Top spots in England!

Welcome back! In this one I tell you about some of our favourite places to visit in England including;

- Durdle Door

- The Tank Museum

- Wildwood in Devon

- Towns in Cornwall

- The Eden Project

- Harry Potter Studio Tour

- Free attractions in Gloucestershire

- The Forest of Dean

If you would like to see any footage of the places mentioned make sure you follow us on Youtube Shire Travels and instagram at Shire.travels.

Transcript

Welcome back to Shire Travels. In this one, I'm going to take you to some of our favourite places to visit in England. There's nothing quite like being a tourist in your home country and every time we go back there from Australia, we always like to try and find somewhere new to go. In this one we'll go to places like Cornwall, the Cotswold and Forest of Dean Areas. In no particular order, here we go. Let's start at Dirdle. This is on the very south coast of England, on the Jurassic Coast, as it's known. It is a beautiful stone archway that has been carved out of the cliff by wind and waves over hundreds of years. It's set on a pebble and shingle beach. There's a couple of different ways you can get there. We decided to park at the local caravan park. There's a big car park there. It's paid, but there are toiletilets, which is good.. From there, it's probably about a 15 minute walk. You head along the coastline there. It's all very as well time posted. It's quite difficult to get lost. You then have to walk down 143 steps down on the beach. Don't worry, there are kind of places on the way that you can stop and sit and have a bit of a rest. Get done onto the beach, and as I said before, is a pebble and shingle beach. So if you're planning to have a picnic, make sure you bring a rug or something comfortable to sit on. Around the beach is also some chalk cliffs. Now, there are caves there, however, they say not go anywhere near them, because the chalk cliffs are made of, I guess limone, chalk, they do fall down quite often. So make sure you stay away from there. We love this spot. It really is picturesque. It's worth doing the short walk to get there. It's also one of those sites that because of erosion, one day it'll be gone at the archway will collapse. So I reckon see it while you can. Next, we're going to head just north of Doodle door and we're going to the tank milluseum. It's quite funny when you drive around the area, along the little country roads there. There are signs that pop up every now and again. It's saying to watch out for tanks crossing. The tank museum is based on an active military base, so they do have tanks driving around all over the place. The museum houses 300 military machines. They represent key battles from every major conflict from the First World War. as well as the tanks, there's also various military there. They also have a cafe and a shop. They might be thinking from tanks, that's not really my thing. To be honest, that's what I thought, but still actually found it quite interesting. It cost about £20 for an adult and £10 for a child. Still very interesting. I reckon it's one to have up your sleeve for a rainy day. Which have you ever been to England, you know, can be quite often. They also have special events throughout the year. They have tank days where you can go and sit out in an outside area and they drive them around and I guess blow stuff up, which is a bit more interesting. Next, we're going to start treking West and we're going to go to a place called Wildwood in Devon. This place has animals, mazes, outdoor play areas, indoor players. One of those placesaces, which is a little bit of everything, we thought it was really good, plenty to see and do. When we were there, it actually rained, and so it was quite good to be able to get inside. They had a big barnn there, which had soft play in, so the kids were running around burning off some energy. They also had a authentic Saxon village, which was quite interesting with all the tents and huts and things like that. They also had a heap of different wildlife there. Now, I think one of their main aims is protecting native species in England and threatened species. So they had beavers, they had deer, otters, bats, mice. They also had a couple of bears there, which was a little bit random, but still really interesting to see. A lot of the animal enclosures have platforms where you can walk up and look down onto the enclosures. That's what they had for the bears, which was interesting to see you actually get quite up close to them and they are huge. Now, we went in the middle of the week and it was outside of school holidays, so there weren't that many people there at all. As I mentioned before, this place has a little bit of everything. We walked around the grounds and found all the different playgrounds that they had there, had a look at all the different animals as well. Now, to get in is 15 pounds for an adult and 12 pounds for a child. Now, it's not the cheapest, especially for a child, but at the same time, you could probably spend a full day there. And as I said, if the weather's a little bit mixed, they're still playing to sea and do. Now we're going to keep heading west and we're going to head to Cornwall, which is a very popular tourist. A couple of towns in Cornwall that I've been to are Nuki and also Crantock. Crantock, I would say, is more of a village than a town. Nooki is the main town and it's a fun place to go. However, if you go there in summer holidays, it is Schoolies Central. There's a little bit of nightlife there if that's what you're into. However, if you're looking for beautiful beaches and something a bit more red relaxed, definitely head to places like Crantock, which are much quieter. There are plenty of places to stay in and around Cornwall. I'd recommend trying to stay somewhere where you can easily walk to to a beach. It can get extremely busy in summer, especially in those tiny little villages near the beach. There isn't many places to park and stop. So staying somewhere where you can walk to the beach or would be my top tip. Another beautiful town in Cornwall is Padstow. This is a harbour town, which is very picturesque, very beautiful, lots of lovely little shops, places to eat. Now, we ended up staying just outside of the Pow, we found it to be much cheaper. However, there will be plenty of different accommodations in the town, Airbnbs's, and hotels, you'd be spoiled for choice. Now, one place we went to, quite near to Puestow is Porth Mississen Beach at Trevone Bay. This was a stunning beach. It had really beautiful blue wall.. They also had a very small, I guess, kind of estuary that headed out to the ocean as well. There were some really interesting, small jellyfish there. At least we think they were a type of jellyfish. I think they were called Man of War. Tiny little jellyfish that look as if they have a sail on them like a boat. And they were a bright blue colour. Really interesting to see. The beach there, whilst it was a little bit cold, the water was absolutely stunning. There's also a really good cafe restaurant there, really cool beachy vibes. It's got an outside bar, pizza oven, lots of seating. The food was great. Just be mindful, though, that parking at the beaches there is paid and even the toilets were paid, which was a little bit frustrating. Another beach we went to was Rock Beach. This is directly opposite the town of Pow and it was a really, really pretty spot. It was a really easy walk from the car park, but in saying that wouldn't recommend taking a pram as as there were some steps. This was again, quite near to an estuary that went out to the ocean and the water there was crystal clear blue, very shallow, perfect for kids. It's also a popular spot for people to take their dogs as well. So it's got a little bit for everyone. Now, the road to get down to Rock Beach is basically a single lane, so you just need to be really mindful of traffic coming in the other direction. For lunch, we decided to go to the Upper Deck restaurant, which was on the same road that leaves down to Rock Beach. The food was fantastic. We weren't quite sure what we were doing for lunch, so we just turned up and luckily managed to get a table. If you can, book ahead, try and get a table outside on the deck as the view would be amazing. The next place, we're going to head to is the Eden Project. Now, when I was telling Tom about going to the Eden Project, I just assumed that he knew what it was. He had no clue. He hadn't heard of it before. So this is a place that we had saved as a rainy day activity, and it turns out that so did the rest of Cornmort, so it was absolutely packed. Now, what is the Eden Project? Well, it used to be an old clay mine and they have turned it into a giant greenhouse, basically. I think that would be the best way to describe it. They have two huge biomes there, and inside the biomes, again, just imagine a gigantic greenhouse, they create their own climates. It says a rainforest biome and also a Mediterrane biome. They also have playgrounds, cafes, huge gardens that even have events on throughout the year. It's a really big place is one of those places where you could probably spend a day. Now, it isn't cheap at all. Definitely try and book your tickets online to save yourself a bit of money, because we weren't sure which day we were going to go there. We just ended up booking our tickets when we got there. Now, we could have saved ourselves a fair bit of money, so make sure you do it in advance. Adults are 38 pounds and children are 12 pounds. Under fives are free, which is good that saved us a ton of money. Now, I'm pretty sure that when you buy a ticket, it gives you free entry to return again within 12 months.. This could be a really good option. Perhaps you want to go there in a different season, see the gardens, or maybe you just want to head back again and try and get a bit more of your money's worth. Now, as I said before, it was a good one for a rainy day activity. However, don't underestimate how far it is from the car park to get to the biomes. Once we were inside the biomes, it was absolutely fine, but the walk in between the car park and getting there was much, much longer than what I had thought. For some reason in my mind, I had thought that we could get on a bus and that would take us closer, but no, we had to walk. It was probably about 20, 30 minutes and all to get down to the biomes. Luckily we had a rain cover for our pram. We tried to just bundle everything in there as best as we could, but we were absolutely soaked through. Now, because the biomes have got their own climates, they are very warm, they actually have a cloak room there, you pretty much just hang your stuff up on a coat hanger and basically hope that no one takes it. But to be fair, would anyone actually want to steal a soaking wet jacket? Hopefully not. Now, the bones themselves are so interesting. We went into the rainforest one first and it is just incredible to walk around and see all these incredible plants and trees growing in this amazing environment. They also have a waterfall there, which was really cool to see. And there's all sorts of different platforms and levels that you can walk up on and go above the trees. There is also one part of the end, which has got steps up to the very top. Apart from that, everywhere else in the biomes is very accessible. If you're in a wheelchair or if you're taking a pram with you like we did, you'll be able to get around, no problem. The Mediterranean biome was a bit more relaxed, a little bit more sparse, but actually in the Mediterranean biome, they had a huge Italian restaurant. Now, if we had known this in advance, we could have booked and had lunch there, but we just didn't plan too far ahead. The Mediterranean biome was beautiful, though. Lots of vines everywhere, rock walls, just what you'd imagine if you were in France or Greece, it was fantastic. We went and had lunch in one of the cafes after. Oh, this on the map had said it was a play area cafe. However, when we got there, the only thing they had for kids to do was colouring, which was a little bit disappointing because it was so rainy and wet outside. We were really hoping to find an area where the kids could run around, burn off a bit of energy. In saying that, though, it was still really good. It is an incredibly unique place. And I think if you're in the area, it's a good one to check out. Now we're going to briefly head over to the other side of the country, and that is to Warner Brothers Studios, The Making of Harry Potter tour. This is in Watford, which I think is about an hour north of London. One for the Harry Potter fans, all just for movie fans in general, if you're a fan of seeing all the tiny little details that go into making a movie and the sets and the props, I've been twice quite a few years ago, and since I've been, they have just added more and more to the experience, I guess to keep people coming back. This is a good one as well for a rainy day. I know it is a bit difficult because you do have to book in advance, but if you can see a few days where the weather isn't looking great, it's a good one to have booked in. Just bear in mind, you can't get tickets on the door. You do have to book Fire in Advance and you also have to book a specific time, so just bear that in mind. Now, it isn't cheap and it's one of those places where there's lots of little extras you can add on, which can make it a very expensive day. Tickets start from 56 pounds for a standard tour. There's also deluxe tours, packages with hotels. They also have special events throughout the year, things like Christmas dinner in the Great Hall, which look amazing, but are incredibly expensive. Now, we really enjoyed our time there. Even Tom, who's not a Harry Potter fan at all, could appreciate all the details that go into making the props and sets, all those amazing, intricate details which really bring it to life on the screen, things which you might not even get to see in the movies at all, but all just create a very magic atmosphere. There are a few novelty things you can do there, such as getting butter beer. You can also get some delicious treats like chocolate frogs from the gift shop. The gift shop there is incredible. If you eye Harry Potter fan, you'll just be able to find everything you've ever dreamed of at the shop. Just bear in mind, it is incredibly expensive. I guess they are trying to target that overseas tourist market, people who aren't going there very often. Personally, I was just happy with getting a couple of chocolate frogs. That was more in my price range. Now I'd say this is is the type of place where you could comfort spend half a day or a whole day. It is also very accessible if you are bringing a pram or if you're in a wheelchair, it's somewhere where you would easily be able to get around. Now they do stagger the entry times at the start of the tour to try and keep everyone moving along. So what you do is when you book your tickets, you book in particular time, you'll go into a room and take a seat with maybe about 50 other people, they show you kind of a short movie introduction, telling you all about the tour. They have stars of the movie talking about it. And then the daughter of the Great Hall appears as you walk through with everyone who's starting in your tour time. Now that works quite well because everyone else who is in the tour, I guess it's about half an hour before yours has already moved on. So when you get out and start the tour, it is staggered and you don't have to worry too much about fighting to get in and it doesn't really bottleneck. There were only a couple of places I found, which were a little bit busy, so where you can get a picture of the Griffindor Commer room standing next to the Hogwarts Express. It also have the trolly that looks like it's going through the ward, platform 9 and 3 quarters. So a few little places where you might have to wait a couple of minutes to get a picture, but it's really not too bad. As I mentioned before, it's somewhere where they keep adding more and more parts to the tour. If you're into Harry Potter, this is a place that you definitely need to visit. Now, actually staying on the Harry Potter Potter scene, we're going to head back to the other side of the country and we're going to head to Gloucester Cathedral. This isn't too far from where I grew up in the UK and I've been there a couple of times. This is where they filmed many scenes in Harry Potter, so scenes in corridors, in courtyards. When you get in there, if you've seen Harry Potter, you will instantly know the scenes that I'm talking about. It is a very interesting place to visit the art architecture is lovely. We went there once for a Christmas Eve Carol concert and it was really nice to be there in winter. The way they had all the hallways lit up. It did feel very much like we were at Hogwarts. I'm pretty sure it's free to get in or it might just be a small donation. If you're in the area, it is definitely one to check out. And sticking in the Glosscesshire area, not too far down the road, we are going to head to the Jet Age Museum. Now, it's not the biggest museum. However, it does have some great exhibits, including disused aircraft that you can climb into. The main exhibitions are all in one big, I guess, shared, do you recall it, all? haul, Lots of different aircraft in there. There's some that you can climb into and have a bit of a sit in. And then they have two distuse aircraft outside. You can join a guided tour and climb up inside and have a look around. Another great thing about the museum is it is completely free. You cannot go much for free these days. It's run by dedicated volunteers, and if you want to make a donation, you can know that the money you're giving is going going straight back into the exhibits. They also have some free activities there for kids. So they gave us an activity book when we got there and there's kind of a little treasure hunt that they have to do while walking around and looking at the planes. Just down the road from there as well is the aviator Pub, and this is right next to Staverton Airport. It is an incredibly busy airport where you can sit outside, have a drink and some food and watch planes and helicopters taking off and landing. Hopefully not crashing. There was actually a helicopter crash there not long ago, would have made it for a very interesting lunch. Staying in Gloucestershire, still, we are going to head to all things wild. Now, similar to Wildwood and Devon that I spoke about earlier is one of those places that has a little bit of everything. They have a huge range of animals, meercats, parrots, wallabies, zebras, tortoises, dear, you name it, they have probably got it. They even have a huge barn, which was full of dinosaurs and a mammoths. They had a petting zoo area as well, with guinea pigs and rabbits that the little kids could pet, which was great fun, and also a reptile house of two, which was full of lots of creepy crawlies. Now, the animals are spread out all over the place in lots of different paddocks. It is very easy to get around. We had a couple of prams with us, and it was very easy to get in and out and walk around amongst all the different animals. Some of the paddocks, you can actually walk in with the animals if you enjoy getting headbudded by goats or chased by turkeys, this is the place for you. They also have a paddock with some life-size dinosaurs in, and they have a small train that you can hop on and it drives around amongst the dinosaurs. Definitely worth doing. And they also have a huge indoor play centre next to a cafe. This was perfect. It just meant we could sit and enjoy lunch while the kids just ran around and went crazy. They also have areas where they have bikes and tricchools kids can ride around on. They had a huge grassy area with a couple of football goals as well. It's one of those places where you really could spend an entire day. Now, buying your tickets online will save you a few pounds and also going during the week rather than the weekend is a little bit cheaper. Now, under threes are free, but anyone ag it free and above is 16 pounds. At first, I thought, hey, that's a little bit cheeky. You know, a four-year-old is the price as an adult, but at the end of the day, we ended up doing exactly the same as what the kids did and we paid it and we had a good time. Heading slightly south now, we are going to head to the beautiful Cotswolds. One thing to note with these villages is that if you go there in the middle of the day, it's going to be crazy busy. They literally bus tourists in and let them have a wander around these tiny little villages and it is packed. My tip is go in a shoulder season such as spring or autumn, go quite early in the morning or late in the afternoon and it should be a little bit quieter. Now, there are many beautiful villages all around the Cotswolds, which sound like they're fresh fresh out of an episode of Midsom Murders. Some of the nicest include Burton on the Water, Stow on the Wold, Upper and Lower Slaughter, and Morton in Marsh. Picture Stone houses, cobbled streets, shallow streams, tea shops, ice cream shops, all of that. It is a perfect day trip if you want to explore a quaint English village. One thing to bear in mind, though, is these villages are so beautiful and picturesque. You almost feel like you're in a movie or a TV show. Now, some of these villages are actually quite popular. They have been used in adverts and all sorts of things. Just bear in mind though that these are actually people's real houses. There have been cases of tourists thinking that it is actually some sort of movie set, opening up gates, going into people's gardens, doing a bit of a photo shoot. Just remember that it is actually private property. Don't go into people's gardens. Stay outside, take your pictures, and appreciate them from the outside. Another place in the Cotswolds is Cotswold Water Park, which I think has just been renamed to the Cotswold Lakes. They have accommodation there, big holiday houses, cabins, glampings, all sorts of activities, stand up paddleboarding, boat hire fishing, horse riding, ski on wake parts, bike riding, you name it, they've probably got it. They also have plenty of events on throughout the year as well. Now, we went and we just enjoyed the kids' area at one of the main lakes. It had a small fenced off area, almost with a beach there and a playground. Playground didn't have any shape at all, and the surface of the playground floor was like a black tarmac, which in the sun was like lava. I know we had one of those rare British days when the weather was really good. The kids' area was conveniently right next to a small cafe and shop, and then they also had an activity centre below that as well. We decided to pay and do the kids boating that you can do there. Now, these are very small electric boats. They probably go a maximum of, I think, six knots. You can fit a couple of adults and a couple of kids in them and then you drive it very slowly around a shallow part of the lake. It was really good fun. Our three-year-old thought it was a great novelty that she could drive the boat. I think it was about 15 pounds for half an hour. Believe me, you don't need any more than half an hour. Now, we went there in the middle of summer and we did have to book our parking in advance. And because there are lots of different lakes that you can go to, essentially you just pay for the car park there and then you can go and do whatever it is you want to. Just remind in the summer that the parking is limited. Once it's sold out, that's it. They don't let anyone in. So make sure that you're booking it far in advance if possible. The next place we're heading to is a bit of a random one and this is May Hill. If you're into your short walks and nice views, this is a good one. You can park down the bottom of the hill for free and then it's about a 20 minute walk of a gentle incline to the top of the hill. Just be aware that in winter or after rain, it can be quite muddy and there are also some horses that graze on the hill as well. If you're bringing your dog with you, it'd beare. You might want to keep them on a lead. Now, the views at the top are great. There are views all over the Y Valley and the River Seven below. At the top of the hill, there is also a small coppice of trees, which is really interesting. It's actually a site of special scientific interest. Around the trees there's just grass or some small shrubs, and then you've just got this small clump of trees together were they planted there? Are they growing there for another reason? Sounds like someone's trying to work it out. It's a beautiful spot to take a picnic or enjoy sunset. We've actually been there when it's been extremely foggy as well and it also looked really nice. The next place that we are going to head to is the Dean Forest Railway. This was founded in 1979 and the trains run on old parts of the south seven and Y railway lines. The only run on the small section of line these days starts at Libney Junction ahead to Park End. The main station is Orchard, and there they have free parking, a cafefe, a shop and a museum. We decided to do one of the train rides in the middle of the day. I'm pretty sure it was on a Wednesday. Over it went for one and a half hours. Now, because we had two little kids with us, we thought that would be beautiful. perfect. We really didn't want to commit to spending a half a day on a train. We also prepaid to get some morning tea from the cafe. We got a couple of scones and then a kids' pack lunch on the train, you'll sat in seats of four around a table so you can bring food and drink on board with you and enjoy as you ride along. As you go along, you have running commentary as well. They tell you all about the history of the line and the area. There are also a couple of places that you can stop on the way. You can get out, have a little bit of a walk around. It take some pictures with the trains. We really enjoyed it. It is very friendly friendly. They also have carriages there that are disabled, friendly as well. Now, with the train ride that we did, kids at four and over are 9 pounds and adults were 1750., it was well worth it and it's one of those places which is run by volunteers and you know your money is going back into the trains and being invested to make it a better experience, as well as some of the shorter train rides they do, they also do events, things like murder mysteries, they do a gin train, dining trains, all sorts of different events. Think in Christmas, they also do a sand train as well. Great fun and a really good family day out. The last place I'm going to tell you about is also in the Forest of Dean, and this is the Forest of Dean Sculpt Trail. I have been here many, many times having grown up not too far away. There are heaps of different walks you can do there as well as bike rides. They have a huge visitor centre with a cafe and also a playground as well. Depending on your level of fitness, there are multiple walks that you can do, there are also some which are pram and wheelchair friendly as well. And they also do lots of events throughout the year. I know my sister has been there where they went on a Gruffalo themed trail. The sculptures as well, that they have, some are permanent and then some are different ones that they bring in depending on watch artists want to have sculptures there. Some of them are quite interactive, you could walk up, for example, the stairway to nowhere, which is just a staircase in the middle of the forest. My favourite one, though, would have to be the huge stained glass window, which is suspended amongst the trees. It's just beautiful, amazing to look at. It's also dog-friendly and they even have audio guides as well that you can download or access online. There are also places close by where you can hire a mountain bikes and heaps of different trails to do around there, too. If you're looking to get outdoors and see something a little bit different, the Fcadine sculpture trail is one to check out. That's a wrap on some interesting and different places to explore in England. If you want to see any footage of any of the places that I've talked about, you can find us on YouTube at Shire Travels or Instagram, Shire.travels, and I'll see you in the next one.