Um, and from Slough we drovethen to Cookum Dean, which is
where Kenneth Graham lived andwas inspired to write Wind in
(25:50):
the Willows.
Um, and so that was a shortdrive, easy drive.
And, you know, so we we balanceddoing these guided tours with
self-guided tours, right?
Because we couldn't afford to doguided tours everywhere we went.
Um, and there's a map and anddescriptions of some um Wind in
(26:10):
the Willows walks in that areaon the National Trust website,
and I think the Woodland Trusthas it too.
Um, so I just printed those outand brought them with us, and
they were pretty easy to follow.
It was easy to find the car parkwhere the walks started.
Um, and they were descriptive,so you knew what you were
seeing.
(26:31):
Um, it was just it was abeautiful day.
We were so lucky with weather.
We we really just had beautifulweather the whole time, and so
it was beautiful, and it's justa lovely little town and walking
through Quarry Wood, which wasthe the inspiration for
Wildwood.
Like you could just imagine likeBadger there and Mole getting
lost trying to find his house.
(26:52):
And uh so that was that wasgreat fun.
So we spent a few hours uhwalking around that area.
SPEAKER_01 (26:58):
Oh, perfect.
And then did you hop back in thecar and then go off somewhere
else?
We did.
SPEAKER_00 (27:04):
This was a long day.
And in retrospect, probablywould have split this up into
two days.
Um, but yeah, we were trying tofit a lot in.
So we drove then to GreatMissenden, which is where Roll
Dahl lived for um 30 plus yearsand wrote all the books that we
know from him.
(27:25):
And it didn't take long.
I mean, they're not, it's notfar.
Um, but by the time we did thethe morning stuff, we only had a
few hours in Great Missendon.
And I there were so many detailson this trip.
And I'm really proud that almosteverything went off without a
hitch.
This was my one mistake.
I, for all the time I spent onthe Roll Doll Museum website, I
(27:48):
completely missed that they arenot open on Wednesdays.
And of course, we were there ona Wednesday, and so we pull up
and I'm like, no.
Um, but we made the most of it.
The museum has like, like on thewebsite, they have a countryside
trail and they have a town trailandor a village trail walk.
(28:09):
And um, so we had those so wewere able to walk around and see
the Matilda Library and thepetrol pumps from Danny the
Champion of the World and thehouse that was the inspiration
for Sophie's orphanage and BFG.
So that was great, you know,even though we didn't get into
the museum, we definitely stillgot to get like the feel of his
(28:30):
books and his inspirations.
And we walked up to his ummemorial, the Rolldoll Memorial,
where he's buried, and just areally peaceful spot.
We enjoyed just sitting thereand and relaxing.
Um, so we definitely still didenjoy Greatness and Den, even
though I just have to go backsomeday to go to the museum.
(28:52):
And we didn't get to do thecountryside trail because that's
a little longer, and I reallythat takes you like into the
woods that were the inspirationfor Danny the champion of the
world.
So so I just have to go back.
That's that's all there is toit.
Absolutely, absolutely.
But we did, we we ate dinnerthat night at the Nag's Head,
(29:12):
which was Roll Doll's local, andand it it's really cool place,
just full of character.
It is like from the 15th centuryor something, and the food was
good, that was one of the bestmeals we had, and just a really
lovely place to visit, and feltlike, oh, like we're sitting in
the pub where Roll Doll used tosit.
SPEAKER_01 (29:29):
So that was fun.
That's cool.
That is really cool.
So obviously, this is quite along day.
So you had your meal in the pub,and then what did you did you
stay in the area or did you headoff somewhere?
SPEAKER_00 (29:40):
Yeah, no, then we drove to Oxford.
SPEAKER_01 (29:44):
I mean, the beauty of the fact that you were there
in July is that the days arevery long, so you've got a lot
of hours of daylight, whichwould help.
Um very much did.
SPEAKER_00 (29:54):
Yeah.
Um, and we'd had a good meal,and so the kids just kind of
they started to doze off in thecar.
We got ourselves to Oxford.
It wasn't that long of a drive,but um maybe an hour, yeah.
And so yeah, got in kind oflate, but but that was all
right.
We were in Oxford, so that waswonderful.
Um and so we had planned to doOxford as um sort of
(30:19):
self-guided.
I had purchased um an app.
Um it was like a scavenger hunt.
Um, it was called Treasure HuntOxford.
And I convinced my daughter, the16-year-old, to do it with me
that morning.
She was the only one I couldconvince to even try it.
Because they all thought this isjust gonna be stupid and cheesy.
(30:41):
And it was actually a lot offun, and it gave us a really
great overview of the city.
Um, so that was an inexpensiveway to just yeah, get an
overview and get our bearings inOxford.
So that was great.
And that morning, then weactually realized we were doing
really well on our food budget.
(31:02):
We were spending a lot less onfood than we had planned, and so
we were like, we have a littleextra money.
Like, why don't we just do atour?
Why don't we do a Tolkien andLewis tour?
Because that was was why we werethere in Oxford was to explore
their lives there.
And so I jumped online, Imanaged to book a private tour
with a guide from um, well, Ithink it was just on via tour,
(31:25):
but it he was through VisitOxford, and it was focused on
Tolkien and Lewis, and the girlsopted out, so it was just four
of us plus the guide, and so hereally personalized it for us,
and because we were such a smallgroup, he was able to take us
places that you know, behind thescenes that you wouldn't be able
to do with a bigger group.
So that was was really special.
(31:46):
Um, we went into the he took usinto the gaffer's office at
Blackwell's bookshop, um, whichis like the original office
that's been preserved.
And he like pointed to a chairand he's like, that is probably
the chair where Tolkien sat tolike sign his contract for these
books.
I was like, oh my gosh.
Um, so that was cool.
(32:07):
And he took us to some places inin one of the colleges that tour
groups usually don't go.
And so so that was reallyspecial.
And again, made the splurgeworth it to get to to do behind
the scenes.
Um, but I think you we couldhave done Oxford on our own.
There's so much there to see anddo, and there's so many
resources.
Um, I had listened before wewent to a to a like a walking
(32:31):
tour on on just on ApplePodcasts.
Someone has like a guided tourof Oxford that they've recorded.
And you know, we could have donethat and gotten a lot out of it
still.
So yeah, but the tour was fun.
It was good.
SPEAKER_01 (32:45):
Yeah, yeah.
It sounds good.
And what did the girls do?
Did they just have a chill outday?
SPEAKER_00 (32:50):
Yeah, because as previously mentioned, the day
before was kind of long.
And so, yeah, and the16-year-old had like gone
exploring with me in themorning.
Um, but the 12-year-old was justlike, I'm done.
I need a down day.
And we were like, Yeah, we getthat.
And so, yeah, the two of themjust hung out at we were at an
Airbnb and they hung out therewhile we were doing the tour.
(33:11):
And everyone was happy.
So it was good.
SPEAKER_01 (33:13):
Yeah, I think sometimes it's good to have
those kind of built-in days thatyou can have that bit of
flexibility, I think, justbecause it can get tiring.
And I always think it's like bythe time you get to like day
seven, eight, nine, ten, it's itcan get a bit full on, and
you're like, right, I just needit, just a little bit of a
breather to then appreciatethings a little bit further on
in the next few days that youdo, I think it helps.
SPEAKER_00 (33:35):
Yeah, absolutely.
And we we tried to build some ofthat into the schedule, and then
we told the kids ahead of time,like there are going to be some
activities that are mandatory,fun.
Like you can say, can I skipthis?
And we will tell you no.
Like there are some things youhave to do.
You just have to do.
But then there will be otherthings that that we will say.
Like, if you really are like,I'm done, I need to relax, like
(33:55):
we will respect that and we'llfigure out a way to make it
happen.
It was easier with the oldertwo, right?
For if they needed to opt out.
We weren't gonna like leave the12-year-old home alone in a
strange city, right?
That wasn't gonna happen.
But um, but we really tried tobe flexible when we could.
And that made them more willingto do the mandatory things
because they knew that like theydid have some autonomy, they did
(34:17):
have some say in how this tripwas gonna go.
SPEAKER_01 (34:19):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (34:20):
Um, and so yeah, yeah, that worked out.
SPEAKER_01 (34:24):
So after Oxford, what did you do next?
SPEAKER_00 (34:27):
Yeah, so then we drove down to Whitchurch in
Hampshire, which is whereRichard Adams uh wrote Watership
Down.
Um, and again, for that one, Ijust found some walking guides
online.
Um, there's the Watership DownTrail, which is a 24-mile
circular walk.
(34:48):
We were not gonna do 24 miles.
Um that was not gonna happen.
We we were able to do a goodportion of it.
We probably did about four milesof walking, and we got to see a
number of the key places in thebook.
Um, we did not see any rabbits,sadly.
Oh yeah, but I mean, but just tolike be like, oh, like this is
(35:13):
the farm where you know they,you know, where fiber had to be,
you know, they had to escapefrom there and all that, you
know, like just like this iswhere this book take but took
place.
Uh was really cool.
And the landscape there is justbeautiful.
It's just beautiful.
Um it's in um, it's in an areaof what is it, area of
(35:36):
outstanding natural beauty.
Yeah.
Um the North Wessex Downslandscape.
And so it was gorgeous.
We just we walked through footlike woodlands and farmlands and
up the high chalk ridge.
And so even if it wasn't for thebook, like I would have enjoyed
that day very much.
(35:56):
It was a lovely, lovely place towalk and just yeah, be out in
the country.
SPEAKER_01 (36:03):
Yeah, and that sounds really good.
And was is this nearing the endof the trip now?
Because I know you then head toParis.
So is this the bit where weknow?
SPEAKER_00 (36:14):
So then we spent a few days.
We drove to we stayed in thetown of Westbury, which is
outside of Bath.
So Nate's cousin and his wife,he's he's American and he
married a British amazingBritish woman.
They're a great family, andthey've got a son.
And so we spent the weekendhanging out with them, and they
(36:36):
took us to bath and we walkedall around there.
They showed us around and wewalked up the the cliff.
There's a white horse there, andum, so mainly just hung out with
them and and the kids got tomeet uh their cousin and and
hang out with them, and so thatwas that was great.
Um Jane Austen fans.
SPEAKER_01 (36:57):
I have to ask, is there any Jane Austen fans in
your family yet?
SPEAKER_00 (37:00):
Yeah, I mean we we like walked past the Jane Austen
Center and I took a picture, butI like Jane Austen, but nobody
but I but I but it's not like anobsession with me, and nobody
else in the family was reallyinterested.
So that was all right.
That was all right.
It was good just to just to seeand you know pretend I was in
(37:22):
Bridgerton and you know, just itwas good to just walk around.
SPEAKER_01 (37:27):
That's to be doing um baths are lovely city as well
to base us off for for a fewdays.
I mean it's just did you go tothe Roman bus?
Did you please tell me you wentto the Roman bus?
SPEAKER_00 (37:38):
It no, so I've been there before.
Like when I when I when I wasthere 25 years ago, I had I had
done all of that.
And I was like, guys, you'regonna love this, it's gonna be
cool.
And they were not interested.
So I was like, guys, but allright, I'm not gonna pay for it
if you're not we don't want todo it.
So a couple of us went into theBath Abbey and and walked around
(38:00):
there, which is just gorgeous.
Um but yeah, they decided theydidn't want to do that.
What are we doing?
But again, I tried to reallyhonor.
Yeah, like I didn't need to go.
I'd been there before.
And so I'm like, if you reallydon't want to, okay.
Like this is your vacation too.
SPEAKER_01 (38:17):
And so and they're only young, you know, when they
grow up when they're older, theymight go, actually, that's
something we want to do.
But yeah, I think that's good.
No, I think that's true.
You you have to, you gottakinda, as you say, give them a
bit of the autonomy and a bit ofspace for things that maybe
don't interest them as much.
SPEAKER_00 (38:33):
Um right, and maybe, like you said, maybe it will
later.
It it gives them anintroduction, it gives them a
taste of things.
Exactly.
So from there, then we went backto London and we met up with um
Nate's parents and my dad and myaunt and cousin.
So they had all been doing theirown travels through the UK um
(38:56):
for that week before.
And then we all met up and uhdid some things in London that
day.
So that allowed us to checkHarry Potter off the list doing
the Harry Potter studio tour.
Um and and my daughter reallywanted to do a Jack the Ripper
tour, and so we did that.
She's a true crime podcastperson.
(39:18):
So so we did that.
That was it was fun.
It was a fun day.
And then we got up the nextmorning very early and got on
the Eurostar and went to Paris.
So we spent two nights, threedays in Paris.
And um the 12-year-old wasdesperate to get to the top of
the Eiffel Tower, so we madesure that happened at sunset.
(39:39):
She was very specific.
Top of the Eiffel Tower atsunset, and it was everything
she had hoped for and more.
It was a beautiful sunset thatnight.
I mean, it was just incredible.
So we did that.
We also, the the literary thingwe did there was um going to the
Victor Hugo House um museum.
Um, one of the last books thatwe had read with the kids before
(40:02):
it just got too hard to do wasLes Miserables.
And so it was an abridgedversion, I will say that,
because it's a super long book.
But even the abridged version isvery long.
Um, but we had read thattogether and then we had gone to
see the musical here in theStates uh last year.
And so we had to go, you know,and check out his his recreated
(40:24):
apartment there uh in Paris.
And um yeah, it was interesting.
You know, it's sort of sensoryoverload in there.
That guy had some colorfultaste.
Uh so a lot of a lot of historythat was probably more
interesting to me and my husbandthan to most of the kids, but uh
but still worth worth checkingit out.
(40:45):
And we went to in Paris, one ofthe intersections where like the
barricades were in Le Miz.
And so they were able to imaginethat.
And um yeah, so that was it wasfun.
But but again, we we did sort ofan intro to the city type thing
of you know, seeing Notre Dameand you know, just going to the
(41:06):
the key places.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (41:08):
So that was really fun.
And then the kids went home andyour pet well, what happened to
the city?
SPEAKER_00 (41:16):
Yeah, so we took the Eurostar back to London, and
then the next day we put thekids on a plane at Heathrow, um,
and continued on on our journey,which I think we're gonna talk
about more later.
SPEAKER_01 (41:31):
Yeah, we're gonna talk about that next, that'll be
in next week's uh podcastepisode.
So yeah, that'll that'll be goodto talk about what you did after
the kids had gone home.
So that's really good.
Yeah.
But I think before we get toobviously next week, we're gonna
talk about how that uh how youplanned that and what that
looked like.
Um I think it'd be really usefulto just talk about the little
bit of the logistics oftraveling with four kids too.
(41:54):
So this, you know, how did youhow did you find the trains?
How did you find driving?
Because I know those are kind ofquestions that we get asked a
lot.
I mean, you did the right thingby picking up a car outside of
London.
Um, I say that all the timebecause driving in London is not
something to be taken lightly,and I just say that don't do
(42:14):
that.
Just it's like if you'relistening to the podcast now and
you're thinking about hiring acar in London, don't.
That's all good.
SPEAKER_00 (42:20):
Yes, I like fully support that decision.
Do not do it.
We were so glad we did it theway we did.
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (42:26):
Yeah.
So how did you find the trains?
How did you find uh the drive?
And I know you use the trippyammo um to help prepare you for
driving, and I know that's ait's an extremely good resource.
Um, and I'm sure I'm sure thetrain stuff that obviously Doug
Doug's the train expert, so I'msure a lot of the train podcasts
and hopefully resources wouldhave helped you with that.
SPEAKER_00 (42:46):
Yes, they absolutely.
In fact, that one train episodecame out shortly before, a
couple weeks before we left.
And even though all our planswere in place, I just listened
to that one ravenously.
Like, okay, like just any of theother details.
And there were, there were a fewdetails that I was like, oh,
that's really good to know.
So yeah, the train stuff fromDoug is so helpful.
You know, we didn't really haveany trouble with the train
(43:07):
travel at all.
It really is, it's so muchbetter there than it is here in
the States.
That, you know, for us, it justfelt so smooth and so easy.
You know, I booked all of almostall of the trains before we
left.
Um, I just used the NationalRail app and you know, that just
leads you through, you know, andthen you click and it takes you
(43:30):
to whichever train serviceyou're using.
And so I downloaded those apps.
It took a little bit of time.
Like that was something bookingthe train tickets.
I felt like I just needed tospend a lot of time just poking
around the websites, playingaround, figuring out how these
things work.
Um, and putting that time in onthe front end made it worth it
because everything was very,very smooth and easy once we
(43:53):
were there.
Everything was like on ourphones, on our app, put it in
Apple Wallet, good to go.
Um, and we never had a troublefinding seats together.
Um, I think one of the trains,we were split up a little, but
we were all in the same coach.
Um, but most of them, they didnot require seat or even offer
(44:14):
seat reservations, and it wasnot a problem to find seats
together.
Um, we were carry-on only, as Isaid, so we weren't dealing with
huge luggage situations, and sothe trains were easy from that
standpoint.
Um that definitely makes sense.
So, yeah, I love train travel.
And I I would have done alltrains for the whole trip if if
(44:36):
we could have made that work.
Um, but because some of theplaces we were going were a
little harder, even if they werethey like they aren't hard to
get to by train, but they'rehard to get from one to the
other by train.
Yeah.
Um, so we didn't want to likehave to keep going back into
London and back out again.
And so so that's why we rentedthe car for the second half of
the trip.
And we rented, I mean, it was abig vehicle, and on some of
(45:00):
those backcountry roads, it washarrowing.
SPEAKER_01 (45:06):
I can imagine.
SPEAKER_00 (45:07):
Yeah, they're quite narrow, but yeah, but um, but it
was okay.
Like my my husband really justadapted pretty quickly to being
on the left-hand side of theroad.
And um, I was the navigator andand and it was good.
Um the Tripyama was great.
(45:27):
Um, the the little episode onroundabouts is like totally
worth the price of admission.
If you don't do anything else onTripyamo, make sure you watch
that because roundabouts we haveroundabouts in the US, but they
didn't, they're not like theroundabouts in the UK.
Um, we have cute little circlesthat are very lame, um, but
(45:47):
they're like hardcoreroundabouts in in the UK.
And and once you get used to it,like once you there's a logic to
it.
And once you learn that logic,then it's not hard.
Um, and so that episode, Ithink, really of the Tripiano
really helped so much.
Um, but but all of it was good.
We were glad we did that.
That was worth it.
(46:09):
Yeah, so in terms of likeaccommodations, we're a family
of six, like we hotels reallydidn't make sense.
And so we used Airbnbs foreverything except, I guess the
night before we left for theEurostar, we were in a hotel
right by St.
Pancras.
So we could get up at 5 a.m.
(46:29):
and get over there.
SPEAKER_01 (46:30):
And I have to tell you, Lauren, that's the same
hotel that we stay in when wecatch the we've tried a lot of
the hotels around uh because weget the early train over to
Paris or Amsterdam.
And when I saw the hotel, I waslike, oh, that's the one we
stayed at last December when wewent over to Amsterdam.
SPEAKER_00 (46:47):
Um it's you know, pretty, pretty decent price and
feels pretty safe.
And yeah.
So yeah.
So other than that, though, wewere in Airbnb's and that was
wonderful for us and the waythat we travel.
Um, the first place we go everytime we arrive in a new town,
we'd go to the grocery store,we'd get food for breakfast,
food for lunch.
(47:08):
Many days we would we would packa lunch um and take it with us.
Um, we did a lot of meal dealsfor dinners.
Um, being in a crowded, busyrestaurant at dinner like is not
relaxing for us.
And so to be able to just throwsomething together real quick
that was good price and prettyhealthy, um, and just have a
(47:29):
relaxing night in each nightafter a busy day out was great.
SPEAKER_01 (47:34):
I think it's really fun as well because it gives you
that flexibility.
You can get up, have yourbreakfast, everybody can have
the breakfast at their own pace.
As you say, you get the chanceto go and explore some of the
supermarkets, which are amazingin the UK.
Yes, yeah.
Yeah, I mean, like the mealdeals are brilliant.
And then, and as you say, youget back, you can relax in your
own place in the evening andcook your meal.
(47:56):
It's also really good if you'rebudgeting as well to do that
because eaten out with a familyof six, it that's soon gonna add
up.
But it's not it is not cheap toeat out in the UK.
SPEAKER_00 (48:05):
Um but talking about no, and as I said, like that
that helped us be able to doother stuff because we were
saving way more money than wethought.
And so we were able to put thattowards other priorities, and
that was great.
And we did eat out atrestaurants too, but just not
every day.
SPEAKER_01 (48:20):
So I was gonna ask you, we're talking about food.
Then was there anything inparticular that you or the kids
really enjoyed in restaurants orcafes?
Was there anything where youwent, oh, these are this is
good?
SPEAKER_00 (48:29):
Yeah.
Um, we we went to duck andwaffle in London, which is up on
the you know, 40th floor, uhoverlooking the city while
eating brunch, and it just has acool vibe.
Um, so it's that's a good place,I think, for teens.
They they liked that a lot.
Um, I mentioned the Nag's headin Great Missendon.
That was great.
Um in Broadstairs, there wasthis restaurant called Please
(48:52):
Sir, um, like becauseeverything's Dickens theme.
Um, and they served smashburgers.
And we we were just kind oflooking at the menu outside, and
the owner saw us, and he's like,Oh, you guys, like, come in.
This is gonna be the best burgeryou've ever eaten.
He said, I know that's a boldclaim saying that to Americans,
because Americans know they'reburgers, but this is gonna be
(49:12):
the best burger you've evereaten.
And we're like, well, okay,we'll give it a try.
And I have to admit, it wasdefinitely up there in the best
burger I've ever had.
It was really good.
Uh so yeah, that's calledplease, sir.
Um, and we had some great Indianfood along the way too, just
from like little hole in thewall places.
I think the Brits have the bestIndian restaurants.
(49:33):
So I know absolutely.
SPEAKER_01 (49:35):
So if you're gonna, if you kind of look back on your
trip now, is there anything thatyou would change or add to your
itinerary if you did it nexttime?
If you get the chance to do itagain, what would you do
differently?
SPEAKER_00 (49:48):
Yeah.
One place that we had to dropfrom our itinerary because it
just didn't make sensegeographically, was um to go up
to the Lake District and see theBeatrix Potter stuff there.
So I'd love to do that.
That would be great.
Um, I I would love to do go toTorquay and do the Agatha
Christie stuff there.
(50:09):
Oh, and and um Whitby forDracula.
That would be fun.
SPEAKER_01 (50:13):
There's so many places to go to, isn't this?
I know it really is the giftthat keeps giving the UK when it
comes to to writers, becauseit's this, or it's just it is
amazing.
Um now this is a kind of theopportunity to give a bit of a
shout out to any of the tourguys or companies that were made
it, and and hopefully uh, youknow, I'm really interested in
(50:36):
talking to the guy that doesthose poo poo tours because it
sounds fabulous.
Um who were the kind ofstandouts that you went, oh,
this was just worth the money,just fantastic, really made our
trip.
SPEAKER_00 (50:47):
Yeah, yeah, definitely Jerry at Poo Trek.
That was that was great.
Um Riz and his drivers at XFA.
I mean, just they arephenomenal.
Um they really, like I said, itit's it started out our trip so
well.
Um was so glad um that that theydid that uh for us.
(51:08):
And gosh, I mean, reallyeverything we did was great.
I have I have no complaints atall.
SPEAKER_01 (51:17):
I just love the UK.
It just sounds like anabsolutely uh wonderful,
wonderful trip.
So, you know, at the end ofevery episode, I ask the same
question.
Um, so what would be your onetip for parents who are planning
a themed UK um itinerary withteens?
SPEAKER_00 (51:36):
Well, we sort of we already touched on this, but I
would reiterate to make sure youbuild in rest time and play
time.
Um, we spent one full day eachweek not really doing anything,
just hanging out at the houseand relaxing.
And that was absolutelynecessary for all of us.
That was hard for me because Ireally wanted to pack in as much
(51:57):
as possible and make the most ofevery minute.
But I mean, sometimes you justneed to stop and relax and have
time to absorb everything thatyou're seeing and experiencing.
And I think the teens neededthat even more than we did as
parents.
And so building in that downtimewas really important.
unknown (52:15):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (52:16):
Well, it sounds like you had an absolutely phenomenal
trip.
I'm so glad you sent me thatemail, Lauren.
A really good.
I'm so glad as well that ourresources and that you love the
podcast and and everything thatthat Doug and I do and our team
put together was really helpfulas well.
It's always, it's just always solovely to hear that.
Um, and I'm really lookingforward to chatting to you next
(52:37):
about the next part of yourtrip, which we're gonna be going
out next week.
Um, but for this episode, thankyou so much, uh Lauren, for
coming on in and sharing yourtrip.
Thank you.
It was fun.
Thanks once again to Lauren forcoming on this week's episode of
the podcast.
You can find more informationabout the tours that Lauren did
and the Airbnbs that she stayedin as well in this week's show
(53:00):
notes at uktravelplanning.comforward slash episode 176.
If you'd like to share your ownUK travel story or have a
question, head to our Speakpipepage.
You'll find the link in thenotes and leave me a voice
message.
And if you've enjoyed the show,please take a moment to leave a
review on your favourite podcastapp as it really helps others to
find us.
But as always, until next week,happy UK travel planning.
(53:25):
Thank you for tuning in to thisweek's episode of the UK Travel
Planning Podcast.
As always, show notes can befound at uktravelplanning.com.
If you've enjoyed the show, whynot leave us feedback via text
or a review on your favouritepodcast app?
We love to hear from you, andyou never know, you may receive
a shout out in a future episode.
But as always, that just leavesme to say until next week, happy
(53:50):
UK travel planning.
In this episode of the UK Travel Planner Podcast, I
chat with listener Lauren Eansabout how she planned a UK trip
with a family of four builtaround a literary theme.
You'll hear how books inspiredtheir itinerary, the highlights
they enjoyed, and Lauren'spractical tips for making travel
with teens smoother fromtransport to food to downtime.
SPEAKER_02 (00:20):
Welcome to the UK Travel Planning Podcast.
Your host is the founder of theUK travel planning website,
Tracy Collins.
Each week, Tracy sharesdestination guides, travel tips
and itinerary ideas, as well asinterviews with a variety of
guests who share their knowledgeand experience of UK travel to
help you plan your perfect UKvacation.
Join us as we explore the UKfrom cosmopolitan cities to
(00:42):
quaint villages, from historiccastles to beautiful islands,
from the picturesque countrysideto seaside towns.
SPEAKER_01 (00:54):
Hi, and welcome to episode 176 of the UK Travel
Planning Podcast.
If you're planning a UK tripwith kids or teens, this episode
will give you plenty of ideasand inspiration.
I'm joined by listener LaurenEanes, who used her sabbatical
to design a literary-themedadventure for her family of
four, turning shared storiesinto memorable travel
(01:16):
experiences.
Lauren shares how she createdtheir itinerary with stops
linked to Dickens, Roll Doll,Winnie the Pooh, Tolkien, and
C.S.
Lewis, amongst others, and howthey balanced sightseeing with
downtime.
You'll also hear how they usedtrains and a short car hire, why
starting the trip with a privatetransfer from Heathrow made all
the difference, and how theykept on budget with Airbnbs and
(01:38):
meal deals.
By the end of this episode,you'll have a clear picture of
how to plan a family-friendly UKtrip that keeps everyone
engaged, cross-practicaltakeaways you can use for your
own itinerary.
This is part one of my chat withLauren next week in episode 177.
She'll be back to share thesecond stage of her sabbatical
after the kids flew home.
(01:59):
For this episode, Lauren, wouldyou like to introduce yourself?
Tell us where you're based, whoyou traveled with, and when you
visited the UK.
SPEAKER_00 (02:08):
So my name is Lauren Eanes.
I live in Harrisonburg,Virginia.
I traveled to the UK in July of2025 with my husband Nate and
our four kids who are ages 18,16, 14, and 12.
And for the last week of thispart of our journey, we met up
(02:30):
with some other family as well.
But the most of it was the sixof us traveling together.
SPEAKER_01 (02:35):
And for this episode, we're going to kind of
focus on that first part of thetrip when you were traveling
with your mainly teenagers and atween as well.
Yeah, no, she may be 12, butshe's she's been a teenager for
at least a year.
That's a bit of a daughter,isn't it?
Because honestly, that that'swhat happened.
Absolutely.
(02:56):
But what fascinates me, and uhyou you actually emailed me to
kind of say you you love thepodcast, and you told me about
your itinerary, which I thoughtwas absolutely fantastic.
And it was based around literaryfigures, uh books that you
enjoy, obviously books that thekids have been inspired by and
(03:18):
enjoy too.
So you developed this whole kindof a literary-based itinerary.
So, how did you decide to dothat?
I mean, what was that kind ofdecision and how involved were
the kids with all of that?
SPEAKER_00 (03:31):
Yeah, so um, I'm a Lutheran pastor, and pastors are
encouraged uh typically to takea sabbatical, often after like
seven to ten years of ministry.
And I am just starting my 20thyear of ministry and I'd not had
a sabbatical, so it's a bitoverdue.
Uh so planned the sabbatical,and uh it's four months long.
(03:54):
Um, and there's a foundation inthe United States that offers
grants for pastors onsabbaticals to allow them to do
things like travel.
Um, I decided to apply, eventhough it's super competitive.
I thought I'm probably not gonnaget this, but it's worth a shot,
right?
So um filled out this crazy longapplication, but the main
(04:14):
question that you had to reflecton was what makes your heart
sing?
Like, what could you do duringyour sabbatical that would make
your heart sing?
And I knew that the answer forme was to go back to the UK.
Um, I had studied in London fora semester during my undergrad
25 years ago and just fell inlove with the country and just
everything British.
(04:35):
And I really wanted to sharethat with my spouse and my kids.
But then we had to think aboutlike what specifically would we
do?
Um, and so we chose a literarytheme because of the role that
reading together has played inour family.
Um, we're a blended family.
When Nate and I got married, hiskids were six and twelve, and
(04:56):
mine were eight and ten.
And we both, before we gotmarried, had the ritual of you
know reading a chapter or two ofa book uh to our kids before
bed.
And when we got married, wethought, well, we don't want to
do that separately.
We'll do it together.
Um, the kids were not sold onthis.
My kids didn't like it when Natewould read, and his kids didn't
(05:18):
love it when I would read.
They wanted their own parents'voice, but we were like, no, no,
we're gonna do this.
This matters.
And so the first book that weread together, all six of us,
was Janny the Champion of theWorld by Roel Dahl.
And about a week into readingthe book every night, I came
into the kitchen one morning andthe kids were sitting there
(05:38):
eating breakfast and they weretalking about the book.
They were making all these jokesabout pheasants and like
sleeping pills and raisins fromthe book.
And I thought, oh, like I justhad this mom moment of like, oh
my gosh, like reading thesebooks together is giving our
family shared stories, our newfamily, these shared stories.
And so we kept doing it.
(06:00):
And then, I mean, it was COVID,and we literally had a captive
audience every night.
We during lockdown, we wouldread an hour, hour and a half
every night.
Um, and we realized that in thefour years we were able to do it
before like our oldest kids hithigh school, and it became a lot
harder to get everybodytogether.
(06:20):
Um, that in those four yearswe'd read like 40 books
together.
And they weren't all Britishauthors, but a lot of them were.
And so we thought, what if wewent on this trip?
What if we went to some of theseplaces that inspired these
stories that we shared together?
And our oldest had justgraduated from high school, so
(06:42):
things are changing in ourfamily, and this seemed like the
perfect capstone to this seasonof our family's life to revisit
these shared stories together.
So I put all that in the grantapplication, and apparently they
really liked the idea because wegot the grant, which was
fantastic.
(07:02):
Um, and so we involved the kidsin just what what books you know
did you like the most?
Where would you want to go toexplore these things?
Um, and just had fun dreamingtogether about what the trip
might look like.
SPEAKER_01 (07:19):
So when once you'd made that kind of, obviously you
got the grant.
I mean, when you made thedecision about right, we're
gonna go over, we know we'regonna do it based on the books
that that we've enjoyed as afamily reading, then how did you
start putting that itinerarytogether?
And I guess choosing which ofthose books were the most
special or the authors that werethe most special that kind of
(07:40):
appealed to you.
So, kind of how how did youstart doing that?
And then how did that kind ofitinerary come together?
SPEAKER_00 (07:47):
Yeah, um well, I really enjoy planning trips like
this.
I just I loved planning everysingle detail of this trip.
And so it took a long time and alot of research to really nail
down the final itinerary.
Um, you know, I read guidebooksand I was reading things, you
know, looking up all sorts ofthings online.
(08:09):
I um I listened to on Audible,they had um uh, you know, the
great courses.
Uh they have one called GreatTours, England, Scotland, and
Wales.
And it was this professortalking about, it's like 18
hours of this college professortalking about traveling in the
(08:33):
UK.
And I listened to all 18 hours.
Um, even though at that point,like I pretty much narrowed down
where we're gonna go, but I waslike, well, like I might get
more ideas, and I was justhaving so much fun um dreaming
about it.
Um, and then you know, ofcourse, the the podcast uh and
the website and the Facebookgroup helped with getting into
(08:54):
the details too.
But in terms of how to decidewhat books, um, we just made a
list.
We made a list of all the books,and we knew for sure, like I
wanted to go to Watership Down.
Like that was one that was likeon the list.
We're going there.
I want to stand on the downs andlook for bunnies.
So that that got on the listpretty quick.
(09:17):
And we did a lot of roll doll.
And so I knew I wanted to go toGreat Missenden.
Um and then we just kind offilled it out from there.
SPEAKER_01 (09:26):
So how long in total were you in the UK for?
Was it a couple of weeks?
Yeah, so this part of the tripwas about two and a half weeks.
Okay, so so you've got aboutsort of say about 17 days to
kind of fill fill up.
So obviously you can't go kindof bombing across the whole of
the UK in that time.
So you've got to kind of thinklogistically as well about where
(09:47):
you're gonna start and whereyou're gonna end.
So I kind of I know youritinerary because you shared it
with me.
But do you want to kind of talkabout where you started, um, the
different places that you wentand kind of what had inspired
you, which book were associatedwith it with that?
Now we can we could spend two orthree hours talking about this.
I know that.
And I I kind of want to go intoso much detail because there is
(10:07):
so much to talk about.
But I think let's kind of pickthe the main highlights that you
really, really enjoyed and thekids really enjoyed as well.
That you kind of went, oh, youknow, that that was really
special and that made that waswhat the trip was about.
So I know when you you you flewinto Heathrow and talk to us
from that point and where youwent.
SPEAKER_00 (10:26):
Yeah, so um, before we left, I'm envisioning that
moment where it's 6:30 in themorning and we've been on a
plane all night and nobody hasslept, and I'm standing in a
crowded Heathrow with fourexhausted and and overwhelmed
teenagers.
And and I and and our first stopwas Broadstairs, which is a
(10:48):
couple hours away in Kent.
And um, I knew from experiencethat it wouldn't be that big of
a deal to like take HeathrowExpress or Elizabeth Line into
town and then take the tube toKing's Cross and then get the
train.
But I thought, oh my gosh, Ican't do this with kids who have
never traveled internationallybefore and haven't slept all
(11:09):
night.
And um and so I think one of thebest decisions we made was we
decided to uh have XFA uh driveus from Heathrow to Broadstairs,
which I didn't know if theywould do.
It's a long drive.
Um, but you know, I could Iwrote for a quote and it like
didn't cost as much as I wasafraid it might.
And so I was like, all right,let's do this.
(11:30):
And that moment when we gotthrough customs and walked into
the main terminal area, and ourdriver's standing there smiling
at us, and he walked us justright out the door.
The car was right there.
We didn't have to think aboutanything.
We just dropped our luggage andcrawled in and and and rode in
the British countryside for acouple of hours.
It was that was a beautifulmoment.
So um, and our driver wasawesome.
(11:53):
I'm so embarrassed I can'tremember his name, um, because
he but I was tired.
Oh my god, he was wonderful andjust chatted with us.
The kids were asking him allsorts of questions about like
words that you know, this is howwe say it in America.
How do you say it here?
And and just different customsand food and stuff.
(12:13):
And and so we just talked thewhole time and and it was
delightful.
And he dropped us off, you know,right at our door in
Broadstairs, and it was it waswonderful.
So I have nothing but thehighest of praise for Riz and
his crew.
Um, that was so worth it, and Iwill probably plan to do that
every time I travel.
(12:33):
So it felt like such a splurge,but it it made our trip start
well, and that was huge.
That was huge.
Um so yes, we started inBroadstairs, which is maybe an
interesting place to start.
But we I wanted to startsomewhere that was a little
(12:55):
slower paced, that was a littleoff the beaten track.
London's a really busy city andcan be really overwhelming.
And I thought we need to justget used to being in England for
a little bit first.
And Broadstairs is not really onthe radar, like it's not really
in guidebooks and stuff.
And so we didn't, I think we raninto one other American tourist
(13:17):
the whole time we were there.
There were British touriststhere, but that was fine.
Like we we wanted to like be inBritain, right?
And so, and not just do touristythings.
So Broadstairs was a great placeto start.
School was still in session, itwas you know the first week of
July, so the beaches weren'tcrowded, we had beautiful
weather, so it was a great placeto just settle in.
(13:38):
Um, but the other reason wechose Broadstairs was for
Charles Dickens.
Um, we'd read a Christmas carolwith the kids, and then the
older two had read GreatExpectations and one or two
others, I forget, but they readsome Dickens, and so I learned
that Dickens spent many of hissummers in Broadstairs.
(13:59):
He actually visited there like19 times, I think, for weeks or
months at a time, and wrote partof at least part of eight of his
novels there.
And he had this real affectionfor Broadstairs, and they have a
Dickens House Museum inBroadstairs that was just
absolutely delightful.
(14:20):
The man who walked us throughwas so passionate, and they had
these interesting exhibits, um,and and we learned about just
things that were inspired byBroadstairs and Dickens'
writing, and that was reallyfun, and and it was nice to have
it be on a smaller scale and notso overwhelming.
So um that was our first stop.
(14:42):
And then the other reason we didBroadstairs is because another
author that we read a bunch ofbooks um from is Anthony
Buckinridge, which uh with theJennings series, which is not
super well known in the UnitedStates.
Uh, but when my husband wasgrowing up, he they had a
British friend of the family whointroduced him to these books
(15:05):
and he remembered enjoying them.
And so he's like, let's do oneof those.
So we like went on eBay and gotan old book and and read it.
And um, it's about a group ofBritish schoolboys in the 1950s,
and they're hilarious.
We just loved the Jennings andDerbyshire series, and we
probably read five or six ofthose books with the kids.
(15:26):
And as he was writing thosebooks, he was at St.
Lawrence College in Ramsgate.
And so we took the bus, it wasan easy bus ride there, and
there's nothing really to see.
I mean, it's just a school, it'sa you know, day in boarding
school.
Um, but it was fun to walkaround there and we got a
picture of the the blue plaqueon the junior college wall
(15:48):
honoring Anthony Buckinridge.
Um uh so that was fun, and thatwas the other reason then for
that.
So when we realized we could hittwo authors in that one place
and enjoy the British Seaside,we were sold.
SPEAKER_01 (16:01):
Oh, I just I just love it.
I just love the fact that thethat the kids were able to, I I
think it's that connection withthe past.
And it's like, you know, we weread those authors today, but
you know, they they they arefrom the past, but we can
connect with it by going andvisiting the places and seeing
those places that inspired themor where they worked, where they
(16:22):
lived.
And it just makes it feel alittle bit real, doesn't it,
when you kind of, you know,you're walking in the same
footsteps as these people.
Yeah, it kind of gives you thatconnection over the centuries,
you know.
Um so after Broadstairs, wheredid you head next?
SPEAKER_00 (16:37):
Yeah, so we actually took the train then from
Broadstairs to Tunbridge.
And we were headed to AshdownForest.
And originally I thought, well,we'll take the train there,
we'll rent a car, we'll drivearound Ashdown Forest, then
we'll go back to Tonbridge anddrop off the car, and we'll take
(17:00):
the train up to London, whichwas our next stop.
And the more I looked at that,just the logistics of getting
from the train station to thecar rental place, we'd have all
our luggage, renting the car,getting it back to the car hire
place before they closed thatafternoon, like all of that just
felt like it caused me anxiety.
(17:23):
And so I started looking um fora for a tour, and I found online
a tour operator.
Um, it's called Pooh Trux.
And uh Jerry is the guy's namewho does the tours.
He offers private tours for upto six people.
Normally he picks groups up fromEast Grinstead um train station
(17:48):
because people are usuallycoming from London.
But I wrote and said, Hey, wouldyou be willing to pick us up in
Tunbridge instead?
And he said, sure, yeah, we cando that.
And so again, we just steppedoff the train and onto a van and
off we went, and we didn't haveto worry about directions.
And it really was invaluable tohave a guide through Ashdown
Forest.
He just made the whole placecome to life.
(18:10):
Um, he knew so much, not justabout A.A.
Milne and EH Shepherd, but aboutthe ecology and the plants and
the birds and the history.
Like, I didn't know that AshdownForest had been used to train
soldiers in World War II tolearn how to drive tanks there.
And so just reflecting on thejuxtaposition of like this is
(18:32):
where Winnie the Pooh wasinspired, and um, and then there
was war training there, youknow, it just um it was really
phenomenal.
It was really phenomenal.
And and he was so good with theteens too.
Like two of them were reallyinto it, and the other two were
like, Winnie the Pooh, come on,you know, we're too big for
this.
But he just kept talking withthem and engaging them, and at
(18:55):
the end of the day, theyadmitted it was it was a really
fun day.
Um, all four of them reallyliked going down to the
Pooustics Bridge and playing.
SPEAKER_01 (19:04):
I was gonna ask, I was about to say, I was gonna, I
had to ask that question.
Did you guys pay poo stics?
You have to have done poosticks.
Of course, yes.
SPEAKER_00 (19:12):
Yeah, absolutely.
For sure.
Um and so, yeah, by the time wegot to the bridge, they were
into it, they were playing towin.
Um and I think they they wereable to put aside the I'm too
cool for this and just accessthat kid that's still in there
(19:33):
and just have fun and revisitsome of these stories.
Um, but also like on a deeperlevel, too.
Like I said, with looking atsome of the other dynamics of
that forest and that space andthe history there, um, and just
learning more about the life ofAA Milne, so much that I I
(19:55):
didn't know.
And that was that was reallygood.
Um, and we also then we went hetook us to Pooh Corner in
Hartfield, which is a tea shop,and it had really good food, and
it has this small museum um thatwas they definitely geared
towards like older like teensand adults.
Uh you know, it's not like alittle little people place.
(20:18):
Um and so we got to see a bunchof photos and a bunch of like
one of the original like Winniethe Pooh bears and things.
And so it was it's just a reallyenriching day.
And and I think that day was ahighlight um of the the whole
trip for us.
SPEAKER_01 (20:34):
It's it sounds really cool.
And I I have to confess that Ihave not been to Ashtown Forest,
and I'm like, I have to go.
I it's you know, I really haveto.
I don't know.
Um it it's it's so popular aplace for people to go and
visit.
And we often get asked aboutabout visiting um, you know,
there's so many people who lovelove Winnie the Pooh.
(20:54):
It's just it's such an iconic,uh popular books, but also just
the character of Winnie the Poohhimself and Piglet, of course.
SPEAKER_00 (21:01):
Well, and it wasn't crowded, it wasn't crowded at
all because honestly, it is alittle harder to get to, and so
um, so it's not a place whereyou're seeing hordes of
tourists, which also made itspecial.
Like we we felt like we reallywere, you know, could explore
the place.
And I think in retrospect, likewe could have done it without
(21:21):
the tour, but I, you know, Ididn't know before we got there.
But but you know, there arethere are maps and they have
different suggested walks at theforest center, and and you can
access those online.
And and there are little parkingplaces all throughout where you
can park and get out and walkaround and then drive a little
more.
And but I didn't know thosethings.
And so, and also like we if wehad had a full day, like a
(21:45):
really full day that we couldtake the time to just explore
and get lost and find our wayback out and all that.
But we really like we got offthe train at 10 a.m.
We were back on the train at 4p.m.
So for us, the tour reallyhelped us maximize those six
hours um and see things and hearstories that we wouldn't have
heard otherwise.
SPEAKER_01 (22:04):
So I think that's the thing about um when you've
got a when you've got a guide,they they're gonna tell you
things that you you you wouldn'thave no idea about because they
they know all that information.
They've got they either live inthat area, they've done all that
research.
So um I always think having aguide is so invaluable and it
just always enhances theexperience for sure.
(22:24):
And that's so you know youjumped back on the train.
So where did you go next?
SPEAKER_00 (22:29):
We went up to London and we spent five nights in
London then.
And um, and actually, London,there's so many literary things
you can do in London, and weactually didn't end up doing a
ton there that was literary, uh,just because we wanted to hit,
you know, the Tower of Londonand Westminster Abbey and you
know the places you have to go,National Gallery.
(22:51):
Um, but we did do an afternoontour um that was Shakespeare and
Dickens Old City.
And that was through um LondonWalks.
And uh we chose it uh because itkind of fit into our schedule.
Like we wanted to do somethingwith Dickens andor Shakespeare
(23:11):
while we were there, and thishad them both, and it fit in our
our time frame on a Sundayafternoon.
Our guide was a RoyalShakespeare actor, company
actor, and he recited like largesections of text in different
places that I mean it just madethe stories come to life.
So that was that was phenomenal.
Um, we also on our own, anotherone of the books we read was
(23:35):
called Sweep by Jonathan Auxier,and he is not a Brit, but the
book is is he's actually fromPittsburgh.
But the book is um is based inLondon, and one of the key
scenes takes place at the themonument to the great fire, so
we made sure to go there.
There are a couple other placestoo that we that are prominent
(23:56):
in the book, and so we made surewe got those to those places.
Um and we went to bookstores inLondon, of course.
That was another literary thing.
I really wanted to go to Dauntbooks, and I oh I just loved it.
Love, love, love.
Could have lived there, couldhave moved me in.
I'd been happy.
SPEAKER_01 (24:12):
Oh, I I'm terrible every time.
I every time I go into any ofthe bookshops in London, I say,
I'm never gonna buy anything.
My husband's exactly the same.
Doug was just we're terrible.
We go in and go, we're not gonnabuy anything, we're just gonna
get ideas of what we'd like tobuy.
We inevitably will come out withfive books each and go, so he's
actually at my mom's at themoment, because he's flown over,
(24:33):
and he's he he's realized that Ihave got something like 34 books
that my mom was like, Would youlike to please take these back
to Australia?
So he's now going through thesebooks.
It's just impossible, isn't it,to go in and go, oh my goodness.
It's just yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (24:45):
So yeah, we were carry-on only on the way there,
and we definitely checked asuitcase back with books, full
of books.
We we like went to a charityshop and bought an old beat-up
suitcase and filled it up withbooks and checked that bag.
SPEAKER_01 (25:01):
Oh, that is that is absolutely perfect.
So you had a great time inLondon.
You you did to see a lot of thegreat things.
You can't go to London withoutGoglet Tower London and see
Westminster inexperienced andand you know, it's just and we
saw a show.
Yeah, just so yeah, we we we didLondon.
Yeah, but the kids loved that.
So now after after London, wheredid you did you take the train
(25:22):
again?
Or did you go out what did hirea car?
What did you do next?
SPEAKER_00 (25:26):
Yeah, so we uh took the train out to uh Slough, so
not very far.
We just wanted to get outside ofthe city, um, and that's where
we rented a car.
Um, and from Slough we drovethen to Cookum Dean, which is
where Kenneth Graham lived andwas inspired to write Wind in
(25:50):
the Willows.
Um, and so that was a shortdrive, easy drive.
And, you know, so we we balanceddoing these guided tours with
self-guided tours, right?
Because we couldn't afford to doguided tours everywhere we went.
Um, and there's a map and anddescriptions of some um Wind in
(26:10):
the Willows walks in that areaon the National Trust website,
and I think the Woodland Trusthas it too.
Um, so I just printed those outand brought them with us, and
they were pretty easy to follow.
It was easy to find the car parkwhere the walks started.
Um, and they were descriptive,so you knew what you were
seeing.
(26:31):
Um, it was just it was abeautiful day.
We were so lucky with weather.
We we really just had beautifulweather the whole time, and so
it was beautiful, and it's justa lovely little town and walking
through Quarry Wood, which wasthe the inspiration for
Wildwood.
Like you could just imagine likeBadger there and Mole getting
lost trying to find his house.
(26:52):
And uh so that was that wasgreat fun.
So we spent a few hours uhwalking around that area.
SPEAKER_01 (26:58):
Oh, perfect.
And then did you hop back in thecar and then go off somewhere
else?
We did.
SPEAKER_00 (27:04):
This was a long day.
And in retrospect, probablywould have split this up into
two days.
Um, but yeah, we were trying tofit a lot in.
So we drove then to GreatMissenden, which is where Roll
Dahl lived for um 30 plus yearsand wrote all the books that we
know from him.
(27:25):
And it didn't take long.
I mean, they're not, it's notfar.
Um, but by the time we did thethe morning stuff, we only had a
few hours in Great Missendon.
And I there were so many detailson this trip.
And I'm really proud that almosteverything went off without a
hitch.
This was my one mistake.
I, for all the time I spent onthe Roll Doll Museum website, I
(27:48):
completely missed that they arenot open on Wednesdays.
And of course, we were there ona Wednesday, and so we pull up
and I'm like, no.
Um, but we made the most of it.
The museum has like, like on thewebsite, they have a countryside
trail and they have a town trailandor a village trail walk.
(28:09):
And um, so we had those so wewere able to walk around and see
the Matilda Library and thepetrol pumps from Danny the
Champion of the World and thehouse that was the inspiration
for Sophie's orphanage and BFG.
So that was great, you know,even though we didn't get into
the museum, we definitely stillgot to get like the feel of his
(28:30):
books and his inspirations.
And we walked up to his ummemorial, the Rolldoll Memorial,
where he's buried, and just areally peaceful spot.
We enjoyed just sitting thereand and relaxing.
Um, so we definitely still didenjoy Greatness and Den, even
though I just have to go backsomeday to go to the museum.
(28:52):
And we didn't get to do thecountryside trail because that's
a little longer, and I reallythat takes you like into the
woods that were the inspirationfor Danny the champion of the
world.
So so I just have to go back.
That's that's all there is toit.
Absolutely, absolutely.
But we did, we we ate dinnerthat night at the Nag's Head,
(29:12):
which was Roll Doll's local, andand it it's really cool place,
just full of character.
It is like from the 15th centuryor something, and the food was
good, that was one of the bestmeals we had, and just a really
lovely place to visit, and feltlike, oh, like we're sitting in
the pub where Roll Doll used tosit.
SPEAKER_01 (29:29):
So that was fun.
That's cool.
That is really cool.
So obviously, this is quite along day.
So you had your meal in the pub,and then what did you did you
stay in the area or did you headoff somewhere?
SPEAKER_00 (29:40):
Yeah, no, then we drove to Oxford.
SPEAKER_01 (29:44):
I mean, the beauty of the fact that you were there
in July is that the days arevery long, so you've got a lot
of hours of daylight, whichwould help.
Um very much did.
SPEAKER_00 (29:54):
Yeah.
Um, and we'd had a good meal,and so the kids just kind of
they started to doze off in thecar.
We got ourselves to Oxford.
It wasn't that long of a drive,but um maybe an hour, yeah.
And so yeah, got in kind oflate, but but that was all
right.
We were in Oxford, so that waswonderful.
Um and so we had planned to doOxford as um sort of
(30:19):
self-guided.
I had purchased um an app.
Um it was like a scavenger hunt.
Um, it was called Treasure HuntOxford.
And I convinced my daughter, the16-year-old, to do it with me
that morning.
She was the only one I couldconvince to even try it.
Because they all thought this isjust gonna be stupid and cheesy.
(30:41):
And it was actually a lot offun, and it gave us a really
great overview of the city.
Um, so that was an inexpensiveway to just yeah, get an
overview and get our bearings inOxford.
So that was great.
And that morning, then weactually realized we were doing
really well on our food budget.
(31:02):
We were spending a lot less onfood than we had planned, and so
we were like, we have a littleextra money.
Like, why don't we just do atour?
Why don't we do a Tolkien andLewis tour?
Because that was was why we werethere in Oxford was to explore
their lives there.
And so I jumped online, Imanaged to book a private tour
with a guide from um, well, Ithink it was just on via tour,
(31:25):
but it he was through VisitOxford, and it was focused on
Tolkien and Lewis, and the girlsopted out, so it was just four
of us plus the guide, and so hereally personalized it for us,
and because we were such a smallgroup, he was able to take us
places that you know, behind thescenes that you wouldn't be able
to do with a bigger group.
So that was was really special.
(31:46):
Um, we went into the he took usinto the gaffer's office at
Blackwell's bookshop, um, whichis like the original office
that's been preserved.
And he like pointed to a chairand he's like, that is probably
the chair where Tolkien sat tolike sign his contract for these
books.
I was like, oh my gosh.
Um, so that was cool.
(32:07):
And he took us to some places inin one of the colleges that tour
groups usually don't go.
And so so that was reallyspecial.
And again, made the splurgeworth it to get to to do behind
the scenes.
Um, but I think you we couldhave done Oxford on our own.
There's so much there to see anddo, and there's so many
resources.
Um, I had listened before wewent to a to a like a walking
(32:31):
tour on on just on ApplePodcasts.
Someone has like a guided tourof Oxford that they've recorded.
And you know, we could have donethat and gotten a lot out of it
still.
So yeah, but the tour was fun.
It was good.
SPEAKER_01 (32:45):
Yeah, yeah.
It sounds good.
And what did the girls do?
Did they just have a chill outday?
SPEAKER_00 (32:50):
Yeah, because as previously mentioned, the day
before was kind of long.
And so, yeah, and the16-year-old had like gone
exploring with me in themorning.
Um, but the 12-year-old was justlike, I'm done.
I need a down day.
And we were like, Yeah, we getthat.
And so, yeah, the two of themjust hung out at we were at an
Airbnb and they hung out therewhile we were doing the tour.
(33:11):
And everyone was happy.
So it was good.
SPEAKER_01 (33:13):
Yeah, I think sometimes it's good to have
those kind of built-in days thatyou can have that bit of
flexibility, I think, justbecause it can get tiring.
And I always think it's like bythe time you get to like day
seven, eight, nine, ten, it's itcan get a bit full on, and
you're like, right, I just needit, just a little bit of a
breather to then appreciatethings a little bit further on
in the next few days that youdo, I think it helps.
SPEAKER_00 (33:35):
Yeah, absolutely.
And we we tried to build some ofthat into the schedule, and then
we told the kids ahead of time,like there are going to be some
activities that are mandatory,fun.
Like you can say, can I skipthis?
And we will tell you no.
Like there are some things youhave to do.
You just have to do.
But then there will be otherthings that that we will say.
Like, if you really are like,I'm done, I need to relax, like
(33:55):
we will respect that and we'llfigure out a way to make it
happen.
It was easier with the oldertwo, right?
For if they needed to opt out.
We weren't gonna like leave the12-year-old home alone in a
strange city, right?
That wasn't gonna happen.
But um, but we really tried tobe flexible when we could.
And that made them more willingto do the mandatory things
because they knew that like theydid have some autonomy, they did
(34:17):
have some say in how this tripwas gonna go.
SPEAKER_01 (34:19):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (34:20):
Um, and so yeah, yeah, that worked out.
SPEAKER_01 (34:24):
So after Oxford, what did you do next?
SPEAKER_00 (34:27):
Yeah, so then we drove down to Whitchurch in
Hampshire, which is whereRichard Adams uh wrote Watership
Down.
Um, and again, for that one, Ijust found some walking guides
online.
Um, there's the Watership DownTrail, which is a 24-mile
circular walk.
(34:48):
We were not gonna do 24 miles.
Um that was not gonna happen.
We we were able to do a goodportion of it.
We probably did about four milesof walking, and we got to see a
number of the key places in thebook.
Um, we did not see any rabbits,sadly.
Oh yeah, but I mean, but just tolike be like, oh, like this is
(35:13):
the farm where you know they,you know, where fiber had to be,
you know, they had to escapefrom there and all that, you
know, like just like this iswhere this book take but took
place.
Uh was really cool.
And the landscape there is justbeautiful.
It's just beautiful.
Um it's in um, it's in an areaof what is it, area of
(35:36):
outstanding natural beauty.
Yeah.
Um the North Wessex Downslandscape.
And so it was gorgeous.
We just we walked through footlike woodlands and farmlands and
up the high chalk ridge.
And so even if it wasn't for thebook, like I would have enjoyed
that day very much.
(35:56):
It was a lovely, lovely place towalk and just yeah, be out in
the country.
SPEAKER_01 (36:03):
Yeah, and that sounds really good.
And was is this nearing the endof the trip now?
Because I know you then head toParis.
So is this the bit where weknow?
SPEAKER_00 (36:14):
So then we spent a few days.
We drove to we stayed in thetown of Westbury, which is
outside of Bath.
So Nate's cousin and his wife,he's he's American and he
married a British amazingBritish woman.
They're a great family, andthey've got a son.
And so we spent the weekendhanging out with them, and they
(36:36):
took us to bath and we walkedall around there.
They showed us around and wewalked up the the cliff.
There's a white horse there, andum, so mainly just hung out with
them and and the kids got tomeet uh their cousin and and
hang out with them, and so thatwas that was great.
Um Jane Austen fans.
SPEAKER_01 (36:57):
I have to ask, is there any Jane Austen fans in
your family yet?
SPEAKER_00 (37:00):
Yeah, I mean we we like walked past the Jane Austen
Center and I took a picture, butI like Jane Austen, but nobody
but I but I but it's not like anobsession with me, and nobody
else in the family was reallyinterested.
So that was all right.
That was all right.
It was good just to just to seeand you know pretend I was in
(37:22):
Bridgerton and you know, just itwas good to just walk around.
SPEAKER_01 (37:27):
That's to be doing um baths are lovely city as well
to base us off for for a fewdays.
I mean it's just did you go tothe Roman bus?
Did you please tell me you wentto the Roman bus?
SPEAKER_00 (37:38):
It no, so I've been there before.
Like when I when I when I wasthere 25 years ago, I had I had
done all of that.
And I was like, guys, you'regonna love this, it's gonna be
cool.
And they were not interested.
So I was like, guys, but allright, I'm not gonna pay for it
if you're not we don't want todo it.
So a couple of us went into theBath Abbey and and walked around
(38:00):
there, which is just gorgeous.
Um but yeah, they decided theydidn't want to do that.
What are we doing?
But again, I tried to reallyhonor.
Yeah, like I didn't need to go.
I'd been there before.
And so I'm like, if you reallydon't want to, okay.
Like this is your vacation too.
SPEAKER_01 (38:17):
And so and they're only young, you know, when they
grow up when they're older, theymight go, actually, that's
something we want to do.
But yeah, I think that's good.
No, I think that's true.
You you have to, you gottakinda, as you say, give them a
bit of the autonomy and a bit ofspace for things that maybe
don't interest them as much.
SPEAKER_00 (38:33):
Um right, and maybe, like you said, maybe it will
later.
It it gives them anintroduction, it gives them a
taste of things.
Exactly.
So from there, then we went backto London and we met up with um
Nate's parents and my dad and myaunt and cousin.
So they had all been doing theirown travels through the UK um
(38:56):
for that week before.
And then we all met up and uhdid some things in London that
day.
So that allowed us to checkHarry Potter off the list doing
the Harry Potter studio tour.
Um and and my daughter reallywanted to do a Jack the Ripper
tour, and so we did that.
She's a true crime podcastperson.
(39:18):
So so we did that.
That was it was fun.
It was a fun day.
And then we got up the nextmorning very early and got on
the Eurostar and went to Paris.
So we spent two nights, threedays in Paris.
And um the 12-year-old wasdesperate to get to the top of
the Eiffel Tower, so we madesure that happened at sunset.
(39:39):
She was very specific.
Top of the Eiffel Tower atsunset, and it was everything
she had hoped for and more.
It was a beautiful sunset thatnight.
I mean, it was just incredible.
So we did that.
We also, the the literary thingwe did there was um going to the
Victor Hugo House um museum.
Um, one of the last books thatwe had read with the kids before
(40:02):
it just got too hard to do wasLes Miserables.
And so it was an abridgedversion, I will say that,
because it's a super long book.
But even the abridged version isvery long.
Um, but we had read thattogether and then we had gone to
see the musical here in theStates uh last year.
And so we had to go, you know,and check out his his recreated
(40:24):
apartment there uh in Paris.
And um yeah, it was interesting.
You know, it's sort of sensoryoverload in there.
That guy had some colorfultaste.
Uh so a lot of a lot of historythat was probably more
interesting to me and my husbandthan to most of the kids, but uh
but still worth worth checkingit out.
(40:45):
And we went to in Paris, one ofthe intersections where like the
barricades were in Le Miz.
And so they were able to imaginethat.
And um yeah, so that was it wasfun.
But but again, we we did sort ofan intro to the city type thing
of you know, seeing Notre Dameand you know, just going to the
(41:06):
the key places.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (41:08):
So that was really fun.
And then the kids went home andyour pet well, what happened to
the city?
SPEAKER_00 (41:16):
Yeah, so we took the Eurostar back to London, and
then the next day we put thekids on a plane at Heathrow, um,
and continued on on our journey,which I think we're gonna talk
about more later.
SPEAKER_01 (41:31):
Yeah, we're gonna talk about that next, that'll be
in next week's uh podcastepisode.
So yeah, that'll that'll be goodto talk about what you did after
the kids had gone home.
So that's really good.
Yeah.
But I think before we get toobviously next week, we're gonna
talk about how that uh how youplanned that and what that
looked like.
Um I think it'd be really usefulto just talk about the little
bit of the logistics oftraveling with four kids too.
(41:54):
So this, you know, how did youhow did you find the trains?
How did you find driving?
Because I know those are kind ofquestions that we get asked a
lot.
I mean, you did the right thingby picking up a car outside of
London.
Um, I say that all the timebecause driving in London is not
something to be taken lightly,and I just say that don't do
(42:14):
that.
Just it's like if you'relistening to the podcast now and
you're thinking about hiring acar in London, don't.
That's all good.
SPEAKER_00 (42:20):
Yes, I like fully support that decision.
Do not do it.
We were so glad we did it theway we did.
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (42:26):
Yeah.
So how did you find the trains?
How did you find uh the drive?
And I know you use the trippyammo um to help prepare you for
driving, and I know that's ait's an extremely good resource.
Um, and I'm sure I'm sure thetrain stuff that obviously Doug
Doug's the train expert, so I'msure a lot of the train podcasts
and hopefully resources wouldhave helped you with that.
SPEAKER_00 (42:46):
Yes, they absolutely.
In fact, that one train episodecame out shortly before, a
couple weeks before we left.
And even though all our planswere in place, I just listened
to that one ravenously.
Like, okay, like just any of theother details.
And there were, there were a fewdetails that I was like, oh,
that's really good to know.
So yeah, the train stuff fromDoug is so helpful.
You know, we didn't really haveany trouble with the train
(43:07):
travel at all.
It really is, it's so muchbetter there than it is here in
the States.
That, you know, for us, it justfelt so smooth and so easy.
You know, I booked all of almostall of the trains before we
left.
Um, I just used the NationalRail app and you know, that just
leads you through, you know, andthen you click and it takes you
(43:30):
to whichever train serviceyou're using.
And so I downloaded those apps.
It took a little bit of time.
Like that was something bookingthe train tickets.
I felt like I just needed tospend a lot of time just poking
around the websites, playingaround, figuring out how these
things work.
Um, and putting that time in onthe front end made it worth it
because everything was very,very smooth and easy once we
(43:53):
were there.
Everything was like on ourphones, on our app, put it in
Apple Wallet, good to go.
Um, and we never had a troublefinding seats together.
Um, I think one of the trains,we were split up a little, but
we were all in the same coach.
Um, but most of them, they didnot require seat or even offer
(44:14):
seat reservations, and it wasnot a problem to find seats
together.
Um, we were carry-on only, as Isaid, so we weren't dealing with
huge luggage situations, and sothe trains were easy from that
standpoint.
Um that definitely makes sense.
So, yeah, I love train travel.
And I I would have done alltrains for the whole trip if if
(44:36):
we could have made that work.
Um, but because some of theplaces we were going were a
little harder, even if they werethey like they aren't hard to
get to by train, but they'rehard to get from one to the
other by train.
Yeah.
Um, so we didn't want to likehave to keep going back into
London and back out again.
And so so that's why we rentedthe car for the second half of
the trip.
And we rented, I mean, it was abig vehicle, and on some of
(45:00):
those backcountry roads, it washarrowing.
SPEAKER_01 (45:06):
I can imagine.
SPEAKER_00 (45:07):
Yeah, they're quite narrow, but yeah, but um, but it
was okay.
Like my my husband really justadapted pretty quickly to being
on the left-hand side of theroad.
And um, I was the navigator andand and it was good.
Um the Tripyama was great.
(45:27):
Um, the the little episode onroundabouts is like totally
worth the price of admission.
If you don't do anything else onTripyamo, make sure you watch
that because roundabouts we haveroundabouts in the US, but they
didn't, they're not like theroundabouts in the UK.
Um, we have cute little circlesthat are very lame, um, but
(45:47):
they're like hardcoreroundabouts in in the UK.
And and once you get used to it,like once you there's a logic to
it.
And once you learn that logic,then it's not hard.
Um, and so that episode, Ithink, really of the Tripiano
really helped so much.
Um, but but all of it was good.
We were glad we did that.
That was worth it.
(46:09):
Yeah, so in terms of likeaccommodations, we're a family
of six, like we hotels reallydidn't make sense.
And so we used Airbnbs foreverything except, I guess the
night before we left for theEurostar, we were in a hotel
right by St.
Pancras.
So we could get up at 5 a.m.
(46:29):
and get over there.
SPEAKER_01 (46:30):
And I have to tell you, Lauren, that's the same
hotel that we stay in when wecatch the we've tried a lot of
the hotels around uh because weget the early train over to
Paris or Amsterdam.
And when I saw the hotel, I waslike, oh, that's the one we
stayed at last December when wewent over to Amsterdam.
SPEAKER_00 (46:47):
Um it's you know, pretty, pretty decent price and
feels pretty safe.
And yeah.
So yeah.
So other than that, though, wewere in Airbnb's and that was
wonderful for us and the waythat we travel.
Um, the first place we go everytime we arrive in a new town,
we'd go to the grocery store,we'd get food for breakfast,
food for lunch.
(47:08):
Many days we would we would packa lunch um and take it with us.
Um, we did a lot of meal dealsfor dinners.
Um, being in a crowded, busyrestaurant at dinner like is not
relaxing for us.
And so to be able to just throwsomething together real quick
that was good price and prettyhealthy, um, and just have a
(47:29):
relaxing night in each nightafter a busy day out was great.
SPEAKER_01 (47:34):
I think it's really fun as well because it gives you
that flexibility.
You can get up, have yourbreakfast, everybody can have
the breakfast at their own pace.
As you say, you get the chanceto go and explore some of the
supermarkets, which are amazingin the UK.
Yes, yeah.
Yeah, I mean, like the mealdeals are brilliant.
And then, and as you say, youget back, you can relax in your
own place in the evening andcook your meal.
(47:56):
It's also really good if you'rebudgeting as well to do that
because eaten out with a familyof six, it that's soon gonna add
up.
But it's not it is not cheap toeat out in the UK.
SPEAKER_00 (48:05):
Um but talking about no, and as I said, like that
that helped us be able to doother stuff because we were
saving way more money than wethought.
And so we were able to put thattowards other priorities, and
that was great.
And we did eat out atrestaurants too, but just not
every day.
SPEAKER_01 (48:20):
So I was gonna ask you, we're talking about food.
Then was there anything inparticular that you or the kids
really enjoyed in restaurants orcafes?
Was there anything where youwent, oh, these are this is
good?
SPEAKER_00 (48:29):
Yeah.
Um, we we went to duck andwaffle in London, which is up on
the you know, 40th floor, uhoverlooking the city while
eating brunch, and it just has acool vibe.
Um, so it's that's a good place,I think, for teens.
They they liked that a lot.
Um, I mentioned the Nag's headin Great Missendon.
That was great.
Um in Broadstairs, there wasthis restaurant called Please
(48:52):
Sir, um, like becauseeverything's Dickens theme.
Um, and they served smashburgers.
And we we were just kind oflooking at the menu outside, and
the owner saw us, and he's like,Oh, you guys, like, come in.
This is gonna be the best burgeryou've ever eaten.
He said, I know that's a boldclaim saying that to Americans,
because Americans know they'reburgers, but this is gonna be
(49:12):
the best burger you've evereaten.
And we're like, well, okay,we'll give it a try.
And I have to admit, it wasdefinitely up there in the best
burger I've ever had.
It was really good.
Uh so yeah, that's calledplease, sir.
Um, and we had some great Indianfood along the way too, just
from like little hole in thewall places.
I think the Brits have the bestIndian restaurants.
(49:33):
So I know absolutely.
SPEAKER_01 (49:35):
So if you're gonna, if you kind of look back on your
trip now, is there anything thatyou would change or add to your
itinerary if you did it nexttime?
If you get the chance to do itagain, what would you do
differently?
SPEAKER_00 (49:48):
Yeah.
One place that we had to dropfrom our itinerary because it
just didn't make sensegeographically, was um to go up
to the Lake District and see theBeatrix Potter stuff there.
So I'd love to do that.
That would be great.
Um, I I would love to do go toTorquay and do the Agatha
Christie stuff there.
(50:09):
Oh, and and um Whitby forDracula.
That would be fun.
SPEAKER_01 (50:13):
There's so many places to go to, isn't this?
I know it really is the giftthat keeps giving the UK when it
comes to to writers, becauseit's this, or it's just it is
amazing.
Um now this is a kind of theopportunity to give a bit of a
shout out to any of the tourguys or companies that were made
it, and and hopefully uh, youknow, I'm really interested in
(50:36):
talking to the guy that doesthose poo poo tours because it
sounds fabulous.
Um who were the kind ofstandouts that you went, oh,
this was just worth the money,just fantastic, really made our
trip.
SPEAKER_00 (50:47):
Yeah, yeah, definitely Jerry at Poo Trek.
That was that was great.
Um Riz and his drivers at XFA.
I mean, just they arephenomenal.
Um they really, like I said, itit's it started out our trip so
well.
Um was so glad um that that theydid that uh for us.
(51:08):
And gosh, I mean, reallyeverything we did was great.
I have I have no complaints atall.
SPEAKER_01 (51:17):
I just love the UK.
It just sounds like anabsolutely uh wonderful,
wonderful trip.
So, you know, at the end ofevery episode, I ask the same
question.
Um, so what would be your onetip for parents who are planning
a themed UK um itinerary withteens?
SPEAKER_00 (51:36):
Well, we sort of we already touched on this, but I
would reiterate to make sure youbuild in rest time and play
time.
Um, we spent one full day eachweek not really doing anything,
just hanging out at the houseand relaxing.
And that was absolutelynecessary for all of us.
That was hard for me because Ireally wanted to pack in as much
(51:57):
as possible and make the most ofevery minute.
But I mean, sometimes you justneed to stop and relax and have
time to absorb everything thatyou're seeing and experiencing.
And I think the teens neededthat even more than we did as
parents.
And so building in that downtimewas really important.
unknown (52:15):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (52:16):
Well, it sounds like you had an absolutely phenomenal
trip.
I'm so glad you sent me thatemail, Lauren.
A really good.
I'm so glad as well that ourresources and that you love the
podcast and and everything thatthat Doug and I do and our team
put together was really helpfulas well.
It's always, it's just always solovely to hear that.
Um, and I'm really lookingforward to chatting to you next
(52:37):
about the next part of yourtrip, which we're gonna be going
out next week.
Um, but for this episode, thankyou so much, uh Lauren, for
coming on in and sharing yourtrip.
Thank you.
It was fun.
Thanks once again to Lauren forcoming on this week's episode of
the podcast.
You can find more informationabout the tours that Lauren did
and the Airbnbs that she stayedin as well in this week's show
(53:00):
notes at uktravelplanning.comforward slash episode 176.
If you'd like to share your ownUK travel story or have a
question, head to our Speakpipepage.
You'll find the link in thenotes and leave me a voice
message.
And if you've enjoyed the show,please take a moment to leave a
review on your favourite podcastapp as it really helps others to
find us.
But as always, until next week,happy UK travel planning.
(53:25):
Thank you for tuning in to thisweek's episode of the UK Travel
Planning Podcast.
As always, show notes can befound at uktravelplanning.com.
If you've enjoyed the show, whynot leave us feedback via text
or a review on your favouritepodcast app?
We love to hear from you, andyou never know, you may receive
a shout out in a future episode.
But as always, that just leavesme to say until next week, happy
(53:50):
UK travel planning.
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