Travel: UK Road Trip – North Yorkshire to Cornwall

I love travelling and seeing different parts of the world. I’ve been lucky enough to have travelled to various places around the world through my life, mostly America to be honest, but I’ve travelled America far more than I have the UK! I’ve done 4 separate roadtrips across America and Canada since I was 13, plus a few other holidays where we’ve stayed for a week or two in one place then moved onto another place. So I’ve seen a lot of America – my top 5 places in the world are all probably in America (maybe Greece thrown in for good measure!).
Earlier this year, instead of doing the usual America trip with the family, we did a mini European road trip with them instead. This was really fun and a lovely holiday that I really enjoyed, and one awesome thing about it was that it left me plenty of days of holiday from work for the rest of the year. Ben and I had been talking about doing a holiday in the sun type trip to use up our days: all-inclusive, sun, sand and sea. We did a few holidays together like this when we were younger and loved them, but we decided this time to do something a bit different: a UK road trip. We’ve tried to fit in lots of places that neither of us have ever visited before and we’re very excited!

So on Sunday, we’re setting off! And I thought I’d give you a run down of what our plans are to see if anyone has anyone suggestions on what we should do, where we should go and what we should see.

Day 1: North Yorkshire to Stratford-upon-Avon

We’ve booked an Airbnb in Stratford-upon-Avon (I imagine I’ll review a few of these as they’re mostly what we’ve booked), so the plan is to set off nice and early in the morning. We’ve booked the Town, Cottage & Farm pass with the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust and are planning to see a couple of those locations. The pass lasts for a year afterwards so we’re hoping to visit the rest another time.
Any recommendations for where to eat would be greatly appreciated – we’d hoped to go to the RSC Rooftop Restaurant but it seems to be closed on a Sunday (boo!).

Day 2: Stratford-upon-Avon to Bath

This route takes us down through the Cotswolds so we’ve scribbled down a few villages and towns that we’d like to stop and have a wander in, possibly having lunch along the way, and a possible National Trust property (we’ve joined for this trip). We’ve got another Airbnb just outside Bath booked for that night that’s nearby a Park & Ride, so we’re planning to hop on board that then visit the Roman Baths, take a wander around the Crescent and the rest of Bath, then have a meal somewhere nice before heading back. Again, suggestions for restaurants welcome!

Day 3: Bath to Exmoor National Park

We’ll be driving down through the Mendip Hills and stopping to see how cheddar cheese is made (and hopefully eating lots of it!) and at Cheddar Gorge. Our Airbnb in the Exmoor National Park is a Shepherd’s Hut in the middle of nowhere with no electricity (eek!) – I’m excited but nervous about this! So we plan to stop and pick up some food that can be cooked over a fire or on gas along the way for tea that night. Hopefully it’ll be nice weather so we can explore the settings around the hut.

Day 4: Exmoor National Park to Padstow

This journey takes us along the coast of Cornwall, and we plan to stop at Tintagel Castle and anything else interesting we see along the way. This evening we’re staying at Rick Stein’s Seafood Restaurant – I am RIDICULOUSLY excited for this! The rate we’ve paid covers us for a 3 course evening meal, breakfast and a “Generous” room. Rick Stein is our favourite chef on TV at the moment – we’ve discussed the one famous person we’d love to meet and have dinner with and he would be the one for both of us, plus he makes amazing food – so we can’t wait to see what we’ll get here! We’re also planning to explore Padstow in the afternoon a bit there too.

Day 5: Padstow to Somerset (my birthday!)

We’re staying the next night in a little village called Monacute, so we’ll be heading up there the next day. We plan to take a scenic route, stopping to visit a cider mill (any recommendations?) and anywhere else we discover along the way. We then want to visit Montacute House when we arrive which looks amazing. That evening, for my birthday, we’re booked into the River Cottage Canteen in Axminster. It’s a bit of a drive, but we’ve always really wanted to go there (another favourite TV cook is Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall) so again, very excited!

Day 6: Somerset to Reading

We’re staying nearby Reading in another Airbnb and have basically no plans for this day yet! We can’t decide between spending a long day at Longleat (which we’ve both really wanted to do for a while) or taking it slow and visiting Stonehenge and Salisbury on the way up. Suggestions welcome!

Day 7: Reading to Peak District

Our final stop on the way home is to our friends’ cottage in the Peak District – I’ve blogged loads of times about visiting there (example here), and being about mid-way back, we’ve decided to make it our final stop for a night. The plan isn’t decided for here yet but I imagine it will involve a local pub, vintage shopping in Bakewell and lots of board games (I have a new one!).

So does anyone have any suggestions for our route?