Whether you like taking in historic sites and cathedrals or great shopping and nightlife, quiet, quaint villages or swinging seaside resorts, the cosmopolitan aura of London or the spectacular beauty of the Lake District, you’ll find plenty to see and do in England. This friendly guide doesn’t solve the mystery of prehistoric Stonehenge, but it helps you solve the mystery of how to make the most of your time and your money, Like every For Dummies travel guide, England For Dummies, 3 rd Edition
BAHAHA! I had to put this on here. You know I thought I would think that these kind of books were silly...but when I took my trip to England in '04 I thought I'd pick it up to see if there was going to be anything useful to me. I was surprised. It gave a bunch of odd facts (which I l<3ve) and helpful 'dos' and 'donts'. Gave a suggestion on when the best time to travel there was and I ended up paying less then $500 on my round-trip ticket!!
I used the restaurant recommendation in Salisbury, and had a wonderful meal and drinks at the Haunch of Venison pub. Also used it for our trip to York, although I used the Time Out guide more for our stay in London proper. The tips for rail travel were useful. We went for the Britrail pass for our out-of-London trips. I'd recommend it, although it might need an update, since this latest one was published in 2008 I think.
I've loved all the "for Dummies" books, but am just reading "England for Dummies," and it contains statements that are out of date and wrong. To cite just one, Olson says in the 2008 (4th edition) that British Airways flies from Denver into Garwick. It does NOT. After 9/11/01, BA switched from Denver/Gatwick to Denver/Heathrow, and continues until now.
This book was helpful to me as I got ready to travel to England for the first time, and then later to move here--however, it wasn't as helpful as I had hoped. I guess I knew a lot of what was there already, so I wasn't as much of a dummy as I thought ... ;)