Returning guest Deborah Harsen shares the highlights from her sixth UK adventure, exploring the east coast from London to Edinburgh by train with her husband while sharing practical tips and magical moments from their journey.
• Deborah's lifelong love of the UK began with Twiggy and her grandmother reading Jane Austen to her
• Train travel shaped their itinerary along England's east coast with stops in London, York, Whitby, Newcastle, Alnwick, and Edinburgh
• Deborah splurged on special accommodations, including the Royal Horse Guards Hotel and The Cookie Jar in Alnwick
• Private tour with archaeologist Alex Iles through Lindisfarne and Bamburgh Castle was the trip highlight
• Billy Shiel's boat tour to the Farne Islands provided close encounters with puffins, arctic terns, and seals
• The Old York Tea Room in Goodramgate offers cream tea that Deborah rates as better than Betty's
• Magical unplanned moments included witnessing sunset and sunrise over Whitby Abbey from their hotel room
• For returning UK visitors, Deborah recommends exploring beyond London and trying different transportation modes
If you enjoy our podcast and want us to continue providing free UK travel information, please consider becoming a supporter. You can make a one-off donation or sponsor us monthly, like Deborah. Visit the link in our show notes to help us keep the podcast going.
⭐️ Guest - Deb Harsen
📝 Show Notes - Episode 156
🎧 Listen to next
- Episode #65 - Trip Report with Deborah Harsen
- Episode #32 - 4 week Scotland and England trip report with Deborah Harsen
- Episode #123 - Family fun in London [Trip Report with Cathy Stephens]
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
planning a trip to the UK or thinking about going
back?
In this episode of the UKTravel Planner Podcast,
returning guest Deborah Harsinshares how she crafted her most
recent UK adventure, thedestinations she explored and
the key lessons she learnedalong the way.
From planning smarter to makingthe most of every day.
This episode is full ofinspiration and tips you can use
(00:20):
.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Welcome to the UK Travel Planning Podcast.
Your host is the founder of theUK Travel Planning website,
tracey Collins.
In this podcast, tracey 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.
(00:44):
Of UK travel.
To help you plan your perfectUK vacation, join us as we
explore the UK from cosmopolitancities to quaint villages, from
historic castles to beautifulislands, and from the
picturesque countryside toseaside towns.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Hi everybody and welcome to the UK Travel
Planning Podcast.
This is episode 156, can youbelieve it?
I just can't myself.
And this week I have specialguest Deborah Harsin on the
podcast to talk all about hertrip to the UK.
Now Deb goes back to the UKover and over again.
She's definitely a confirmedAnglophile and also I will give
(01:26):
a massive shout out A few thingsthat Deb does that really helps
us out is that she's amoderator in our UK Travel
Planet and our London TravelPlanet Facebook group, so come
over and join us.
If you're not a member, Deb's inthere helping us out there.
And also Deb is a longtimesupporter of the podcast, so she
sponsors the podcast everymonth and we truly really
(01:49):
appreciate that.
And we know loads of you guyswho are out there.
You listen to us every week andyou're big fans and we would
just ask as well, please, if youwould consider sponsoring the
podcast.
It's getting so much harder forus as a business to get this
information out to you guys forfree in the podcast on the
getting so much harder for us asa business to get this
information out to you guys forfree in the podcast, on the
websites and the Facebook groupbecause of all the changes going
(02:10):
on in the world these days withAI, and things are just getting
harder.
So if you want us to keepgiving you all this information,
we just ask, please considersupporting us.
That could be a one-off, or youcould do as Deb does and
sponsor us monthly, and I willput a link in the show notes for
that, please.
So, as they say, that helps usmassively.
Right, enough of that.
(02:31):
Let's talk to you, Deb.
So tell us.
Do you know how many timesyou've been to the UK?
Just tell us where you live atthe moment and then tell us
about your kind of lifelong loveof the UK.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
Oh, this will be easy and a long episode.
Evidently no, I'm Deb Harsin.
As Tracy said, this is my thirdpodcast with you, so it feels
like we're just chatting asfriends, which I know we are
over the years, which isfantastic.
I've been to the UK six timesthree times with my husband,
this latest trip with my husband, once by myself and once each
(03:06):
with our oldest and our youngestdaughters.
My love of the UK is going tobe an interesting full circle
with the story I get to tell youabout this trip.
It started with Twiggy.
So I was a very, very younggirl, probably three or four
years old, and I don't even knowhow I became aware of her,
beyond perhaps magazines mymother had or television shows
(03:29):
that she was on.
But I literally had a paperclothing cutouts that they, you
know, had for young girls towear.
I would wear them.
I was very good at posing likeher.
We traveled extensively as afamily when I was growing up, so
there's tons of pictures of mein national parks throughout the
entire United States posing asTwiggy, and from the faithful in
(03:53):
front, yeah no, they'reabsolutely all over the place.
So I grew up with that obsessionand then I my one grandmother
was an English teacher, aliterature teacher, and I was an
early reader and she actuallywas reading to me Jane Austen,
canterbury Tales, I mean, thesethings that I didn't realize
(04:14):
were great works of Englishliterature.
It just was time that we spenttogether where she was reading
and that, of course, ignitedeverything, and of course she
introduced me to Paddington Bear.
You already know Paddington isa lifelong love because I now
have a cat named Paddington, soit just grew from there.
It's always been something ofwhich I've been fascinated and
(04:36):
loved, and I studied history andliterature and really was
focused on all things British,so it's just been a lifelong
love.
So, I've got to ask so when wasthe first time you actually
managed to get over to the UK2014,?
(04:58):
My husband and I went for our30th wedding anniversary and,
you know, our kids had just alleither graduated from college or
were just starting.
And it was sort of at a pointin your life when you think, oh,
I don't know if I'm ever goingto be able to do this, if I'm
ever going to be able to realizethis.
And my husband said, no, we'regoing.
And so we did.
And once I was there, forget it.
I knew I was going back.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Well, and that I mean , and you've just come back from
your sixth trip, which isamazing In 11 years, years,
that's fantastic.
So you keep going back over andover, so you can you know that
you're putting that love intoaction.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
They're absolutely for sure absolutely and it grows
each time yeah, well, that's it.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
There's so much to do and see in the uk, honestly,
and I'm just so pleased thatyou're you're doing that and
going back and and seeing newthings each time, so, so tell us
about this trip.
So you returned with yourhusband.
This is the first time, thesixth time first and sixth time
with your husband.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Third time with my husband.
The last time he was in 2019,he and I had gone, and I already
knew I'd be going this year,but thankfully last year he
mentioned I think I'll go withyou, so which was wonderful.
He wanted very, very much totravel by train, so Doug should
(06:13):
just hop in on this conversationright now.
That was something he wanted todo, and so that sort of pushed
the narrative of how we plannedour itinerary as well.
We knew we wanted to travelalong the east coast of England
for the most part, and we knewthat the ability to do so by
train would be a little biteasier than, say, traveling into
Wales or traveling throughoutWales, for example, or some of
(06:37):
the you know areas that justaren't as consistently well
served, unfortunately.
So I said what about?
You know we travel through here.
We'll travel some places thatI've been fortunate enough to
visit before that he has seenbefore, and some new ones.
And you know he said, yeah,absolutely that that sounds
really good.
So we did a lot of research atthat point as far as where we
(07:00):
actually want to overnight orspend several days and, based on
his work schedule and how muchtime we could do, there's never
enough time.
So I wish I could just travelwith you, tracy, and just be
over there for quite a long time, but I knew this time would be
a little bit more limited.
So we were there just a littleover two weeks and that's how
(07:21):
our itinerary developed.
It was just how are we going totravel with trains successfully
hit places we want to see?
Be able to stay in places thatwe're interested in and just
sort of enjoy being there?
Oh, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
So did you fly into and out of Heathrow?
Speaker 3 (07:39):
No, we flew into Heathrow, yes, but we flew out
of Edinburgh yes, okay, andthat's good.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
We get asked that a lot as well.
See, you've got that ability togo in one airport and out
another, which is also reallyuseful.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
I think I've only had one trip where I have flown in
and out of the same airport.
I think I typically do flyopposite.
It just gives you the abilityto not worry about getting back
to your starting point.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Yeah, that's true.
Not worry about getting back toyour starting point.
It is yeah, that's true.
See, yeah, no, that's a goodidea, because often I know we
get asked about um, you know,there's somebody maybe in
edinburgh on the last couple ofdays of the trip and then
they've got to get back down toheathrow and they're wanting to
do it in the morning and they'vegot a flight in the afternoon.
We're like no no, no, that's,that's that's stressing us out,
reading that so at night before,but flying out from there.
There, it's absolutely perfectif you can do that, and
(08:24):
obviously there's lots of we'retalking before there's lots of
jumping off points in the Statesthat you can, you know, fly
from Edinburgh, fly from London,so you've got options.
Or even if you went over toParis and wanted to fly back
from Paris, that's we hear thatas well or Dublin, that's also
comes up quite often.
Anyway, let's talk about, let'sgive us a brief overview of the
places that you went to.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
Well, we flew into London Heathrow.
We spent several days in Londonwe did spend one of those days
going to Jane Austen's home inChawton and in Winchester,
because those are areas ofinterest to both of us and then
we went to York for a couple ofdays.
From York we went to Whitby,then Whitby to Newcastle,
(09:07):
newcastle to Annick, annick toEdinburgh, so all along the East
Coast, and got to spend quite abit of time in Northumberland,
which is definitely an area thatI adore and I know you're a
little affectionate towards itas well.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
Yeah, it's where I was born, so I'm always a
champion for Northumberland andit's, you know, and often it's
overlooked.
And you know, we know thatthere's, you know, the London
York Edinburgh route and that'sa very, very well-travelled
route by train.
But it's like you also thenpass through Durham County,
durham, which is lovely, andthen Northumberland.
(09:44):
You've got two wonderfulcounties there that are
absolutely worth visiting andyou know, would recommend it,
and I know you're going to betalking a lot about the things
that you did in Soar andNorthumberland, so that's going
to be exciting to chat about.
So you know, when you'reputting together your itinerary,
what sort of resources I'm sureyou used our podcast and
website.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
You know I used the podcast Once again.
I'm going to put a feather inDoug's cap.
I had purchased his train bookoh my goodness, a couple of
years ago, so I was reading itlike it was, you know, a holy
text, and trying to work out myconfidence with the trains as
well.
I had listened to all thepodcasts that you had done about
the train travel.
(10:25):
It didn't matter where it, justlet me hear how it's done, from
things like where do we put oursuitcases to do we bring snacks
, you know.
Do we bring water?
What happens on the train, youknow.
How do I know how this is, ifthis is my train or the other
train going to York, you know.
And how do I keep that straightand which train line to use.
(10:46):
I had downloaded all the apps.
You know that he recommendeddownloading and they were such a
definite help.
So those were more that's whereI really focused a lot of
attention.
And of course, yes, I'mlistening to the podcast weekly
and I'm keeping up on what otherpeople are writing and that
helps inspire some ideas as welltoo.
So those are where my mainsources of inspiration were that
(11:10):
and sort of our wish list of oh, I really liked it here.
I'd like to share that with you.
I'd like you to see it.
Or we had both been to Yorkbefore and just loved it, and oh
, can we make sure to stop there?
So it was a combination of acouple things.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
We were very lucky to have been before and then know
somewhat of where we wanted togo and I will also just announce
as well that doug's just puthis first train video on our
youtube channel.
Uh, so, and that's all aboutactually getting from london to
edinburgh and the threedifferent uh train operators
that you can use on that route,so he actually travels on each
(11:47):
of them.
He shows you a video of whatyou can expect on each of those
trains.
So that just went live thisweek.
So do take a look at ourYouTube channel.
Please subscribe.
It's Doug's first video, so he'svery excited.
There are a couple more to comeout and he's working on even
more.
He did a lot of video when wewere back in the uk and if
there's something particular youwant to see about train travel,
(12:09):
um, let us know, because he'llhe'll get on to that and, uh,
he's very excited about doing it.
So that's good, that's great,and I'm sure with the train book
as well, which we updateregularly, uh, and that and all
the articles on the website, youknow we help prepare you for
train travel.
So how was your train travel?
I'm going to have to ask younow how did it all go?
Speaker 3 (12:29):
It actually went really, really well.
We had.
We did break a cardinal rulebecause originally when we were
planning our trip we were goingto be in London over Trooping of
the Colour weekend and I said,no, I yes, I would love to see
it, but no.
So we moved it forward, or backa bit further into May.
(12:52):
So we were there over the bankholiday at the end of May and
unfortunately we had to travelto Whitby that Sunday.
There was just no gettingaround it and there had been a
huge rugby match, evidently, ofwhich I was totally unaware
until the trains were delayedbecause of it.
But somehow we eked it out andeven though we had to make a
(13:13):
connection from York to Whitby,we made it just fine.
So, I was holding my breath thewhole time, thinking if this
messes up, I had bus routesplanned, I had all sorts of
other alternative ways plannedand prepared.
I thought, but Doug's going tosay I told you and he would have
(13:34):
no other way to do that.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
Doug always says to people you know, sometimes we
have to travel on Sundays bytrain as well.
It's just sometimes it'stotally unavoidable and that's
how you do it and he just saidit's an element of risk.
So you take the risk thatpotentially on a Sunday there
may be disruptions to traintravel.
There may not be.
It's a risk situation.
but he just says have a plan Band a C just in case, because we
(13:57):
have had yeah, we've had, wehave had feedback where things
have gone wrong on Sunday traveland you know people have had to
take a, uh, instead of gettingthe train to Bath from Cotswolds
, uh, oxford or wherever the way, they had to get a taxi at vast
expense because there was notrains on a Sunday.
So things were cancelled or um,all sorts of things happen.
(14:17):
I mean, actually we've got apodcast coming out, um in a
couple of weeks time where Dougactually talks through kind of
the top 10 or top 15.
I think we did kind of topthings we advise you don't do,
or that we see people do that wecan advise not to.
And you know sunday travel isgoing to be in there, oh,
absolutely but I'm excited too,and that's okay you know well
(14:39):
it's to say it, it doesn't itnever.
We, we, we are firmly in thebelief that we don't say to
anybody, whether it's in aconsult, whether it's through
our videos, whether it's, uh,through the podcast, we don't
ever say do or not do, um,because I, we're all adults and
(14:59):
people can make their ownjudgments and their own risk.
We just give you, we just givepeople advice and say you know,
wait it up and decide if thatworks for you, because we're all
different at the end of the day.
And I, I personally find itreally affronting when somebody
said don't do this or don't gothere, cause I'm like, well, you
know, I'll have a look at it,I'll make the decision myself.
So that's kind of how I operate.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
No, that's exactly right and the way to go.
No, that's exactly right andthe way to go.
But, as you said, we had backupplans.
We had plan b, we had plan cand I guess I would have learned
to hike if we needed plan dwell, certainly the whippy you
said you would have been okay.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
So, um, I don't know.
So let's talk about how youchose accommodation.
So we'll talk.
I think what we'll do is we'lltalk about some of the kind of
like those, those logisticalthings that you plan.
So, like, we've talked abouthow you got around, let's talk
about accommodation, and thenwe'll we'll start talking about
tours and then I think we'llstart kind of looking at the
nitty-gritty of some of theplaces that you went to.
(15:57):
But okay, so let's talk aboutaccommodation.
So you, you had your route thatyou knew you were going to take
.
So is that the point when youlooked when?
Okay, let's.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
We started looking Now this was about 10 months ago
, so I'm going to tell you quitehonestly, we splurged and yet,
within the splurging, we madeout wonderfully because we had
booked so far in advancewonderful interactive map the
(16:29):
Royal Horse Guards Hotel rightthere on Whitehall, westminster,
beautiful room and, like I said, booking it nine or 10 months
in advance, we got one amazingdeal on it.
We really did, and of course,we were there in May, so it's
almost still shoulder season,and prices were a little bit
(16:50):
less expensive than certainlythey are now.
Beautiful location and that'swhy we chose it.
It was just a different placefor us to stay and we thought we
deserve it.
The next place we stayed inYork was the Grand York right,
sort of above the train station.
Once again, we had a suite thatwas bigger than our house not
(17:14):
really, but it felt that way.
We walked in going oh my, oh my, oh my, and.
But so reasonably priced that Idon't know how we did.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
I have to tell you that the staying at the ground
in New York is kind of on mywish list.
I'd love to stay there.
Speaker 3 (17:34):
I'll tell you which room you're going to request.
Next.
Then in Whitby, we stayed at Ithink it was called the Royal
Whitby.
It's where Bram Stoker stayedwhen he was inspired to write
Dracula.
It's right by the WhaleboneArch.
It's going through somerenovations now.
It's a very old hotel, butlovely, very, very beautiful
location.
We had a wonderful room withviews of the Abbey that could
(17:58):
not be beat.
So very, very nice.
Newcastle we stayed in a placecalled the Vermont Hotel, also
just very nice hotel, not farfrom the train station, which is
why we chose it.
Then we stayed at my favoriteplace in Annick.
It's called the Cookie Jar.
There's 11 rooms.
It's a boutique hotel.
(18:19):
That's how it sells itself.
I had stayed at the Swan Hotelbefore and I knew that was nice,
so we were looking at that.
But this came up on a searchand each of the rooms is named
after something in the area.
This building used to be anunnery and you can see on the
outside how it's connected towhat used to be the church which
(18:40):
is now the museum.
So it has a really lovelyhistory to it.
We stayed in St Cuthbert's CaveBeautiful room, you know.
Lovely bathroom, beautifulviews of the castle.
Just the people there were thenicest people I think I've ever
come across in any accommodation.
(19:02):
The food was stellar,everything about it.
You just felt like you'restaying at someone's home in the
best possible way, and I justloved it.
I will recommend that for therest of my life as the place to
stay.
Then in Edinburgh we stayed atthe Scotsman, which used to be
where the newspaper waspublished, and once again very,
(19:24):
very close to the WaverlyStation, obviously for access
for the newspaper and had a niceroom.
You know, I think we were onthe eighth floor in that hotel,
so you had city views out of thewindows, very, very nice.
But our big splurges, though,were Royal Horse Guards and the
Grand York.
Those were just really lovely.
(19:46):
But, like I said, booking ahead, we were able to get some
really wonderful deals.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
Oh no, it sounds good .
Well, I will put links in theshow notes to all of those, and
I'm very interested in stayingat the Cookie Jar Sounds great,
Definitely up my street.
And the Grand Inn in New York.
As I say, it's been on my wishlist for a long time, so
hopefully one of these days I'llget in there.
And then London there's so manyamazing places.
I Hopefully one of these daysI'll get in there, and in London
there's so many amazing places.
(20:11):
I've not stayed at Horse Guards, though, so that sounds like
one that I need to investigatenext time I'm in London, for
sure.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
It's really, really wonderful and the Royal Horse
Guards too has a secret historyand I don't want to delve too
much, you need to go there todiscover it.
But one of the doormen our veryfirst day there he had asked us
how long we had been there.
When we had arrived, you know,we just got chatting and he said
(20:37):
and this is, oh my goodness, 9o'clock at night.
We arrived in London at 6 inthe morning.
So we've been walking the wholeday, We've been exploring the
whole day, we're staying up sowe can go to bed and we get back
to the hotel and he's like well, when you have time, I'll show
you the secret parts of thehotel.
And I said, oh, we have time now, we're no longer tired.
(21:03):
We're no longer tired and wedid.
We spent probably a good hour,maybe an hour and a half, with
him seeing.
It's got a very rich historypolitically with World War II,
especially with WinstonChurchill, definitely, and
potentially there are tunnelsthrough its basement, which has
always been used as a winecellar, that are blocked off now
(21:25):
for health and safety reasons,but the rumor is that they
connect to the Churchill warrooms.
So it's very, very intriguingand interesting there and well
worth the visit and well worthmaking friends with the doorman
it sounds like it.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
I think I need to send them an email.
It sounds like definitely onethat it would be of great
interest to go and have a lookat.
I think, okay, let's talk abouttours, uh.
I know because we spoke beforewe started recording that you
did some excellent tours, sohopefully we're going to find
some new partners.
I'm always looking for well,I'm always looking for
(22:01):
recommendations and hopefully uhcan reach out and uh and see if
these guys want to come and uhand join us at uk travel
planning, because they soundlike they are definitely worthy.
Because you know, we are very,are very strict about who we
work with.
We only work with the best andwe only work with people that we
know have, basically, are thebest at what they do.
So tell us about the best tourthat you did.
(22:23):
Tell us the tour that you justcould go back and do again and
again.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
So the very best tour , without a doubt, was conducted
by a man named Alex Iles.
He says the Scottish derivativeof his name is Sandy, so I knew
we'd be friends because that'sa family nickname and he is an
archaeologist.
He's very well educated, he'sworking on his doctorate and he
made the entire story of history, from Roman times up to modern
(22:54):
day, fascinating, interesting,compelling and took time
answering questions.
It was just fantastic.
We met him in Newcastle and hetook us through Lindisfarne,
holy Island and then, of course,up into Bamber.
I had been to Lind's Farmbefore with my oldest daughter,
emily, and when she and I hadgone it had been very, very
(23:16):
misty.
And I know you said there's aword for it and I forget what
the word- is oh, seafret,seafret, seafret.
I think I could remember thatnow, but you literally couldn't
see anything until it was rightin front of you and it was very
atmospheric and wonderful.
We went with Alex, perfectlyclear, and so it was like
visiting it all over again in adifferent way.
I will say.
(23:37):
Of course the tides are themost important thing.
As we know about Lindisfarne,we saw a car off to the left
that had come off the causewaythe night before and they were
attempting to try to save it.
I don't think they weresuccessful because by the time
we left it was still there andnobody was around it.
(23:58):
So of course that was a littlebit of that ha-ha moment, you
fool.
But we enjoyed Lindisfarne.
We walked almost the entireisland and you know we were able
to see Bamber off in thedistance, which was fun.
We could see, of course, thecastle, lindisfarne Castle.
We had plenty of time to gothrough the abbey itself and the
(24:22):
ruins and just explore, andAlex spent time explaining how
Durham University had been theredoing digs, what they had found
, how they found it, what itmeant for the research.
You know where the originalfoundation was for the Abbey.
I mean he just it was justfascinating.
He's just superlative in hisdescriptions and bringing every
(24:44):
aspect of that history to life.
And then, of course, beingmindful of the tides, we got
back into the car and drove toBamber and as we're crossing the
causeway, you could see wherethe Pilgrim's Walk is already
covered.
And of course people werelining up at the end because
they want to watch the watercome in.
And unfortunately we were alittle bit more under time
(25:07):
constraints and weren't able todo that, but it was interesting
to see the Pilgrim's Causealready already covered.
Um, so then we went to bamberand alex treated us to a nice
lunch in their cafe.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
It's nice the cafes did you go into the?
Speaker 3 (25:22):
castle itself into bamber castle.
Yeah, now, a friend of mine,you told me about a very odd
feeling.
You had gotten in Bamber yearsago as a child.
I never got that.
I was really disappointed.
But that aside, I loved viewingit and seeing it.
(25:44):
And, of course, alex was fullof information about the digs
that had been done on theoutside and how the actual sand
wasn't there 300 years ago, youknow, until horrific storms had
gone through, and how muchhigher the water tables would
have been at the time that itwas built, and just the
information was fantastic.
So what I knew would be a greatday was even better just
(26:05):
because of the information heprovided, and we just really,
really, really.
It was a full day.
We enjoyed it completely and,you know, then he took us back
to our hotel.
So it was, it just wasfantastic.
I think he runs a variety oftours.
They're all very history orarchaeologically based, but the
(26:26):
way in which he tells stories issomething I could recommend to
anybody.
Whether your interest is there,whether your interest is just
piqued, whether you study it,you're going to learn something
from him, and he enjoys learningfrom the people he takes as
well.
He was very knowledgeable, buthe also wanted to.
What do you know and what canwe share, and how can we share
(26:48):
it and work on it together?
So I was very impressed.
His communication, too, waswonderful, and I was impressed
with that.
The night before our tour hehad checked in this is the time
you know, and then I don'tremember if it was the evening
of our tour or the next morning.
Did you have any questions?
You know he had follow up withit and if you need to contact me
, here's my.
(27:09):
You know the ways to get intouch with me.
So, very impressive.
He was absolutely the best tour.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
Sounds brilliant, and actually that's what you want,
isn't it?
You want somebody because thenyou can sit back, you can enjoy
the day, you don't have to worryabout getting from A to B
because somebody is going totake you, but you also have the
time in the car to chat as well,to learn more and to have those
conversations.
And then you're not, you're notrushed, which you know you can
be.
If you do even a small grouptour, they still have a kind of
(27:37):
you know itinerary you have tofollow.
But when you have somebody thatyou're with, that you have
hired for the day private guide,somebody's driving you around.
You've got that flexibility toto maybe spend a little bit
longer, or to you know or, ifyou're less interested, to say,
oh, let's go to the next place,you know it just gives you all
of that all of that, uh,flexibility a bit more
restricted with holy island,because you've got, you have the
(27:58):
tides, so they govern when youcan go over and come back again
and that and that that thosetides come in quite fast.
Uh, so yeah, you really do haveto.
Uh, and I do say, if anybody'sgot northumberland, they want to
go to Holy Island and you'veonly got a few days, you do need
to look at the tides becauseyou may miss out, because
there's nothing we can do aboutit.
It's about those are the tidesand you either get over and back
(28:20):
over at that time, or you'regoing to be stuck on the island
or you can't get over there.
That's how it kind of works,but yeah, bamburg.
Speaker 3 (28:26):
Castle.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
I actually did go back to Bamber Castle beginning
of last year, I think, because Ihad not been since I was 11,
because I found it a bit spooky.
There was something aboutBamber Castle that just gave me
the shivers and I was like oh so, anyway, I went back at the 45
years later and it was fine, Ididn't.
(28:47):
I didn't have that same, butit's funny, isn't it?
I was, I was probably 11 at thetime and it still stuck with me
for years.
It was like, no, but yes,definitely.
You know.
Another advantage as well thatyou were with Alex is that you'd
have to worry about parking,because parking can be a real
problem, especially when you'regoing to the summer months
because there's just lessparking spaces you have to think
about it, whereas you can getdropped off and then he can deal
(29:09):
with the parking.
It just makes life a lot easier.
But, yeah, we highly recommenda tour.
So, alex, when you're listening, hopefully by this point I've
got in touch with you and you'llbe keen to work with us,
because I'm sure there'll beplenty of people who want to
touch out to you and book sometours.
What other tours did you do?
Speaker 3 (29:28):
We also two others.
I'll mention quickly.
Other tours did you do?
We also two others I'll mentionquickly.
We did a Billy Sheil InterfarnIsland tour from Seahouse, which
was, oh my goodness, about anhour and a half on the North Sea
, and he's pointing out, ofcourse, the Grace Darling story
and the lighthouse in her homeand St Cuthbert's Chapel.
The gray seals were out, thepuffins were out, the arctic
(29:54):
terns, the cuddy's ducks.
The only thing I wasdisappointed in not seeing is
I've been following his page.
This entire spring there's beenorcas and of course the orcas
are there because the gray sealsare there.
But the gray seal population isso enormous that it's no wonder
you know the orcas have shownup.
So of course, course you know wedidn't see orcas but we did get
(30:15):
to spend another hour on innerforeign island itself and that
was fun.
You're sort of walking amongstthe puffins and and all of the
birds and you know they'rewarning us wear something over
your head, because the arcticterns nest in the ground and if
you get close to their eggsthey're going to attack.
And they did.
But you know, you just keptgoing and and of course they're
(30:38):
protecting them, but it just.
That was an experience too.
That island was just stunningand amazing and I'm very jealous
.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
I have to just interject that I am very jealous
that you did this because Ihave not.
I've been in sea, how I've beento see houses since I was a
child, literally.
My dad used to take us thatweekend anyway.
But I've never done that boattrip and I've been out there
before and it's just been thewrong time of year or the wrong
weather or whatever.
So that's another one that Ireally need to, and I've had
(31:07):
other people say oh, I've been Ilike I've not seen the puffins
on the Farne Islands, so yeah,I'm jealous.
Speaker 3 (31:17):
They were an enormous amount of fun.
In fact, there was a couple onthe boat, I think they were from
Poland.
They had been on the same tourthe day before too.
They loved it so much.
It was like, yeah, we're goingon it again and they were taking
photos the whole time and, youknow, with some really
impressive looking cameras andso forth.
But it was fun.
It's not something I'drecommend for anybody who
(31:37):
doesn't like being out on thewater, because you are
definitely on the boat beingtossed that's the correct word.
You know, left to right,backwards and forwards.
You will get wet, you will needrain gear.
But it was a blast.
It was so much fun.
Speaker 1 (31:53):
I enjoyed it so much well, that won't be one for doug
because he doesn't do boats,but uh, I'll definitely add that
.
I honestly consider I'm fromnorthumberland.
Maybe I feel a bit embarrassedto say that I have not done that
, but I I will.
I will, uh, definitely add thatonto my list and actually I
think there's a, there's a linkin our guide to northumberland,
actually to that Burley Shieldsboat trip anyway, so you can
check that out.
(32:13):
Yeah, and the third tour, thethird one.
Speaker 3 (32:17):
Our third tour was Robbie's tour and we had booked
it when you had the promo codefor it as well.
So we had booked that a whileago and we went to the West
Highlands Locks and Castles.
That was the name of that tour.
It's just a one-day tour fromEdinburgh, but we went to the
town of Luss on Loch Lomond andwe went to Inverary.
(32:39):
We had the option to go intothe castle or visit the town and
we chose to wander about thetown and just sort of enjoy the
fishing port.
It was very, very beautiful.
We saw the ruins of kilchurncastle and he took us there
because that and inverary werethe campbell clan, you know, and
just to show us the differentplaces we went to.
(33:00):
Um, oh, then he took us to seethree hairy coos at a farm.
I think it was honey hamish and, oh my goodness, I can't
remember holly.
So there were two bald ones anda ginger one and and they just
were posing like they knew theywere the stars that people
wanted to see.
And then we went to dune castleand we did go into there.
(33:21):
They had an audio guide for it,but it's very much based on the
holy grail, which was veryinteresting.
I love that, but you know it,which was very interesting.
I love that movie but you knowI like castles and the history,
so it was.
I enjoyed the castle a lot, butnot the audio tour as much,
which you know that happens.
Well yeah, but it was a greatday out.
And then on the way back we sawthe Kelpies.
Speaker 1 (33:45):
you know in.
Speaker 3 (33:45):
Stirling Castle.
They're lovely, yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:52):
Sort of yeah, it was just.
It was just was a nice day,full day, but very, very, very
nice day and there's some reallygood tours from Edinburgh.
You've got such a lot of choiceand Rabi's offer a lot of
really good and a small group.
You weren't in a massive, greatbig bus.
Speaker 3 (34:03):
No, we had 15 or 18.
I can't remember which, but oneof the two on our group.
And no, it wasn't a large groupat all, so you're not tied up
waiting for, you know, 60 peopleto get on the bus or whatever.
So it was lovely and our driver, martin, very, very affable and
knowledgeable and tried to maketime for all the people you
(34:26):
know and answer all theirquestions.
So it was a good day.
Speaker 1 (34:30):
Okay.
So it's good to know that youdid some great tours and, as I
say, hopefully we'll, we'llreach out to Alex and hopefully
he'll come on board.
Come on, alex, and can I talkabout food, cause I'm still, I'm
still leaving your favoriteexperiences and places to last
Cause I think that's a great Ijust I, I'm going to be very
excited to ask that, but let'stalk about food.
Speaker 3 (34:56):
What did you enjoy when you were there?
What did you try?
Let me tell you about the newplace that we had cream tea In
York.
I had been following these twomen who had bought one of the
oldest, the oldest house in York.
It was built in 1316.
And they have run a tea housethere for the last four and a
half years and I've beenfollowing them and following
(35:17):
their story and I told myhusband we have to find this.
So we knew where it was locatedand we went there our full day
that we had in York and theywere so kind, thomas and Tony so
kind.
We ordered the cream tea for twobecause right time of the day
and this is what we wanted wehad there's only because it's
(35:38):
such a small building.
There's the downstairs wherethey have a little kitchen and
then their display of goods andyou can get takeaway there.
And then you go up the stairsand there's six tables, maybe
eight, at the top of the stairs.
We had the table right in frontof the window that overlooked
the street, which is really nice.
They serve the cream tea onbeautiful China.
(36:01):
I mean just gorgeous, gorgeoussetting Scones and your clotted
cream.
It was raspberry preserves andthen fresh fruit and it was
fantastic, superb, it just wasfantastic.
Everybody exclaims over Betty'sand I love Betty's and I've been
there and I enjoy it.
I'm going to tell you they werebetter and better price too.
(36:23):
And they also serve sandwichesfor lunches or breakfast and
that type of thing as well themost wonderful looking pastries
and cakes.
And I'm just just telling, ifyou're in York and you think,
well, betty's has a line, I maynot be able to get in queue up
(36:43):
for this place, and you won't bedisappointed.
Speaker 1 (36:45):
It was absolutely amazing okay, so so give them,
give them another shout out okay, it's the old York tea room.
Speaker 3 (36:53):
It's in Goodrum, goodrum gate road and thomas and
tony run it.
The fabulous, fabulous,fabulous.
The queue is worth it.
We maybe waited 15 minutes andit's absolutely spectacular.
Speaker 1 (37:07):
So well I am, please.
I'll just say well I'm.
I'm gonna be going to go anddefinitely visit thomas and tony
and have some of these creamteas next time I'm in York.
For sure I'm adding those intomy yeah.
I do, I do, and it this soundstoo good to miss up.
So, yep, that's definitely inmy itinerary, so I'll be looking
forward to to meeting the guysand and checking out the tea
(37:28):
rooms.
Speaker 3 (37:28):
It sounds fabulous it really and truly was.
Beyond that, um, we we did have.
Oh, we went to um magp's Cafein Whitby, of course.
In fact we ran into a man downat the harbor who grew up in the
area and his grandparents had ahouse just on the East Cliff
and he was talking to us how youknow, have you been here often?
(37:49):
I said it's just my secondvisit.
He goes, it's about my 150th,and then he tells us of course
his grandparents had lived thereand of course he's still in the
area, and so my husband askedwhat do you recommend for dinner
?
And he goes oh, magpies.
Well, I know he was telling thetruth because he was behind us
in the queue.
So within about he was waitingfor his wife and within about 10
(38:11):
minutes of us waiting he wasback there too, and so that was
delicious and I'm glad that Igot to eat there, because the
last time I was in Whitby Ididn't have the opportunity.
So that was nice, a beautifuldinner.
But one of the best fish andchips we had was actually back
in York at a place calledDrake's Fish and Chips, and it
(38:34):
was just a beautiful little pub,beautiful meal.
It was extraordinary.
Um, beyond that, we tended topick up, you know, jacket
potatoes here or there or we,you know, we were on the go all
the time so we didn't reallyspend a lot of time eating.
If you will in in any, yeah bigplace.
Speaker 1 (38:57):
I don't know about you, but if we had a B&B then
we'd have a good breakfast andthen maybe later on in the day
we'll get a meal deal.
I'm just such a big fan of mealdeals going and getting your
sandwich, your drink, your pieceof fruit or crisps or chocolate
bar whatever you want at a goodprice.
All of the Sainsbury's, tesco's, uh, marks and Spencer's you'll
(39:17):
find all of them have got theseoffers and they're just worth
popping in and, uh, they'rereally good for your budget as
well, because everywhere UK isgetting more and more expensive.
Uh, but also, I'm also going tomention because you haven't
said anything about sticky tofupudding.
I only had it twice because Iknow that you have a weakness
for that.
Speaker 3 (39:34):
I love sticky, sticky toffee pudding.
No, you're exactly right, and Ionly had it twice.
So you know I controlled myurges much more this time.
Speaker 1 (39:43):
You were good.
You were definitely very good.
Okay, so let's go back totalking about some of it.
So let's talk about yourfavorite experiences and the
favorite places that you went,because you did cover quite a
few amazing places.
So I know I'm putting you onthe spot here, um, but what were
the?
What were the standouts for you?
Speaker 3 (40:01):
well, I will tell you something that occurred to me
because we've been talking aboutsome of our favorite places.
That was pure happenstance andit just because of the situation
.
It was quite magical theChelsea Flower Show was going on
in London while we were thereum the day we arrived,
unbeknownst to us, william andCatherine were having a tea
party in Buckingham Palace.
(40:22):
We're walking down the mall atI don't know 6 o'clock, 6.30,
and these people are all comingtowards us, all dressed up and
they're beautiful fascinators.
They're, you know,wonderful-looking suits and what
on earth fascinators, their youknow wonderful looking suits
and what on earth.
And as we got closer toBuckingham Palace, it had
obviously just ended becausemore and more people were coming
(40:42):
out the Kingsguard was marchingback to Wellington Barracks.
So that was sort of a funexperience, totally unexpected
and just one of those thingsthat we just happened to be
there, unfortunately not to seeWilliam and Catherine.
Speaker 1 (40:56):
I I wish we had but to see the people that were
leaving I was going to say nexttime I think you guys should get
an invite.
I I genuinely do I think weneed to be reaching out and
saying hey, uh, you know,william and kate, we need to get
an invite to these gardenparties.
Seriously, we want to getinside and check it out and get,
be able to dress up and get afascinator.
(41:16):
That would be cool, wouldn't it?
Yes, let's just call itresearch, yeah, yeah, well,
let's, let's see.
Speaker 3 (41:22):
You never know, you never know so no, you never know
, that was fun and that was justby by chance.
One of the things that myhusband really enjoyed is, once
we got to Edinburgh, we had umwalked from one end of Princess
Street Gardens to the other andjust soaking.
First of all, it's a gorgeousday, so everybody's outside,
obviously, because the sun wasshining and it was just
(41:43):
beautiful, but it's a beautifulpark anyways.
But at the end of May all theflowers are blooming and the
fountain that is there just hasmasses of gorgeous flowers and
bushes around it, and justwalking from one end to the
other was just one of thosemoments that you're not doing
anything but enjoying, and itreally was a beautiful standout
(42:08):
moment for us.
We went to see the Devil WearsPrada at the West End when we
were in and that was fantastic.
That was, and I always thinkyou know if you get a chance to
go see a play or go seesomething.
That was just awesome.
Speaker 1 (42:22):
That's on my list, but it's quite pricey.
I did look last time and I wentoh, I really want to go and see
it and I was like, how much isthat?
So that'll be on another list,I think, but I definitely would
like to go and see it.
So worth it.
Good to go.
Speaker 3 (42:35):
Oh, it was definitely worth it.
Vanessa Williams was in thelead role and she was phenomenal
.
You know, you sort of forgotthat.
Meryl Streep played thecharacter, and that's I love the
movie, so it's no slam to that.
It's just that Vanessa Williamsowned it.
And the casting for Nigel andfor Emily was just superb.
(42:56):
It just was one of those thingswhere they cast so well and
played their role so well thatyou just yes, I'm immersed, I'm
involved.
It was beautifully done and themusic was fantastic.
It just was a wonderful,wonderful night and a wonderful
experience.
So we really enjoyed that aswell, too.
(43:19):
Brilliant and any otherstandouts the other standout is
another one of those just, wehappened to be in the right
place at the right time.
In Whitby, our hotel room, as Imentioned, overlooked the Abbey
and it had been very, verywindy and as the night
progressed, of course, it gotcooler with that.
So we went back to our room asyou know, it got later and had
(43:41):
made hot chocolate and we'resitting at our window just
watching.
We watched the sun go down, youknow, and there's the abbey,
there's the harbor, and it justwas gorgeous.
And by chance, my husband wasawake at 4, 4.30 in the morning.
He saw it come up, you know,and I woke up and so we have
these bookend photos of thesunset and the sunrise and it's
(44:02):
just wow, one of those momentsthat you look at and think how
fortunate were we.
Speaker 1 (44:09):
It's funny how those moments stick in your brain.
They're sticking in your mind.
Those are the memories and it's, I just think it just made me
think of a few years ago whendugout and orkney and I was
awake at, I mean, it was light.
It's light there.
It was in the summer, so it'slike it doesn't get dark, but,
um, I remember looking out thebedroom window and we weren't
very far from the ring ofbroadca and you could see it.
(44:31):
It was really close, but thiswas, this was like in the
morning like three o'clock inthe morning or whatever, and it
was really close.
but this was in the morning,like three o'clock in the
morning or whatever, and it wasstill light and it was just it's
just so atmospheric and just Idon't know really special.
It just I can still think aboutit, I would close my eyes, I
could still see it, and I wasjust like, oh wow, this is.
You know, and it's those thingsthat you remember and you kind
of go, oh, the people you meet,the places, you kind of
(44:53):
experience, and those, can Ijust say, those kind of more
surreal kind of things whereyou're just in the moment,
completely and utterly immersed,aren't you?
Speaker 3 (45:03):
You really are and you're so appreciative of just
having that moment and havingthat time to appreciate where
you're at and soak it in.
Speaker 1 (45:13):
So I know you'll be planning a next visit.
I'm going to ask I think youknow that, yeah, because I say
ask your husband, yeah, sobecause you've been quite a few
times to the UK.
So if somebody's planning thisand thinking like where would
(45:33):
they go on a return visit, whatwould you, what would you
recommend?
Where I know you have certainplaces that you love, like
northumberland, but where wouldyou sign to say, would you say
to people like, yeah, spend acouple of days in london but get
out and go and see a bit more?
Because that's what we say allthe time yes, and but it's true,
london is phenomenal.
Speaker 3 (45:53):
You cannot be bored in london, samuel, samuel
Johnson was absolutely right youwould never tire of London.
But it's not the UK, it's notrepresentative of the UK.
I absolutely love going toCanterbury and Dover.
That's a beautiful area.
(46:13):
But the Lake District is abeautiful area.
Yes, I'm, you know hop skipping.
I think, oh my God, of coursethe Cotswolds and that's a
beautiful area.
But the Lake District is abeautiful area.
Yes, I'm, you know, hopskipping.
I think, oh my goodness, ofcourse the Cotswolds, and that
gets a lot of publicity, if youwill, because it is so beautiful
and you see it on posters andthat's so well worth the visit.
Bath is so worth the visit.
My personal favorite too isWales.
I just adore Northern Wales.
(46:34):
But to me and I don't know ifyou see this or not, if you
would agree, but northern whalesin Northumberland are very
close to me, in kindred spirit,you know, sort of in the feel
that you get People just passthrough, they don't visit, they
don't stay and they reallyshould, because there's so much
to see and so much to enjoy andthe people are just so welcoming
(46:57):
, and I think that's part of theattraction as well.
Towns like chester, I don'tthink get enough publicity in
there what it, what a findchester is and how chester's
amazing yeah isn't it?
yes, it really is so.
Speaker 1 (47:12):
So, yes, get out of london and and actually a lot of
those places like Canterbury,you know, winchester, you
mentioned Bath.
They're very easy day trips, soyou know you can jump on the
train and go and visit.
I'm glad you went to Winchester.
It's a favorite of mine.
I loved it.
The cathedral is amazing.
It's a lovely city to visit andexplore, so I'm glad that you
(47:36):
did that.
Now I'm going to hop over toasking did you buy anything when
you were there that you broughtback?
Because obviously you've beenquite a few times, so I don't
know if souvenirs is somethingthat you go for or if there's
stuff that you always buy whenyou go.
Speaker 3 (47:50):
So I have yes, I always purchase prints of ruins,
cathedrals, you know that typeof thing.
This is the first time we'revisiting castles, so we got to
go to Holyrood House Palace,which I absolutely loved, and so
I have a print of that thatI'll frame in a black frame
thing that I knew I was gettingwhen I went over because we did
(48:16):
go to Chawton, to Jane Austen'shouse was my copy of Sense and
Sensibility.
Now this is my fifth copy ofthis book, but this is the only
one from her house and it's myfavorite favorite novel of hers.
It's even got the gold binding,I mean.
So that was something that Iknew I was getting.
(48:37):
There's absolutely.
You know, this is what I'mabsolutely getting and I did get
in Edinburgh I got a PrincessDiana cashmere scarf.
Speaker 1 (48:50):
It's very nice.
Yeah, it's a beautiful tart inthat, yeah.
Speaker 3 (48:54):
Yeah, and I, you know I looked at it on previous
visits, never got it and itliterally was a spur of the
moment splurge.
We were walking by and I saidlet's go in and look at it next
thing.
You know, I was walking outwith it.
Speaker 1 (49:08):
I don't blame you.
I have to admit I do keeplooking at it because it's very
pretty, it's really pretty.
Speaker 3 (49:14):
Yeah, it's really pretty.
So those are that's.
That's pretty much what oursouvenirs were.
Oh, I got a little porcelaincat in, uh, one of the cat
stores in York because we didthe cat trail, you know, finding
the cat.
Yeah, I had to get a little oneto put up on a shelf, but but I
think that was pretty much,pretty much it.
No, we don't typically go toget souvenirs unless there's
(49:37):
something with intent, like mysense and sensibility was yeah,
yeah, you know that.
Speaker 1 (49:41):
Yeah, I mean, we we're talking like we collect
fridge magnets, which everybodyloves that.
But it's just that they're verysmall and it means we, if we're
traveling multiple destinations,we can fit those in the in the
suitcase.
But I I have recently umstarted collecting prints as
well, uh, because it's just sucha lovely reminder when you come
back.
But I like the idea of buying ajane austen book at chawton.
(50:03):
I think I might have to addthat to my another add to my
list when I'm back over in theuk, like hopefully later on the
year if not early next year, forsure.
Anyway, you know I always endthe podcast with the same
question.
So what would be the one tipthat you would share with
somebody planning to visit theUK on a return trip so not for a
first-time visitor, butsomebody who's already been,
who's thinking oh, I want to goback.
(50:23):
What would be the tip thatyou'd share?
Speaker 3 (50:26):
I think my tip is to familiarize yourself with other
modes of transportation and it'sfunny because I'd asked my
husband the same question whatwould you say?
And that's what he said.
I already had it written down.
And because I think, seeing theUK by, of course, if you're in
London, you know it's easy tohop on the underground, it's
easy to hop on a bus, it's easyto grab, you know, a black cab,
(50:50):
and those are all wonderfulmodes and we should use them.
Walk a lot, though, whenyou're're in places, because
then you see things in differentways.
But I would say search out,don't be afraid to do things
like take a train, you know, toa different place, or a bus, for
that matter, because I know thebus system throughout the UK is
so beneficial to their travelas well too.
Speaker 1 (51:12):
So that would be my tip for returning visitors do
something different in terms oftransportation and just enjoy oh
well, that's really actuallyhandy, because next week's
episode is all about, um, uh, weshare tips for anybody planning
a road trip, things that werecommend that you do consider.
Again, recommend don't evertell anybody you've got to do
(51:33):
these things and the following,uh, then, two weeks after that
is one which is, uh, 15 tips,like I shared about taking train
travel, things that werecommend that you consider
doing.
So that fits in really reallywell.
But, um, I can't believe thisis the third episode with you,
deb.
It's great, I can't wait forthere'll be another one and
another one I'm sure every timeyou go back you need me to go
(51:54):
over, I'm willing.
But again I just want to say ahuge thank you for for helping
moderate our Facebook groups.
It's amazing.
A huge thank you for sponsoringthe podcast every month.
It's huge help.
We really appreciate that andagain thank you for coming on
the podcast.
Speaker 3 (52:11):
Absolutely my pleasure, Tracy.
Thanks for having me again.
Speaker 1 (52:15):
And I will link to the different places, the tours,
the hotels, the cafes anddifferent places that Deb
visited on her time when she wasin the UK in the show notes
which you can find at UK TravelPlanning forward slash episode
156.
But that just leaves me and Debto say at the end of this
episode until next week, happy.
Speaker 2 (52:37):
UK travel planning.
Speaker 1 (52:39):
Yeah, bye, everybody.
Thank you for tuning in to thisweek's episode of the UK Travel
Planning Podcast.
As always, show notes can befound at uktravelplanningcom.
If you've enjoyed the show, whynot leave us feedback via text
or a review on your favoritepodcast app?
The show.
Why not leave us feedback viatext or a review on your
favourite podcast app?
(53:00):
We love to hear from you andyou never know.
You may receive a shout out ina future episode.
But, as always, that justleaves me to say until next week
.
Happy UK travel planning.
planning a trip to the UK or thinking about going
back?
In this episode of the UKTravel Planner Podcast,
returning guest Deborah Harsinshares how she crafted her most
recent UK adventure, thedestinations she explored and
the key lessons she learnedalong the way.
From planning smarter to makingthe most of every day.
This episode is full ofinspiration and tips you can use
(00:20):
.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Welcome to the UK Travel Planning Podcast.
Your host is the founder of theUK Travel Planning website,
tracey Collins.
In this podcast, tracey 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.
(00:44):
Of UK travel.
To help you plan your perfectUK vacation, join us as we
explore the UK from cosmopolitancities to quaint villages, from
historic castles to beautifulislands, and from the
picturesque countryside toseaside towns.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Hi everybody and welcome to the UK Travel
Planning Podcast.
This is episode 156, can youbelieve it?
I just can't myself.
And this week I have specialguest Deborah Harsin on the
podcast to talk all about hertrip to the UK.
Now Deb goes back to the UKover and over again.
She's definitely a confirmedAnglophile and also I will give
(01:26):
a massive shout out A few thingsthat Deb does that really helps
us out is that she's amoderator in our UK Travel
Planet and our London TravelPlanet Facebook group, so come
over and join us.
If you're not a member, Deb's inthere helping us out there.
And also Deb is a longtimesupporter of the podcast, so she
sponsors the podcast everymonth and we truly really
(01:49):
appreciate that.
And we know loads of you guyswho are out there.
You listen to us every week andyou're big fans and we would
just ask as well, please, if youwould consider sponsoring the
podcast.
It's getting so much harder forus as a business to get this
information out to you guys forfree in the podcast on the
getting so much harder for us asa business to get this
information out to you guys forfree in the podcast, on the
websites and the Facebook groupbecause of all the changes going
(02:10):
on in the world these days withAI, and things are just getting
harder.
So if you want us to keepgiving you all this information,
we just ask, please considersupporting us.
That could be a one-off, or youcould do as Deb does and
sponsor us monthly, and I willput a link in the show notes for
that, please.
So, as they say, that helps usmassively.
Right, enough of that.
(02:31):
Let's talk to you, Deb.
So tell us.
Do you know how many timesyou've been to the UK?
Just tell us where you live atthe moment and then tell us
about your kind of lifelong loveof the UK.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
Oh, this will be easy and a long episode.
Evidently no, I'm Deb Harsin.
As Tracy said, this is my thirdpodcast with you, so it feels
like we're just chatting asfriends, which I know we are
over the years, which isfantastic.
I've been to the UK six timesthree times with my husband,
this latest trip with my husband, once by myself and once each
(03:06):
with our oldest and our youngestdaughters.
My love of the UK is going tobe an interesting full circle
with the story I get to tell youabout this trip.
It started with Twiggy.
So I was a very, very younggirl, probably three or four
years old, and I don't even knowhow I became aware of her,
beyond perhaps magazines mymother had or television shows
(03:29):
that she was on.
But I literally had a paperclothing cutouts that they, you
know, had for young girls towear.
I would wear them.
I was very good at posing likeher.
We traveled extensively as afamily when I was growing up, so
there's tons of pictures of mein national parks throughout the
entire United States posing asTwiggy, and from the faithful in
(03:53):
front, yeah no, they'reabsolutely all over the place.
So I grew up with that obsessionand then I my one grandmother
was an English teacher, aliterature teacher, and I was an
early reader and she actuallywas reading to me Jane Austen,
canterbury Tales, I mean, thesethings that I didn't realize
(04:14):
were great works of Englishliterature.
It just was time that we spenttogether where she was reading
and that, of course, ignitedeverything, and of course she
introduced me to Paddington Bear.
You already know Paddington isa lifelong love because I now
have a cat named Paddington, soit just grew from there.
It's always been something ofwhich I've been fascinated and
(04:36):
loved, and I studied history andliterature and really was
focused on all things British,so it's just been a lifelong
love.
So, I've got to ask so when wasthe first time you actually
managed to get over to the UK2014,?
(04:58):
My husband and I went for our30th wedding anniversary and,
you know, our kids had just alleither graduated from college or
were just starting.
And it was sort of at a pointin your life when you think, oh,
I don't know if I'm ever goingto be able to do this, if I'm
ever going to be able to realizethis.
And my husband said, no, we'regoing.
And so we did.
And once I was there, forget it.
I knew I was going back.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Well, and that I mean , and you've just come back from
your sixth trip, which isamazing In 11 years, years,
that's fantastic.
So you keep going back over andover, so you can you know that
you're putting that love intoaction.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
They're absolutely for sure absolutely and it grows
each time yeah, well, that's it.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
There's so much to do and see in the uk, honestly,
and I'm just so pleased thatyou're you're doing that and
going back and and seeing newthings each time, so, so tell us
about this trip.
So you returned with yourhusband.
This is the first time, thesixth time first and sixth time
with your husband.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Third time with my husband.
The last time he was in 2019,he and I had gone, and I already
knew I'd be going this year,but thankfully last year he
mentioned I think I'll go withyou, so which was wonderful.
He wanted very, very much totravel by train, so Doug should
(06:13):
just hop in on this conversationright now.
That was something he wanted todo, and so that sort of pushed
the narrative of how we plannedour itinerary as well.
We knew we wanted to travelalong the east coast of England
for the most part, and we knewthat the ability to do so by
train would be a little biteasier than, say, traveling into
Wales or traveling throughoutWales, for example, or some of
(06:37):
the you know areas that justaren't as consistently well
served, unfortunately.
So I said what about?
You know we travel through here.
We'll travel some places thatI've been fortunate enough to
visit before that he has seenbefore, and some new ones.
And you know he said, yeah,absolutely that that sounds
really good.
So we did a lot of research atthat point as far as where we
(07:00):
actually want to overnight orspend several days and, based on
his work schedule and how muchtime we could do, there's never
enough time.
So I wish I could just travelwith you, tracy, and just be
over there for quite a long time, but I knew this time would be
a little bit more limited.
So we were there just a littleover two weeks and that's how
(07:21):
our itinerary developed.
It was just how are we going totravel with trains successfully
hit places we want to see?
Be able to stay in places thatwe're interested in and just
sort of enjoy being there?
Oh, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
So did you fly into and out of Heathrow?
Speaker 3 (07:39):
No, we flew into Heathrow, yes, but we flew out
of Edinburgh yes, okay, andthat's good.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
We get asked that a lot as well.
See, you've got that ability togo in one airport and out
another, which is also reallyuseful.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
I think I've only had one trip where I have flown in
and out of the same airport.
I think I typically do flyopposite.
It just gives you the abilityto not worry about getting back
to your starting point.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Yeah, that's true.
Not worry about getting back toyour starting point.
It is yeah, that's true.
See, yeah, no, that's a goodidea, because often I know we
get asked about um, you know,there's somebody maybe in
edinburgh on the last couple ofdays of the trip and then
they've got to get back down toheathrow and they're wanting to
do it in the morning and they'vegot a flight in the afternoon.
We're like no no, no, that's,that's that's stressing us out,
reading that so at night before,but flying out from there.
There, it's absolutely perfectif you can do that, and
(08:24):
obviously there's lots of we'retalking before there's lots of
jumping off points in the Statesthat you can, you know, fly
from Edinburgh, fly from London,so you've got options.
Or even if you went over toParis and wanted to fly back
from Paris, that's we hear thatas well or Dublin, that's also
comes up quite often.
Anyway, let's talk about, let'sgive us a brief overview of the
places that you went to.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
Well, we flew into London Heathrow.
We spent several days in Londonwe did spend one of those days
going to Jane Austen's home inChawton and in Winchester,
because those are areas ofinterest to both of us and then
we went to York for a couple ofdays.
From York we went to Whitby,then Whitby to Newcastle,
(09:07):
newcastle to Annick, annick toEdinburgh, so all along the East
Coast, and got to spend quite abit of time in Northumberland,
which is definitely an area thatI adore and I know you're a
little affectionate towards itas well.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
Yeah, it's where I was born, so I'm always a
champion for Northumberland andit's, you know, and often it's
overlooked.
And you know, we know thatthere's, you know, the London
York Edinburgh route and that'sa very, very well-travelled
route by train.
But it's like you also thenpass through Durham County,
durham, which is lovely, andthen Northumberland.
(09:44):
You've got two wonderfulcounties there that are
absolutely worth visiting andyou know, would recommend it,
and I know you're going to betalking a lot about the things
that you did in Soar andNorthumberland, so that's going
to be exciting to chat about.
So you know, when you'reputting together your itinerary,
what sort of resources I'm sureyou used our podcast and
website.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
You know I used the podcast Once again.
I'm going to put a feather inDoug's cap.
I had purchased his train bookoh my goodness, a couple of
years ago, so I was reading itlike it was, you know, a holy
text, and trying to work out myconfidence with the trains as
well.
I had listened to all thepodcasts that you had done about
the train travel.
(10:25):
It didn't matter where it, justlet me hear how it's done, from
things like where do we put oursuitcases to do we bring snacks
, you know.
Do we bring water?
What happens on the train, youknow.
How do I know how this is, ifthis is my train or the other
train going to York, you know.
And how do I keep that straightand which train line to use.
(10:46):
I had downloaded all the apps.
You know that he recommendeddownloading and they were such a
definite help.
So those were more that's whereI really focused a lot of
attention.
And of course, yes, I'mlistening to the podcast weekly
and I'm keeping up on what otherpeople are writing and that
helps inspire some ideas as welltoo.
So those are where my mainsources of inspiration were that
(11:10):
and sort of our wish list of oh, I really liked it here.
I'd like to share that with you.
I'd like you to see it.
Or we had both been to Yorkbefore and just loved it, and oh
, can we make sure to stop there?
So it was a combination of acouple things.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
We were very lucky to have been before and then know
somewhat of where we wanted togo and I will also just announce
as well that doug's just puthis first train video on our
youtube channel.
Uh, so, and that's all aboutactually getting from london to
edinburgh and the threedifferent uh train operators
that you can use on that route,so he actually travels on each
(11:47):
of them.
He shows you a video of whatyou can expect on each of those
trains.
So that just went live thisweek.
So do take a look at ourYouTube channel.
Please subscribe.
It's Doug's first video, so he'svery excited.
There are a couple more to comeout and he's working on even
more.
He did a lot of video when wewere back in the uk and if
there's something particular youwant to see about train travel,
(12:09):
um, let us know, because he'llhe'll get on to that and, uh,
he's very excited about doing it.
So that's good, that's great,and I'm sure with the train book
as well, which we updateregularly, uh, and that and all
the articles on the website, youknow we help prepare you for
train travel.
So how was your train travel?
I'm going to have to ask younow how did it all go?
Speaker 3 (12:29):
It actually went really, really well.
We had.
We did break a cardinal rulebecause originally when we were
planning our trip we were goingto be in London over Trooping of
the Colour weekend and I said,no, I yes, I would love to see
it, but no.
So we moved it forward, or backa bit further into May.
(12:52):
So we were there over the bankholiday at the end of May and
unfortunately we had to travelto Whitby that Sunday.
There was just no gettingaround it and there had been a
huge rugby match, evidently, ofwhich I was totally unaware
until the trains were delayedbecause of it.
But somehow we eked it out andeven though we had to make a
(13:13):
connection from York to Whitby,we made it just fine.
So, I was holding my breath thewhole time, thinking if this
messes up, I had bus routesplanned, I had all sorts of
other alternative ways plannedand prepared.
I thought, but Doug's going tosay I told you and he would have
(13:34):
no other way to do that.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
Doug always says to people you know, sometimes we
have to travel on Sundays bytrain as well.
It's just sometimes it'stotally unavoidable and that's
how you do it and he just saidit's an element of risk.
So you take the risk thatpotentially on a Sunday there
may be disruptions to traintravel.
There may not be.
It's a risk situation.
but he just says have a plan Band a C just in case, because we
(13:57):
have had yeah, we've had, wehave had feedback where things
have gone wrong on Sunday traveland you know people have had to
take a, uh, instead of gettingthe train to Bath from Cotswolds
, uh, oxford or wherever the way, they had to get a taxi at vast
expense because there was notrains on a Sunday.
So things were cancelled or um,all sorts of things happen.
(14:17):
I mean, actually we've got apodcast coming out, um in a
couple of weeks time where Dougactually talks through kind of
the top 10 or top 15.
I think we did kind of topthings we advise you don't do,
or that we see people do that wecan advise not to.
And you know sunday travel isgoing to be in there, oh,
absolutely but I'm excited too,and that's okay you know well
(14:39):
it's to say it, it doesn't itnever.
We, we, we are firmly in thebelief that we don't say to
anybody, whether it's in aconsult, whether it's through
our videos, whether it's, uh,through the podcast, we don't
ever say do or not do, um,because I, we're all adults and
(14:59):
people can make their ownjudgments and their own risk.
We just give you, we just givepeople advice and say you know,
wait it up and decide if thatworks for you, because we're all
different at the end of the day.
And I, I personally find itreally affronting when somebody
said don't do this or don't gothere, cause I'm like, well, you
know, I'll have a look at it,I'll make the decision myself.
So that's kind of how I operate.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
No, that's exactly right and the way to go.
No, that's exactly right andthe way to go.
But, as you said, we had backupplans.
We had plan b, we had plan cand I guess I would have learned
to hike if we needed plan dwell, certainly the whippy you
said you would have been okay.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
So, um, I don't know.
So let's talk about how youchose accommodation.
So we'll talk.
I think what we'll do is we'lltalk about some of the kind of
like those, those logisticalthings that you plan.
So, like, we've talked abouthow you got around, let's talk
about accommodation, and thenwe'll we'll start talking about
tours and then I think we'llstart kind of looking at the
nitty-gritty of some of theplaces that you went to.
(15:57):
But okay, so let's talk aboutaccommodation.
So you, you had your route thatyou knew you were going to take
.
So is that the point when youlooked when?
Okay, let's.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
We started looking Now this was about 10 months ago
, so I'm going to tell you quitehonestly, we splurged and yet,
within the splurging, we madeout wonderfully because we had
booked so far in advancewonderful interactive map the
(16:29):
Royal Horse Guards Hotel rightthere on Whitehall, westminster,
beautiful room and, like I said, booking it nine or 10 months
in advance, we got one amazingdeal on it.
We really did, and of course,we were there in May, so it's
almost still shoulder season,and prices were a little bit
(16:50):
less expensive than certainlythey are now.
Beautiful location and that'swhy we chose it.
It was just a different placefor us to stay and we thought we
deserve it.
The next place we stayed inYork was the Grand York right,
sort of above the train station.
Once again, we had a suite thatwas bigger than our house not
(17:14):
really, but it felt that way.
We walked in going oh my, oh my, oh my, and.
But so reasonably priced that Idon't know how we did.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
I have to tell you that the staying at the ground
in New York is kind of on mywish list.
I'd love to stay there.
Speaker 3 (17:34):
I'll tell you which room you're going to request.
Next.
Then in Whitby, we stayed at Ithink it was called the Royal
Whitby.
It's where Bram Stoker stayedwhen he was inspired to write
Dracula.
It's right by the WhaleboneArch.
It's going through somerenovations now.
It's a very old hotel, butlovely, very, very beautiful
location.
We had a wonderful room withviews of the Abbey that could
(17:58):
not be beat.
So very, very nice.
Newcastle we stayed in a placecalled the Vermont Hotel, also
just very nice hotel, not farfrom the train station, which is
why we chose it.
Then we stayed at my favoriteplace in Annick.
It's called the Cookie Jar.
There's 11 rooms.
It's a boutique hotel.
(18:19):
That's how it sells itself.
I had stayed at the Swan Hotelbefore and I knew that was nice,
so we were looking at that.
But this came up on a searchand each of the rooms is named
after something in the area.
This building used to be anunnery and you can see on the
outside how it's connected towhat used to be the church which
(18:40):
is now the museum.
So it has a really lovelyhistory to it.
We stayed in St Cuthbert's CaveBeautiful room, you know.
Lovely bathroom, beautifulviews of the castle.
Just the people there were thenicest people I think I've ever
come across in any accommodation.
(19:02):
The food was stellar,everything about it.
You just felt like you'restaying at someone's home in the
best possible way, and I justloved it.
I will recommend that for therest of my life as the place to
stay.
Then in Edinburgh we stayed atthe Scotsman, which used to be
where the newspaper waspublished, and once again very,
(19:24):
very close to the WaverlyStation, obviously for access
for the newspaper and had a niceroom.
You know, I think we were onthe eighth floor in that hotel,
so you had city views out of thewindows, very, very nice.
But our big splurges, though,were Royal Horse Guards and the
Grand York.
Those were just really lovely.
(19:46):
But, like I said, booking ahead, we were able to get some
really wonderful deals.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
Oh no, it sounds good .
Well, I will put links in theshow notes to all of those, and
I'm very interested in stayingat the Cookie Jar Sounds great,
Definitely up my street.
And the Grand Inn in New York.
As I say, it's been on my wishlist for a long time, so
hopefully one of these days I'llget in there.
And then London there's so manyamazing places.
I Hopefully one of these daysI'll get in there, and in London
there's so many amazing places.
(20:11):
I've not stayed at Horse Guards, though, so that sounds like
one that I need to investigatenext time I'm in London, for
sure.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
It's really, really wonderful and the Royal Horse
Guards too has a secret historyand I don't want to delve too
much, you need to go there todiscover it.
But one of the doormen our veryfirst day there he had asked us
how long we had been there.
When we had arrived, you know,we just got chatting and he said
(20:37):
and this is, oh my goodness, 9o'clock at night.
We arrived in London at 6 inthe morning.
So we've been walking the wholeday, We've been exploring the
whole day, we're staying up sowe can go to bed and we get back
to the hotel and he's like well, when you have time, I'll show
you the secret parts of thehotel.
And I said, oh, we have time now, we're no longer tired.
(21:03):
We're no longer tired and wedid.
We spent probably a good hour,maybe an hour and a half, with
him seeing.
It's got a very rich historypolitically with World War II,
especially with WinstonChurchill, definitely, and
potentially there are tunnelsthrough its basement, which has
always been used as a winecellar, that are blocked off now
(21:25):
for health and safety reasons,but the rumor is that they
connect to the Churchill warrooms.
So it's very, very intriguingand interesting there and well
worth the visit and well worthmaking friends with the doorman
it sounds like it.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
I think I need to send them an email.
It sounds like definitely onethat it would be of great
interest to go and have a lookat.
I think, okay, let's talk abouttours, uh.
I know because we spoke beforewe started recording that you
did some excellent tours, sohopefully we're going to find
some new partners.
I'm always looking for well,I'm always looking for
(22:01):
recommendations and hopefully uhcan reach out and uh and see if
these guys want to come and uhand join us at uk travel
planning, because they soundlike they are definitely worthy.
Because you know, we are very,are very strict about who we
work with.
We only work with the best andwe only work with people that we
know have, basically, are thebest at what they do.
So tell us about the best tourthat you did.
(22:23):
Tell us the tour that you justcould go back and do again and
again.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
So the very best tour , without a doubt, was conducted
by a man named Alex Iles.
He says the Scottish derivativeof his name is Sandy, so I knew
we'd be friends because that'sa family nickname and he is an
archaeologist.
He's very well educated, he'sworking on his doctorate and he
made the entire story of history, from Roman times up to modern
(22:54):
day, fascinating, interesting,compelling and took time
answering questions.
It was just fantastic.
We met him in Newcastle and hetook us through Lindisfarne,
holy Island and then, of course,up into Bamber.
I had been to Lind's Farmbefore with my oldest daughter,
emily, and when she and I hadgone it had been very, very
(23:16):
misty.
And I know you said there's aword for it and I forget what
the word- is oh, seafret,seafret, seafret.
I think I could remember thatnow, but you literally couldn't
see anything until it was rightin front of you and it was very
atmospheric and wonderful.
We went with Alex, perfectlyclear, and so it was like
visiting it all over again in adifferent way.
I will say.
(23:37):
Of course the tides are themost important thing.
As we know about Lindisfarne,we saw a car off to the left
that had come off the causewaythe night before and they were
attempting to try to save it.
I don't think they weresuccessful because by the time
we left it was still there andnobody was around it.
(23:58):
So of course that was a littlebit of that ha-ha moment, you
fool.
But we enjoyed Lindisfarne.
We walked almost the entireisland and you know we were able
to see Bamber off in thedistance, which was fun.
We could see, of course, thecastle, lindisfarne Castle.
We had plenty of time to gothrough the abbey itself and the
(24:22):
ruins and just explore, andAlex spent time explaining how
Durham University had been theredoing digs, what they had found
, how they found it, what itmeant for the research.
You know where the originalfoundation was for the Abbey.
I mean he just it was justfascinating.
He's just superlative in hisdescriptions and bringing every
(24:44):
aspect of that history to life.
And then, of course, beingmindful of the tides, we got
back into the car and drove toBamber and as we're crossing the
causeway, you could see wherethe Pilgrim's Walk is already
covered.
And of course people werelining up at the end because
they want to watch the watercome in.
And unfortunately we were alittle bit more under time
(25:07):
constraints and weren't able todo that, but it was interesting
to see the Pilgrim's Causealready already covered.
Um, so then we went to bamberand alex treated us to a nice
lunch in their cafe.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
It's nice the cafes did you go into the?
Speaker 3 (25:22):
castle itself into bamber castle.
Yeah, now, a friend of mine,you told me about a very odd
feeling.
You had gotten in Bamber yearsago as a child.
I never got that.
I was really disappointed.
But that aside, I loved viewingit and seeing it.
(25:44):
And, of course, alex was fullof information about the digs
that had been done on theoutside and how the actual sand
wasn't there 300 years ago, youknow, until horrific storms had
gone through, and how muchhigher the water tables would
have been at the time that itwas built, and just the
information was fantastic.
So what I knew would be a greatday was even better just
(26:05):
because of the information heprovided, and we just really,
really, really.
It was a full day.
We enjoyed it completely and,you know, then he took us back
to our hotel.
So it was, it just wasfantastic.
I think he runs a variety oftours.
They're all very history orarchaeologically based, but the
(26:26):
way in which he tells stories issomething I could recommend to
anybody.
Whether your interest is there,whether your interest is just
piqued, whether you study it,you're going to learn something
from him, and he enjoys learningfrom the people he takes as
well.
He was very knowledgeable, buthe also wanted to.
What do you know and what canwe share, and how can we share
(26:48):
it and work on it together?
So I was very impressed.
His communication, too, waswonderful, and I was impressed
with that.
The night before our tour hehad checked in this is the time
you know, and then I don'tremember if it was the evening
of our tour or the next morning.
Did you have any questions?
You know he had follow up withit and if you need to contact me
, here's my.
(27:09):
You know the ways to get intouch with me.
So, very impressive.
He was absolutely the best tour.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
Sounds brilliant, and actually that's what you want,
isn't it?
You want somebody because thenyou can sit back, you can enjoy
the day, you don't have to worryabout getting from A to B
because somebody is going totake you, but you also have the
time in the car to chat as well,to learn more and to have those
conversations.
And then you're not, you're notrushed, which you know you can
be.
If you do even a small grouptour, they still have a kind of
(27:37):
you know itinerary you have tofollow.
But when you have somebody thatyou're with, that you have
hired for the day private guide,somebody's driving you around.
You've got that flexibility toto maybe spend a little bit
longer, or to you know or, ifyou're less interested, to say,
oh, let's go to the next place,you know it just gives you all
of that all of that, uh,flexibility a bit more
restricted with holy island,because you've got, you have the
(27:58):
tides, so they govern when youcan go over and come back again
and that and that that thosetides come in quite fast.
Uh, so yeah, you really do haveto.
Uh, and I do say, if anybody'sgot northumberland, they want to
go to Holy Island and you'veonly got a few days, you do need
to look at the tides becauseyou may miss out, because
there's nothing we can do aboutit.
It's about those are the tidesand you either get over and back
(28:20):
over at that time, or you'regoing to be stuck on the island
or you can't get over there.
That's how it kind of works,but yeah, bamburg.
Speaker 3 (28:26):
Castle.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
I actually did go back to Bamber Castle beginning
of last year, I think, because Ihad not been since I was 11,
because I found it a bit spooky.
There was something aboutBamber Castle that just gave me
the shivers and I was like oh so, anyway, I went back at the 45
years later and it was fine, Ididn't.
(28:47):
I didn't have that same, butit's funny, isn't it?
I was, I was probably 11 at thetime and it still stuck with me
for years.
It was like, no, but yes,definitely.
You know.
Another advantage as well thatyou were with Alex is that you'd
have to worry about parking,because parking can be a real
problem, especially when you'regoing to the summer months
because there's just lessparking spaces you have to think
about it, whereas you can getdropped off and then he can deal
(29:09):
with the parking.
It just makes life a lot easier.
But, yeah, we highly recommenda tour.
So, alex, when you're listening, hopefully by this point I've
got in touch with you and you'llbe keen to work with us,
because I'm sure there'll beplenty of people who want to
touch out to you and book sometours.
What other tours did you do?
Speaker 3 (29:28):
We also two others.
I'll mention quickly.
Other tours did you do?
We also two others I'll mentionquickly.
We did a Billy Sheil InterfarnIsland tour from Seahouse, which
was, oh my goodness, about anhour and a half on the North Sea
, and he's pointing out, ofcourse, the Grace Darling story
and the lighthouse in her homeand St Cuthbert's Chapel.
The gray seals were out, thepuffins were out, the arctic
(29:54):
terns, the cuddy's ducks.
The only thing I wasdisappointed in not seeing is
I've been following his page.
This entire spring there's beenorcas and of course the orcas
are there because the gray sealsare there.
But the gray seal population isso enormous that it's no wonder
you know the orcas have shownup.
So of course, course you know wedidn't see orcas but we did get
(30:15):
to spend another hour on innerforeign island itself and that
was fun.
You're sort of walking amongstthe puffins and and all of the
birds and you know they'rewarning us wear something over
your head, because the arcticterns nest in the ground and if
you get close to their eggsthey're going to attack.
And they did.
But you know, you just keptgoing and and of course they're
(30:38):
protecting them, but it just.
That was an experience too.
That island was just stunningand amazing and I'm very jealous
.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
I have to just interject that I am very jealous
that you did this because Ihave not.
I've been in sea, how I've beento see houses since I was a
child, literally.
My dad used to take us thatweekend anyway.
But I've never done that boattrip and I've been out there
before and it's just been thewrong time of year or the wrong
weather or whatever.
So that's another one that Ireally need to, and I've had
(31:07):
other people say oh, I've been Ilike I've not seen the puffins
on the Farne Islands, so yeah,I'm jealous.
Speaker 3 (31:17):
They were an enormous amount of fun.
In fact, there was a couple onthe boat, I think they were from
Poland.
They had been on the same tourthe day before too.
They loved it so much.
It was like, yeah, we're goingon it again and they were taking
photos the whole time and, youknow, with some really
impressive looking cameras andso forth.
But it was fun.
It's not something I'drecommend for anybody who
(31:37):
doesn't like being out on thewater, because you are
definitely on the boat beingtossed that's the correct word.
You know, left to right,backwards and forwards.
You will get wet, you will needrain gear.
But it was a blast.
It was so much fun.
Speaker 1 (31:53):
I enjoyed it so much well, that won't be one for doug
because he doesn't do boats,but uh, I'll definitely add that
.
I honestly consider I'm fromnorthumberland.
Maybe I feel a bit embarrassedto say that I have not done that
, but I I will.
I will, uh, definitely add thatonto my list and actually I
think there's a, there's a linkin our guide to northumberland,
actually to that Burley Shieldsboat trip anyway, so you can
check that out.
(32:13):
Yeah, and the third tour, thethird one.
Speaker 3 (32:17):
Our third tour was Robbie's tour and we had booked
it when you had the promo codefor it as well.
So we had booked that a whileago and we went to the West
Highlands Locks and Castles.
That was the name of that tour.
It's just a one-day tour fromEdinburgh, but we went to the
town of Luss on Loch Lomond andwe went to Inverary.
(32:39):
We had the option to go intothe castle or visit the town and
we chose to wander about thetown and just sort of enjoy the
fishing port.
It was very, very beautiful.
We saw the ruins of kilchurncastle and he took us there
because that and inverary werethe campbell clan, you know, and
just to show us the differentplaces we went to.
(33:00):
Um, oh, then he took us to seethree hairy coos at a farm.
I think it was honey hamish and, oh my goodness, I can't
remember holly.
So there were two bald ones anda ginger one and and they just
were posing like they knew theywere the stars that people
wanted to see.
And then we went to dune castleand we did go into there.
(33:21):
They had an audio guide for it,but it's very much based on the
holy grail, which was veryinteresting.
I love that, but you know it,which was very interesting.
I love that movie but you knowI like castles and the history,
so it was.
I enjoyed the castle a lot, butnot the audio tour as much,
which you know that happens.
Well yeah, but it was a greatday out.
And then on the way back we sawthe Kelpies.
Speaker 1 (33:45):
you know in.
Speaker 3 (33:45):
Stirling Castle.
They're lovely, yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:52):
Sort of yeah, it was just.
It was just was a nice day,full day, but very, very, very
nice day and there's some reallygood tours from Edinburgh.
You've got such a lot of choiceand Rabi's offer a lot of
really good and a small group.
You weren't in a massive, greatbig bus.
Speaker 3 (34:03):
No, we had 15 or 18.
I can't remember which, but oneof the two on our group.
And no, it wasn't a large groupat all, so you're not tied up
waiting for, you know, 60 peopleto get on the bus or whatever.
So it was lovely and our driver, martin, very, very affable and
knowledgeable and tried to maketime for all the people you
(34:26):
know and answer all theirquestions.
So it was a good day.
Speaker 1 (34:30):
Okay.
So it's good to know that youdid some great tours and, as I
say, hopefully we'll, we'llreach out to Alex and hopefully
he'll come on board.
Come on, alex, and can I talkabout food, cause I'm still, I'm
still leaving your favoriteexperiences and places to last
Cause I think that's a great Ijust I, I'm going to be very
excited to ask that, but let'stalk about food.
Speaker 3 (34:56):
What did you enjoy when you were there?
What did you try?
Let me tell you about the newplace that we had cream tea In
York.
I had been following these twomen who had bought one of the
oldest, the oldest house in York.
It was built in 1316.
And they have run a tea housethere for the last four and a
half years and I've beenfollowing them and following
(35:17):
their story and I told myhusband we have to find this.
So we knew where it was locatedand we went there our full day
that we had in York and theywere so kind, thomas and Tony so
kind.
We ordered the cream tea for twobecause right time of the day
and this is what we wanted wehad there's only because it's
(35:38):
such a small building.
There's the downstairs wherethey have a little kitchen and
then their display of goods andyou can get takeaway there.
And then you go up the stairsand there's six tables, maybe
eight, at the top of the stairs.
We had the table right in frontof the window that overlooked
the street, which is really nice.
They serve the cream tea onbeautiful China.
(36:01):
I mean just gorgeous, gorgeoussetting Scones and your clotted
cream.
It was raspberry preserves andthen fresh fruit and it was
fantastic, superb, it just wasfantastic.
Everybody exclaims over Betty'sand I love Betty's and I've been
there and I enjoy it.
I'm going to tell you they werebetter and better price too.
(36:23):
And they also serve sandwichesfor lunches or breakfast and
that type of thing as well themost wonderful looking pastries
and cakes.
And I'm just just telling, ifyou're in York and you think,
well, betty's has a line, I maynot be able to get in queue up
(36:43):
for this place, and you won't bedisappointed.
Speaker 1 (36:45):
It was absolutely amazing okay, so so give them,
give them another shout out okay, it's the old York tea room.
Speaker 3 (36:53):
It's in Goodrum, goodrum gate road and thomas and
tony run it.
The fabulous, fabulous,fabulous.
The queue is worth it.
We maybe waited 15 minutes andit's absolutely spectacular.
Speaker 1 (37:07):
So well I am, please.
I'll just say well I'm.
I'm gonna be going to go anddefinitely visit thomas and tony
and have some of these creamteas next time I'm in York.
For sure I'm adding those intomy yeah.
I do, I do, and it this soundstoo good to miss up.
So, yep, that's definitely inmy itinerary, so I'll be looking
forward to to meeting the guysand and checking out the tea
(37:28):
rooms.
Speaker 3 (37:28):
It sounds fabulous it really and truly was.
Beyond that, um, we we did have.
Oh, we went to um magp's Cafein Whitby, of course.
In fact we ran into a man downat the harbor who grew up in the
area and his grandparents had ahouse just on the East Cliff
and he was talking to us how youknow, have you been here often?
(37:49):
I said it's just my secondvisit.
He goes, it's about my 150th,and then he tells us of course
his grandparents had lived thereand of course he's still in the
area, and so my husband askedwhat do you recommend for dinner
?
And he goes oh, magpies.
Well, I know he was telling thetruth because he was behind us
in the queue.
So within about he was waitingfor his wife and within about 10
(38:11):
minutes of us waiting he wasback there too, and so that was
delicious and I'm glad that Igot to eat there, because the
last time I was in Whitby Ididn't have the opportunity.
So that was nice, a beautifuldinner.
But one of the best fish andchips we had was actually back
in York at a place calledDrake's Fish and Chips, and it
(38:34):
was just a beautiful little pub,beautiful meal.
It was extraordinary.
Um, beyond that, we tended topick up, you know, jacket
potatoes here or there or we,you know, we were on the go all
the time so we didn't reallyspend a lot of time eating.
If you will in in any, yeah bigplace.
Speaker 1 (38:57):
I don't know about you, but if we had a B&B then
we'd have a good breakfast andthen maybe later on in the day
we'll get a meal deal.
I'm just such a big fan of mealdeals going and getting your
sandwich, your drink, your pieceof fruit or crisps or chocolate
bar whatever you want at a goodprice.
All of the Sainsbury's, tesco's, uh, marks and Spencer's you'll
(39:17):
find all of them have got theseoffers and they're just worth
popping in and, uh, they'rereally good for your budget as
well, because everywhere UK isgetting more and more expensive.
Uh, but also, I'm also going tomention because you haven't
said anything about sticky tofupudding.
I only had it twice because Iknow that you have a weakness
for that.
Speaker 3 (39:34):
I love sticky, sticky toffee pudding.
No, you're exactly right, and Ionly had it twice.
So you know I controlled myurges much more this time.
Speaker 1 (39:43):
You were good.
You were definitely very good.
Okay, so let's go back totalking about some of it.
So let's talk about yourfavorite experiences and the
favorite places that you went,because you did cover quite a
few amazing places.
So I know I'm putting you onthe spot here, um, but what were
the?
What were the standouts for you?
Speaker 3 (40:01):
well, I will tell you something that occurred to me
because we've been talking aboutsome of our favorite places.
That was pure happenstance andit just because of the situation
.
It was quite magical theChelsea Flower Show was going on
in London while we were thereum the day we arrived,
unbeknownst to us, william andCatherine were having a tea
party in Buckingham Palace.
(40:22):
We're walking down the mall atI don't know 6 o'clock, 6.30,
and these people are all comingtowards us, all dressed up and
they're beautiful fascinators.
They're, you know,wonderful-looking suits and what
on earth fascinators, their youknow wonderful looking suits
and what on earth.
And as we got closer toBuckingham Palace, it had
obviously just ended becausemore and more people were coming
(40:42):
out the Kingsguard was marchingback to Wellington Barracks.
So that was sort of a funexperience, totally unexpected
and just one of those thingsthat we just happened to be
there, unfortunately not to seeWilliam and Catherine.
Speaker 1 (40:56):
I I wish we had but to see the people that were
leaving I was going to say nexttime I think you guys should get
an invite.
I I genuinely do I think weneed to be reaching out and
saying hey, uh, you know,william and kate, we need to get
an invite to these gardenparties.
Seriously, we want to getinside and check it out and get,
be able to dress up and get afascinator.
(41:16):
That would be cool, wouldn't it?
Yes, let's just call itresearch, yeah, yeah, well,
let's, let's see.
Speaker 3 (41:22):
You never know, you never know so no, you never know
, that was fun and that was justby by chance.
One of the things that myhusband really enjoyed is, once
we got to Edinburgh, we had umwalked from one end of Princess
Street Gardens to the other andjust soaking.
First of all, it's a gorgeousday, so everybody's outside,
obviously, because the sun wasshining and it was just
(41:43):
beautiful, but it's a beautifulpark anyways.
But at the end of May all theflowers are blooming and the
fountain that is there just hasmasses of gorgeous flowers and
bushes around it, and justwalking from one end to the
other was just one of thosemoments that you're not doing
anything but enjoying, and itreally was a beautiful standout
(42:08):
moment for us.
We went to see the Devil WearsPrada at the West End when we
were in and that was fantastic.
That was, and I always thinkyou know if you get a chance to
go see a play or go seesomething.
That was just awesome.
Speaker 1 (42:22):
That's on my list, but it's quite pricey.
I did look last time and I wentoh, I really want to go and see
it and I was like, how much isthat?
So that'll be on another list,I think, but I definitely would
like to go and see it.
So worth it.
Good to go.
Speaker 3 (42:35):
Oh, it was definitely worth it.
Vanessa Williams was in thelead role and she was phenomenal
.
You know, you sort of forgotthat.
Meryl Streep played thecharacter, and that's I love the
movie, so it's no slam to that.
It's just that Vanessa Williamsowned it.
And the casting for Nigel andfor Emily was just superb.
(42:56):
It just was one of those thingswhere they cast so well and
played their role so well thatyou just yes, I'm immersed, I'm
involved.
It was beautifully done and themusic was fantastic.
It just was a wonderful,wonderful night and a wonderful
experience.
So we really enjoyed that aswell, too.
(43:19):
Brilliant and any otherstandouts the other standout is
another one of those just, wehappened to be in the right
place at the right time.
In Whitby, our hotel room, as Imentioned, overlooked the Abbey
and it had been very, verywindy and as the night
progressed, of course, it gotcooler with that.
So we went back to our room asyou know, it got later and had
(43:41):
made hot chocolate and we'resitting at our window just
watching.
We watched the sun go down, youknow, and there's the abbey,
there's the harbor, and it justwas gorgeous.
And by chance, my husband wasawake at 4, 4.30 in the morning.
He saw it come up, you know,and I woke up and so we have
these bookend photos of thesunset and the sunrise and it's
(44:02):
just wow, one of those momentsthat you look at and think how
fortunate were we.
Speaker 1 (44:09):
It's funny how those moments stick in your brain.
They're sticking in your mind.
Those are the memories and it's, I just think it just made me
think of a few years ago whendugout and orkney and I was
awake at, I mean, it was light.
It's light there.
It was in the summer, so it'slike it doesn't get dark, but,
um, I remember looking out thebedroom window and we weren't
very far from the ring ofbroadca and you could see it.
(44:31):
It was really close, but thiswas, this was like in the
morning like three o'clock inthe morning or whatever, and it
was really close.
but this was in the morning,like three o'clock in the
morning or whatever, and it wasstill light and it was just it's
just so atmospheric and just Idon't know really special.
It just I can still think aboutit, I would close my eyes, I
could still see it, and I wasjust like, oh wow, this is.
You know, and it's those thingsthat you remember and you kind
of go, oh, the people you meet,the places, you kind of
(44:53):
experience, and those, can Ijust say, those kind of more
surreal kind of things whereyou're just in the moment,
completely and utterly immersed,aren't you?
Speaker 3 (45:03):
You really are and you're so appreciative of just
having that moment and havingthat time to appreciate where
you're at and soak it in.
Speaker 1 (45:13):
So I know you'll be planning a next visit.
I'm going to ask I think youknow that, yeah, because I say
ask your husband, yeah, sobecause you've been quite a few
times to the UK.
So if somebody's planning thisand thinking like where would
(45:33):
they go on a return visit, whatwould you, what would you
recommend?
Where I know you have certainplaces that you love, like
northumberland, but where wouldyou sign to say, would you say
to people like, yeah, spend acouple of days in london but get
out and go and see a bit more?
Because that's what we say allthe time yes, and but it's true,
london is phenomenal.
Speaker 3 (45:53):
You cannot be bored in london, samuel, samuel
Johnson was absolutely right youwould never tire of London.
But it's not the UK, it's notrepresentative of the UK.
I absolutely love going toCanterbury and Dover.
That's a beautiful area.
(46:13):
But the Lake District is abeautiful area.
Yes, I'm, you know hop skipping.
I think, oh my God, of coursethe Cotswolds and that's a
beautiful area.
But the Lake District is abeautiful area.
Yes, I'm, you know, hopskipping.
I think, oh my goodness, ofcourse the Cotswolds, and that
gets a lot of publicity, if youwill, because it is so beautiful
and you see it on posters andthat's so well worth the visit.
Bath is so worth the visit.
My personal favorite too isWales.
I just adore Northern Wales.
(46:34):
But to me and I don't know ifyou see this or not, if you
would agree, but northern whalesin Northumberland are very
close to me, in kindred spirit,you know, sort of in the feel
that you get People just passthrough, they don't visit, they
don't stay and they reallyshould, because there's so much
to see and so much to enjoy andthe people are just so welcoming
(46:57):
, and I think that's part of theattraction as well.
Towns like chester, I don'tthink get enough publicity in
there what it, what a findchester is and how chester's
amazing yeah isn't it?
yes, it really is so.
Speaker 1 (47:12):
So, yes, get out of london and and actually a lot of
those places like Canterbury,you know, winchester, you
mentioned Bath.
They're very easy day trips, soyou know you can jump on the
train and go and visit.
I'm glad you went to Winchester.
It's a favorite of mine.
I loved it.
The cathedral is amazing.
It's a lovely city to visit andexplore, so I'm glad that you
(47:36):
did that.
Now I'm going to hop over toasking did you buy anything when
you were there that you broughtback?
Because obviously you've beenquite a few times, so I don't
know if souvenirs is somethingthat you go for or if there's
stuff that you always buy whenyou go.
Speaker 3 (47:50):
So I have yes, I always purchase prints of ruins,
cathedrals, you know that typeof thing.
This is the first time we'revisiting castles, so we got to
go to Holyrood House Palace,which I absolutely loved, and so
I have a print of that thatI'll frame in a black frame
thing that I knew I was gettingwhen I went over because we did
(48:16):
go to Chawton, to Jane Austen'shouse was my copy of Sense and
Sensibility.
Now this is my fifth copy ofthis book, but this is the only
one from her house and it's myfavorite favorite novel of hers.
It's even got the gold binding,I mean.
So that was something that Iknew I was getting.
(48:37):
There's absolutely.
You know, this is what I'mabsolutely getting and I did get
in Edinburgh I got a PrincessDiana cashmere scarf.
Speaker 1 (48:50):
It's very nice.
Yeah, it's a beautiful tart inthat, yeah.
Speaker 3 (48:54):
Yeah, and I, you know I looked at it on previous
visits, never got it and itliterally was a spur of the
moment splurge.
We were walking by and I saidlet's go in and look at it next
thing.
You know, I was walking outwith it.
Speaker 1 (49:08):
I don't blame you.
I have to admit I do keeplooking at it because it's very
pretty, it's really pretty.
Speaker 3 (49:14):
Yeah, it's really pretty.
So those are that's.
That's pretty much what oursouvenirs were.
Oh, I got a little porcelaincat in, uh, one of the cat
stores in York because we didthe cat trail, you know, finding
the cat.
Yeah, I had to get a little oneto put up on a shelf, but but I
think that was pretty much,pretty much it.
No, we don't typically go toget souvenirs unless there's
(49:37):
something with intent, like mysense and sensibility was yeah,
yeah, you know that.
Speaker 1 (49:41):
Yeah, I mean, we we're talking like we collect
fridge magnets, which everybodyloves that.
But it's just that they're verysmall and it means we, if we're
traveling multiple destinations,we can fit those in the in the
suitcase.
But I I have recently umstarted collecting prints as
well, uh, because it's just sucha lovely reminder when you come
back.
But I like the idea of buying ajane austen book at chawton.
(50:03):
I think I might have to addthat to my another add to my
list when I'm back over in theuk, like hopefully later on the
year if not early next year, forsure.
Anyway, you know I always endthe podcast with the same
question.
So what would be the one tipthat you would share with
somebody planning to visit theUK on a return trip so not for a
first-time visitor, butsomebody who's already been,
who's thinking oh, I want to goback.
(50:23):
What would be the tip thatyou'd share?
Speaker 3 (50:26):
I think my tip is to familiarize yourself with other
modes of transportation and it'sfunny because I'd asked my
husband the same question whatwould you say?
And that's what he said.
I already had it written down.
And because I think, seeing theUK by, of course, if you're in
London, you know it's easy tohop on the underground, it's
easy to hop on a bus, it's easyto grab, you know, a black cab,
(50:50):
and those are all wonderfulmodes and we should use them.
Walk a lot, though, whenyou're're in places, because
then you see things in differentways.
But I would say search out,don't be afraid to do things
like take a train, you know, toa different place, or a bus, for
that matter, because I know thebus system throughout the UK is
so beneficial to their travelas well too.
Speaker 1 (51:12):
So that would be my tip for returning visitors do
something different in terms oftransportation and just enjoy oh
well, that's really actuallyhandy, because next week's
episode is all about, um, uh, weshare tips for anybody planning
a road trip, things that werecommend that you do consider.
Again, recommend don't evertell anybody you've got to do
(51:33):
these things and the following,uh, then, two weeks after that
is one which is, uh, 15 tips,like I shared about taking train
travel, things that werecommend that you consider
doing.
So that fits in really reallywell.
But, um, I can't believe thisis the third episode with you,
deb.
It's great, I can't wait forthere'll be another one and
another one I'm sure every timeyou go back you need me to go
(51:54):
over, I'm willing.
But again I just want to say ahuge thank you for for helping
moderate our Facebook groups.
It's amazing.
A huge thank you for sponsoringthe podcast every month.
It's huge help.
We really appreciate that andagain thank you for coming on
the podcast.
Speaker 3 (52:11):
Absolutely my pleasure, Tracy.
Thanks for having me again.
Speaker 1 (52:15):
And I will link to the different places, the tours,
the hotels, the cafes anddifferent places that Deb
visited on her time when she wasin the UK in the show notes
which you can find at UK TravelPlanning forward slash episode
156.
But that just leaves me and Debto say at the end of this
episode until next week, happy.
Speaker 2 (52:37):
UK travel planning.
Speaker 1 (52:39):
Yeah, bye, everybody.
Thank you for tuning in to thisweek's episode of the UK Travel
Planning Podcast.
As always, show notes can befound at uktravelplanningcom.
If you've enjoyed the show, whynot leave us feedback via text
or a review on your favoritepodcast app?
The show.
Why not leave us feedback viatext or a review on your
favourite podcast app?
(53:00):
We love to hear from you andyou never know.
You may receive a shout out ina future episode.
But, as always, that justleaves me to say until next week
.
Happy UK travel planning.
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