Weekends away in the UK

charlottevwa

Me and DH are looking at going away for the weekend after valentines day, we were wondering if you MSE people could recommend anywhere quite cheap? It will just be us two, leaving son with the parents. We want somewhere easy accessable by trains as we don't have a car, and somewhere with lots to do, or somewhere quite relaxing, just for 2 or 3 nights. Also we owuld prefer a hotel to a villa, as we can't take food with us, due to having no car! Any help would be great, thanks!!!

Incapuppy

Hi!

It would help if you said where you live and what your max budget is (we don't want to be sending you on the train to Brighton if you live in Glasgow) ;0)

charlottevwa

lol true!! thanks
We live in Greater Manchester, and i guess we don't want to spend more than £300, the cheaper the better though

Incapuppy

My first thought for a weekend away was the Lake District, which would not be too far to travel from where you live. We have stayed at the Keswick Country House Hotel twice and absolutely loved it, the food is amazing and Keswick is lovely for pottering about with glorious views of the fells.

I had a quick look at train fares from Manchester to Keswick but at first glance they looked quite pricey - would there be a bus service you could use from Manchester?

If that hotel is of interest, look here:

http://www.choice-hotels.co.uk/keswick/index.php

This hotel also appears on laterooms.com so look there, also for hotel accomodation throughout the UK on the dates you are interested in - my only other thought is that if you mean the weekend from Friday 15th Feb, some hotels may advertise a 'Valentines Weekend' and put their prices up a bit accordingly?

charlottevwa

that's good prices thanks. I'll look into it more! the lake district did cross our minds actually!
What sort of thing did you do when you stayed there?

Incapuppy

We had a car to get around so we went to many different places. You could have a look on this guide to Keswick:

http://www.dokeswick.com/

Keswick doesn't have major lake frontage but it does have Derwentwater which is beautiful and you can get boat trips around the lake, if you are fit you can get off part way round and walk back:

http://www.keswick-launch.co.uk/timetable_winter.htm

There are also I think various fell walks you can do from Keswick itself.

Here is some more general Lakes info:

http://www.golakes.co.uk/do/

We have also stayed in Windermere which is also stunning and down into Bowness has glorious lake frontage. There is lots to do there too:

http://www.lakedistrictletsgo.co.uk/townsvillagers/windermere/windermere_main.html

All of the towns are lovely, with nice shops, bars, restaurants etc. The reason I pointed out the KCHH first was because it is half board and the food is fantastic, however the drinks do tend to be a bit expensive (like most hotels I guess) but it is only a 5-10 walk into the town.

If you have never been to the Lakes I would highly recommend it, the stunning scenery is breathtaking.

Check out laterooms, put lake district and your dates in and it should come up with pages of available rooms.

Incapuppy

I forgot to say that Keswick itself doesn't have a train station but there is an onward bus from Penrith (and possibly Windermere), Windermere itself does have a train station so it might be more convenient to stay there (Windermere/Bowness on Windermere)

There are literally hundreds of b&b's and smaller hotels too, so it could work out quite a bit cheaper to stay in one of those and eat out.

deva

use www.megatrain.com for manchester to the lakes- you should be able to still et a bargain

ssedd

De vere hotels have some deals on at the moment and I think are doing two nights for the price of one. You should be able to find one close to a trian station or within a bus journey and most of them have a swimming pool and spa.