Photography road trip in the UK, 2016?

Only one other person as far as I can see has mentioned the North of England, in particular the east coast, wild windy and can be cold, but very few people. Also apart from (Arguably Wales) Northumberland has more castles than any other region and of course the Roman Wall.

Over on the west side there is of course the English Lake District. More people in the summer, twisting roads, probably a bit wetter, warmer, but scenery to die for. Get a good couple of weeks of fine weather and your film supply will just magically dissappear.

probably because when asked the OP said he would stick to southern england since its not possible to go everywhwere in two weeks. So on this occasion the the north doesn't get a look in. I expect we'll here about cultural rape of the North now.

So speaking of cultural rape and cultural heritage in the same breath - some of the most satisfying photography for me has been the old abbeys of the North. Especially when visited "off season".

Basically, you need to visit unique places. Sadly most Palladian style buildings look so much alike! Pugin's Houses of Parliament are Victorian Gothic Revival in style, and have been 'restored' at least once. The White Tower was built by & for William 1st to be both Royal Palace AND Said king's refuge in case his new subjects revolted. You could visit the UK for several years, but need to beware many museums as they too often show a sanitized version of the past. Whereas places like Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet in Sheffield look like the owner and his journeymen have just stepped-out for a few moments. And it still has the same old problem of children swimming in the mill-pond!
Many surviving relics only escaped destruction by accident. Housesteads roman fort survived because it was a Northumbrian 'Hole-in-the-Wall'. Where the Armstrongs, Border Reivers/Ruffians grazed their purloined stock. For several centuries the area where England & Scotland meet was described as the 'Disputed Lands'. Frequented by the steel bonnets/moss troopers/border reivers. One made a notorious escape from Carlisle castle. Although it was less dramatic than many thought. He'd been unlawfully arrsted, during a truce, thus the statue quo had to be restored and an 'escape' was arranged! We don't have anything that the USA hasn't got on a larger scale. But we have some unique places to see; and photograph.

On the trip to England I did with my family, we were based at my wife's sister's place south of London (Hastings), borrowed their car, and drove down to Cornwall and then up into Wales just a bit and saw Tinturn Abby there. We also took trains into London and to Brighton.

Actually being of a certain age and consider myself widely travelled there are a lot of places that I have not visited in UK. There are just not enough days in the year to do so. However the South of England is one place I would not care to visit again. Too many people, too many cars, too many congested roads. Give me the wild open spaces every time - even if it does rain a bit more - North Wales, Northern England, or the Highlands of Scotland.

Yes, it is well known that the entire south of england - south, say, of Rotherham? - consists solely of urban spaces, roads, cars and cities. There's not a blade of grass anywhere between the feet of all the hordes of people down here.

Just google Cornwall.

BMbikerider said:

Actually being of a certain age and consider myself widely travelled there are a lot of places that I have not visited in UK. There are just not enough days in the year to do so. However the South of England is one place I would not care to visit again. Too many people, too many cars, too many congested roads. Give me the wild open spaces every time - even if it does rain a bit more - North Wales, Northern England, or the Highlands of Scotland.

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I forgot to add - very expensive!

pdeeh said:

Yes, it is well known that the entire south of england - south, say, of Rotherham? - consists solely of urban spaces, roads, cars and cities. There's not a blade of grass anywhere here between the feet of all the hordes of people down here.

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Good policy to perpetuate this myth.

BMbikerider said:

I forgot to add - very expensive!

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Only cos they're a

BMbikerider said:

I forgot to add - very expensive!

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Not for all us rich southerners who've got all the money

RobC said:

Good policy to perpetuate this myth.

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Oop in't North everyone lives in shoebox in t'middle of t'road wit ferrets...

Well I have lived in the south west for 16 years now apart from a couple of very brief periods. I was originally born in London but find that whole area of our country to be a place to be avoided at all costs really, basically anywhere between Basingstoke and Luton. I also lived up north once for 3 years, rural parts of the south west starting from west Hampshire much like those up north only several degrees warmer and without the appalling high urban crime rates spilling out.

BMbikerider said:

Actually being of a certain age and consider myself widely travelled there are a lot of places that I have not visited in UK. There are just not enough days in the year to do so. However the South of England is one place I would not care to visit again. Too many people, too many cars, too many congested roads.

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Unless you come even further south to the Isle of Wight.

RobC said:

Not for all us rich southerners who've got all the money

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You must have mine then. Give it back!!


Steve.

SchwinnParamount said:

... that's directly from the book titled "Things you don't say to an Englishman in a pub - if you don't want to be fed to the werewolves, somewhere on the moors"

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We drive on the left-hand side of the road because in the olden days that was the side you mounted a horse from.

benjiboy said:

We drive on the left-hand side of the road because in the olden days that was the side you mounted a horse from.

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No, actually it was supposed to be on the right side so the lances and swords would be away from the passing knights. So the city of London passed an ordinance for that, but when they wrote it they mixed up East and the West side of Tower Bridge [or was is London Bridge] and the mistake was initiated. Rather than admit that they had screwed up, the called it a tradition and stuck to the mistake.

Post deleted. I already made that witty comment a few weeks ago!


Steve.

I'm avoiding England all together, but I've taken others advice about being in the car so much. We're hitting Edinburgh, Isle of Mull and Paisley (Family from there)...then heading over to Dublin, then to Waterford (wife's family), Kilarney and the Aran Islands. Two weeks without a lot of driving...! Now, to decide which cameras to bring....