Hello from the States

[BlackIsland]

Okay, gentlemen (and n ladies, if any of you are - screen names aren't always telling in this regards), we've got our dates for our "British Invasion", and now are just working out the details of our lodging. We'll be there for 19 nights, and since this is our first visit, we plan to cover a wide area. Hopefully you all will have more advice as we firm up our plans!

Welcome to the forum :

I live in South Cumbria (the lake District!) a very popular tourist destination.

Have a look at the member map in my signature.

We plan to stay two or three nights near Carlisle, and get at least one hike in. Plus, if there's kayaking opportunities around, that would be cool too!

Hi welcome to the forum. You might want to look into Sam Smith's and Timothy Taylor as popular examples of Yorkshire breweries.

Sam Smith's might just work! We're spending a couple nights in York, we could make a jaunt over there!

Welcome to the Forum. :thumb:
Whatever you do when you visit us, please DON"T think for one second that "London" is "Great Britain"!
I suggest that, once you've checked out the eight or nine places worth visiting in London, you get out into the countryside ... :thumb:
... be it God's country to the North or other bits of the UK. :whistle"

We'll be landing in Hethrow, and getting over our jetlag in Bath, then heading to Cornwall, then to Cardiff, Liverpool, Dublin, the Lakes District, York and then back to London for 2 or 3 nights. Hoping we'll see a wide variety of architecture and historical sites, as well as pubs!

I think there is a huge waiting list for the Harveys tour. The brewery shop and town are worth visiting. just along the coast (west) is a Cider farm with about 300 ciders you can sample, if you like that sort of thing! Loads of micro breweries all over the place.:thumb:

Kat (my wife) mentioned the cideries on the west coast, and since we drink lots of ciders too, I think we'll HAVE to find this. Any specifics you can offer would be appreciated!

May I suggest meeting up in Cardiff rather than Newport if visiting Wales. It's a short train journey and has 4 great bars a short distance from each other and the train station. Your other half will enjoy the shopping too! The queens Vaults probably providing more of the beers you're after, but zero degrees (a brewpub) Brewdog and Tiny Rebel are all close by.

Thanks for that! We've not booked accommodations yet, but I suspect we'll do fine being in Cardiff, and touring from there. We'll have a car to get around, too.

If you do get up to Yorkshire, Masham is well worth a visit. Two top breweries (Theakstons and Black Sheep) with tours and tasting. The scenery there is beautiful too.

We'll likely be through there, hopefully we can work in a tour, and if not, at least lunch!

Not sure i can add much to this but here I go.
Personally Cornish pasties are the best type of pastie you can get.
If your visiting England i would go with the lake District (which is beautiful) or Yorkshire (also beautiful - but i am biased as i live there)

Looking forward to seeing Cumbria.

9 months to plan it, we can hardly believe we're finally going to make it!

 

[MagnusTS]

Wow. That sounds like an awesome tour. You will love York. Well actually you will love the whole thing. Amazing plan!

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Keep us posted.

:thumb:

 

[EddtheBrew]

Hi BlackIsland ,
Welcome to the forum , hope you enjoy your trip over here ; there are some really great classic Yorkshire breweries whose beers at exemplars of the style , top of the list for me is the excellent Sam Smith's Old Brewery Bitter , also look out for Barnsley Bitter from Acorn , another cracker !
Cheers
Edd

 

[EddtheBrew]

I think there is a huge waiting list for the Harveys tour. The brewery shop and town are worth visiting. just along the coast (west) is a Cider farm with about 300 ciders you can sample, if you like that sort of thing! Loads of micro breweries all over the place.:thumb:

Hi , I think it's the National Collection of Cider and Perry , not far from Lewes , near Glyndebourne? , great range of Cider & Perry's , sometimes local micros beers are stocked ,
Cheers
Edd

 

[BlackIsland]

Welcome to the forum :

I live in South Cumbria (the lake District!) a very popular tourist destination.

Have a look at the member map in my signature.

Chippy, as we're firming up our plans, we're going to be staying two nights in Great Salkeld, and having supper at the Highland Drove Inn, probably both nights we're there. Are you anywhere close by?

 

[BlackIsland]

I think there is a huge waiting list for the Harveys tour. The brewery shop and town are worth visiting. just along the coast (west) is a Cider farm with about 300 ciders you can sample, if you like that sort of thing! Loads of micro breweries all over the place.:thumb:

What is the name of the cider farm? we're striking out with Cornwall cideries - so far none do tours or have tasting rooms.

 

[BlackIsland]

Hi , I think it's the National Collection of Cider and Perry , not far from Lewes , near Glyndebourne? , great range of Cider & Perry's , sometimes local micros beers are stocked ,
Cheers
Edd

Whoops, just realized you already answered this! Thanks, mate!

 

[BlackIsland]

Looking for more help here. We're traveling from Vindolanda Fort on Hadrian's Wall to York, and are looking for stops enroute. We plan to hit Sam Smiths, but are there other stops you'd recommend?

 

[Chippy_Tea]

We a

Chippy, as we're firming up our plans, we're going to be staying two nights in Great Salkeld, and having supper at the Highland Drove Inn, probably both nights we're there. Are you anywhere close by?

You would take junction 36 of the M6 to get to Ulverston so you are quite a distance from where we live.

 

[EddtheBrew]

Whoops, just realized you already answered this! Thanks, mate!

No Problems ,
Hope you enjoy your trip over here ,
Cheers
Edd
PS : If you get to Stockport, the Robinson's Brewery tour is pretty decent , and they've got a decent website for booking details etc .

 

[EddtheBrew]

Looking for more help here. We're traveling from Vindolanda Fort on Hadrian's Wall to York, and are looking for stops enroute. We plan to hit Sam Smiths, but are there other stops you'd recommend?

Hi Black Island ,
Sam's don't do tours , in North Yorkshire I'd go for Theakstons at Masham ( pronounced Massam) ,
Cheers
Edd

 

[dave_walton]

Hi Black Island ,
Sam's don't do tours , in North Yorkshire I'd go for Theakstons at Masham ( pronounced Massam) ,
Cheers
Edd

Or the Black Sheep Brewery. The sample room also does a cracking beer inspired meals, proper grub, proper ale.

Sent from my SM-T813 using Tapatalk

 

[BlackIsland]

Looking for some feedback on navigation: here we use Google Maps to get us where we're going on long trips or on short trips with lots of congestion, and find that it is very accurate in predicting travel times. In real time, it's rarely off by more than a few minutes, and for predicting future travel, it will often provide a time range, say 3:05 to 4:00 hours (on a long drive with variable conditions). I want to assume the same is true for travel there. Does anyone use Google Maps to navigate, and can you report on its accuracy?

 

[Oneflewover]

Google Maps work a treat over here. Sometimes use it over the car sat nav for the reasons you describe

 

[BlackIsland]

Google Maps work a treat over here. Sometimes use it over the car sat nav for the reasons you describe

Thanks! I hoped to hear that. We have a couple of longer drives, and it is nice to know we can trust the general estimate, barring any emergent problems.

 

[mgrds]

Hi mark here. Liverpool born but have been living in Yorkshire what seems like forever . Been home brewing for well over 40 years. I'm vicar (pastor) of a church near the Leeds/Bradford Airport. Our church treasurer works as a brewer and and has worked in many of the small Yorkshire breweries and has guest brewed in many more. Our church co - sponsors a local annual beer festival along with the local Rotary Club and a community Theatre ! I'm a busy bloke but always ready to offer hospitality and exchange ideas and stories with with other home brewers. There are many small breweries near by producing excellent examples of the Yorkshire style. Yorkshire is a beautiful area and Yorkshire dales have scenery to die for - as wel as wonderful brewing and cheesemaking traditions. The Yorkshire Dales provides an easy hop to other area of natural beauty in the Lake District and Northumbria. Just to the south of us the National Park of the Derbyshire Peak district is worth a visit on anyone's itinerary (nestling between Sheffield and Manchester it offers accessible beauty and a wealth of pastoral tradition) All of England is great but if you want to come North would be pleased to offer you a welcome and hospitality.