European Royalty discussion

I thought you guys would be the best to ask. I'm going to London in April. I want to do the Tudor castles, Tower, etc. Has anyone done a tour they recommend or should I just rent a car, train it, etc? I found some Tudor tours online but they are already sold out. I would love any suggestions or something I shouldn't miss. Thanks.

As fan of Bess of Hardwick, I know I want to go to Chatsworth and Hardwick Hall up in Derbyshire :-).

The new Chatsworth is nothing like the old one, although it is a fabulous country house "palace" estate, and really gives you the understanding of a manor/house as something like a modern corporation, with a CEO and huge staff, all with a specific purpose, and bigger than one particular individual.

I was brought up near London, so I can highly recommend quite a few places within easy reach. There are any number of places along the Thames which are fascinating, including Hampton Court Palace, Richmond (although nothing remains of the palace, it's still interesting walking around), Richmond Park (old hunting lodge and on the walk into Richmond the view from Richmond Hill has not changed in centuries), Windsor Castle (a bit cheesy on the tourist front, but a nice visit) and the Tower is also very interesting (I would also visit St. Katherine's Dock next to it - it's even older than the Tower, although, of course, it's been updated and modernized over the centuries).

I would also highly recommend a couple of places outside London, particularly Hatfield House (the old Palace where Elizabeth lived in exile during the reign of Queen Mary and where she accepted the Crown), and also another house, more difficult to reach and you must check the opening hours is Chenies Manor. It has got to be one of the most interesting houses I've ever visited (and I do love old houses). It's privately-owned, so it has a real lived-in feeling which the others don't have, it once had the "honor" of housing the Court on a progress, and has a priesthole and escape tunnels into the woods behind the house (my brother borrowed a torch from the owner and investigated for a couple of hours).

Wikipedia has quite a nice listing of palaces and castles in the counties surrounding London, and most places are more-or-less accessible via public transport.

I could go on for hours...

Oh yes, nearly forgot. I've never heard of specific tours, but I've never been shy about asking the docents in the rooms of houses I visit or reading the program carefully. The people that work in these places are usually EXTREMELY knowledgeable and only too happy to share what they know with those who are interested. Asking questions about who the people are in specific pictures, or whose bedroom you are in can elicit fascinating snippets of information about the lives of those who lived there.

i'm taking an european tour in fall 2011 through AAA Trafalgar Tours. i know they have just a british tour, don't think it is Tudor related, but they do all the hotel booking and driving and have very informed tour guides

Depending on how long you are staying, there is tons of stuff to see in the London area and I wouldn't suggest renting a car there. The tube is easy and relatively cheap to use and there are a lot of trains that go to the surrounding outlying areas (like Hampton Court). Once you decide where you want to go, check on the website for the tube/trains to see if there are passes you can get that will save you $$.

As an American who was recently in England and traveled 1500 miles around the country, driving in the UK is NOTHING like driving in the US - "wrong" side of the road, everything in the car is "backwards", they don't use the same kind of signage system or road numbering system that we do and driving is very stressful. Fortunately for me, my husband did all of the driving but there were times when the first thing he wanted to do when we got to where we were going was have a beer!!

Here's a blog post that I wrote about our driving experience if you are interested...

http://uk-mindthegap.blogspot.com/201...

Thank you guys! Tanzanite, funny! I will have my Mom with me and she stresses about riding in Los Angeles when she visits, so Im sure England will freak her out. I plan on staying at least a week. Good to know about the tube and trains. Ruth, yes Hatfield is a must and and thanks for the wiki recommend. Jemidar, I forgot about Hardwick. Thanks for the reminder.

Tanz, I just read your blog! Funny stuff! We will take the train!

Thank you guys! Looks like I'm going next month now (Feb) instead of April. I tried last April and the volcano messed that up, this April is the Royal Wedding (being a flight attendant I fly standby), so all the flights are now full due to the wedding. I am not meant to go in April, so wintery February it is! I'm staying at The Royal HorseGuard Hotel. 6 nights. Can't wait! Thank you all again for your great insight.

Have a great time!

Ok, two tours I took: hampton court palace (about a half hour or 45 minute train ride), and a short train trip to sevenoaks, from which you take a short cab ride to chartwell, which was churchill's home. Don't go on a Monday, it's closed. Highly recommend both, and if you go to chartwell, go early because after you get back to the train station at sevenoaks, if you've left yourself some time before the train, you can literally walk down a path past a grocery store or something and bam, there's Knole. It's a stately home, and has one of the best preserved collections of Stuart furniture and decorations in it in the world. The family was "in" during the Stuart era and for a long time afterward, so they lived in London. As a result, the furniture at knole was covered with sheets and unused for like, two centuries or something. never got broken, replaced or worn out. I stumbled on it on my chartwell trip and boy was I glad I did. Also-- dunno if you've been before to London but in case not: 1) take a few pounds cash with you. Here's why. At the airport you have the option to buy a pass for the underground, and an unrestricted pass isn't expensive and saves a lot of dicking around. But they put your photo on it-- one of those passport wallet photos- and you'll want cash for the little photo booth that's there. 2) that pass lowers your price on British rail trips so if you go to these or other castles or stately homes, make sure you give it to the ticket booth guy and get your discount and 3) on your Kensington palace day, go around the corner from the Gloucester road underground station and check out the strathmore grange hotel. It's a hotel now, but it used to be a private home, and the late queen mum grew up there. Have a good time!

Thank you Jennifer! I knew GoodReaders would have the best info. You guys are the best!

OK guys, today I am off to London. Thank you again for the great advice. I'm staying at The Royal Horseguard Hotel which from what I've read is where WhiteHall Palace was. We are hitting the no brainers Westminster Abbey, Hampton Court, St James Palace, The Tower, Windsor and what is left of Whitehall. We are going to brave it Tanzanite and rent a car and drive to Hever. My friend was excited after seeing your blog, not scared off. We also plan to ferry it over to Paris via Dover into Calais (I'll feel like I'm reliving the battles there) very cool and end up in Paris for a night and revisit The Louvre. @Ruth if we have time we will hit Hatfield. @Jennifer thank you for the train info on Chartwell and Knole. If we can fit it all in in 7 nights we will!

Sounds like the most amazing trip! I'm terribly jealous. Have a wonderful time!!!

Tanzanite - I read a couple of your blog posts - was laughing out loud at the one about driving! I'll definitely be reffering my DH to it when we finally make it over...he's promised to take me before I turn 35, which gives him just over 4 years!

Have a great time Rio! If you are going to Hever from London on the main highway you should probably be OK since it is well marked from that way (from the middle of nowhere in the south - not so much!!).

Mandy - I definately recommend an automatic and a GPS. And do some research on signs and speed limits - it will save you a lot of confusion later. We'll find out when we go back if my husband has been banned from driving in the UK due to to many speeding tickets from those darn cameras. We were told that if there were any violations they wouldn't send them to us since we lived in the US but he could be on some kind of "list" and not able to get a rental car in the future.

LOL! How funny would it be if the rental agent had to tell you (in their ADORABLE accent!) that you couldn't rent a car because you had too many violations?! I'd die.
You'd still be able to rent though, right? Since it wasn't YOUR violation list?
LOL

OMG! How funny!
Did the Tower today. Wow! Hard to put into words. It was exhilarating to see in person. Walked up to Tower Hill after and saw the spot of the other beheadings (Cromwell, Thomas, Dudley, Wyatt among a few) I was surprised there are only a few small plaques there.

I could but there is no way in hell that I would ever drive there. My nerves (and my bladder) wouldn't be able to take it!! I would have to rent the car and let him drive it and hope for no more violations or any accidents!!

Tanzanite, thank you for telling me to get GPS. Without it we might have arrived at Hever a few hours later. We made it. The hardest part were the 1 lane roads through the area. We ended up at Penshurst first, by mistake. It was well worth the trip. We trained it to Windsor and Hampton Court. We hit pretty much every Tudor spot. Too bad you can't tour St James and all this " no picture taking" made me crazy. Overall I loved seeing in person everything that I have read about. Thank you all again for the great information.

I'm so glad you found everything OK. Hever really is kind of out in the middle of nowhere, isn't it? But it's such pretty countryside that even getting lost is kind of cool! I know what you mean about the "no picture taking" but then I guess that's how they get you to buy the guidebooks (which I bought one at every place we went to - even the ones where you could take pictures). Sounds like you had a great time!