Pamela1130

I am looking for a reasonably priced travel company in England that can plan a custom tour of England. Basically I am interested in visiting London, 4-5 days then Salford, Lancaster and Yorkshire, doing a Creatures great and small tour. 4-5 days. Not sure of the needed appropriate days. Any recommendations suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you

janisj

Welcome to Fodors. Are you traveling solo or with family or a group? Is there a specific reason you want a 'travel company'? And what services are you looking for -- a travel planner, or a guided tour or something else? When are you traveling? . . . and what do you consider 'reasonably priced'? Maybe give us a daily $/£ budget per person.

Just an FYI - England is one of the easiest places anywhere for independent travel.

cdnyul

https://britmovietours.com/movie-tv-...-small-filmed/

Pamela1130

Hi: Thanks for our reply. I was thinking a travel company as they could find hotels and transportation. Do I hire Ubers or take a train. I guess I could do that on my own. I don't want to drive there because of the opposite side of the road. I would be traveling with my husband. I would say regarding pricing, mid range. Depending on what's included around $3000 per person maybe? I've never planned a trip on my own before. I am not sure what would be better. Probably some of the tour guided? If I could find a tour with everything I wanted to go to I could just sign up for that, but I can't find a tour that would do what I wanted specifically.

janisj

OK -- getting there

No, you won't find a tour that covers London and Lancaster. So $3000/£2400 per person -- just for on-the-ground expenses, not including airfares, right? For how many days total? The OP makes it sound like a minimum of 10 days but more like 2-ish weeks.

No need at all for a tour in London.

Yorkshire is a biiiiig place -- do you really mean the city of York and maybe some rural James Herriot connections?

I am curious why Salford? Do you have friends or Family there?

JohnEW2912

The transport for a trip like this would be very easy. Take trains from London to Manchester (for Salford), then to Lancaster and then to York as a base for the James Herriot stuff. You can then either go straight back to London to fly home or a direct train to Manchester Airport for an open-jaw return. All the bases have a wide choice of accommodation. So then all you need is to decide how to see what you want to in each place. That can be done yourselves or by using local guides.

lavandula

Can I suggest you get a beginners' guide book to support your planning and explain how to buy tickets, give food and lodging suggestions and so on. I am sure Rick Steves must have something to help you in the UK. They likely have books in your local library, but such a book would be a worthwhile investment and you can then make notes in it, dog-ear pages, etc.

Not trying to direct you away from our forum here, but it seems if you have never planned anything before that you could use a leg-up.

Lavandula

JohnEW2912

It's a good idea to have a look at a good guide book but in this case it won't be anything by Rick Steves. Unbelievably he doesn't even cover Manchester in his guide books. I doubt he will have much if anything on Lancaster either. Fodors would be the obvious one on this forum but I'd also recommend Rough Guides.

Rubicund

It's easy enough to find hotels in London just use booking.com or a similar site. You can choose your per night hotel cost as well as location. To get to Manchester, take a train from London Euston to Manchester Piccadilly stations using their site to book. Be aware that tickets will be cheaper about about three months before travel:

https://www.avantiwestcoast.co.uk/tr...ter-piccadilly

Salford is Manchester's neighbour and you won't see the join. If you're looking for family history you might struggle, as lots of places have been redeveloped over the years and old family addresses might be under a highway now. Give me some details and I can help with locations and where to stay. I'm a Mancunian and my wife is a Salfordian.

Manchester to Lancaster is a 60 minute train journey from Manchester Piccadilly station. Lancaster to North Yorkshire for Herriot country is by train via Leeds (i change).and once in Harrogate you could take a Herriot tour:

https://www.viator.com/en-GB/Yorkshi.../d22770-a19782 It's a day trip which is probably enough.

Book your flights into Heathrow (LHR) and home from Manchester (MAN)

It's not so difficult to do it yourself, it's a lot cheaper and it means that can react to changes you want to make while travelling that a tour won't allow. Let me know if I can help with hotels etc., just give me a daily maximum rate that you want to go to.

bilboburgler

another shout out for the rough guide
seat61.com to understand trains
https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/ to book trains, it passes you through to the correct company but sometimes it is useful to see the overall system as well
https://www.traveline.info/ stitches together all the public transport systems so like a mini rome2rio but focused on England. Worth while for planning purposes as the quality of the data is way better than R2R

janisj

Ditto re not using Rick Steves books for te UK -- he is good-ish to great for some other destinations but he really doesn't 'do' the UK very well. Michelin, Insight, or Fodors or just about any general England guidebook will do though.

I think it is waaaaaay too early to be offering Pamela transport advice and specifics . . . yet anyway. They are a long way from having any sort of itinerary/plan and some of these details could be confusing until things are a bit more 'firm' - or at least less nebulous.

How many days?
When?
Do they really want to go to Lancaster (or Lancashire)?
Reason for Salford?
Interests other than James Herriot?

and more.

KarenWoo

Guidebooks I frequently use are Lonely Planet, Fodors, Michelin Green Guide, and Rough Guides. Guidebooks, travel forums, and travel blogs are imperative for planning your own trips.

Pamela1130

Thank you so very much!! Yes, I heard where my mother lived in Salford is all gone from cousins who have visited and lived there when they were older. I just want to see it. My mother lived in Pendleton area which is on her marriage certificate.

Pamela1130

No, I want to go to Lancaster because my mother, and brother and extended family lived there during the war and then stayed there until 1950. My father lived there when he returned from a POW camp in Germany.

Pamela1130

I would say about 10 days? I have been to London but not my husband. I did the hop on and off bus. Salford as my mother's family lived there for generations though I know it's all been torn down where she lived but I just want to see it. I've been to Stonehenge as my cousin lived in Salisbury but she's very elderly now and left. We like churches and castles and history. We love seeing the countryside thats in Creatures. Lancaster I don't have to go. I can go next time. I am looking at end of September or October. I think 3-4 days is enough for London?

janisj

OK -- There is no tour that would hit all four places. But you have the framework of a very easy trip.

One option Fly in to Manchester and stay 3-ish days using as a base to see Salford and Lancaster. Salford is like 10 minutes by train from central Manchester. But if you have specific addresses you want to visit you could either take a taxi from Manchester or he train and then get a cab in Salford to drive you around. Then Lancaster is less than an hour by train from Manchester.

Then York is about 90 minutes from Manchester by train.so take the train to York and stay 2 or 3 nights and take a local 'Herriot' day trip tour.

Then take the train down to London and stay 3 or 4 nights and fly home from there. Because your budget is fairly modest, in London look for accommodations in Premier Inns in central London -- modern, clean, but not at all 'posh' There are several right in the center of the city

The fights is what is called 'open jaw' or 'multi-city' . . . in to one city and home from another. You could also fly round trip in/out of London but that would complicate things a bit.

Rubicund

"My mother lived in Pendleton area which is on her marriage certificate."

My wife is from Pendleton and we know the area really well.. Just ask if you have any questions. If you omit Lancaster this trip, it makes it easier to get from Manchester to Thirsk and with only 10 days it's pushing it to do London, Salford and Thirsk. Maybe London and Salford and save James Herriot for the next trip.

Pamela1130

Thank you!! We would extend the trip in days if it's not possible to see James Herriot. I think it sounds now talking to everone that I will omit Lancaster. Regarding Pendleton, it's funny because my mother never mentioned the name Pendleton, but it was on the marriage certificate. I don't know if it is a town in itself or a part of Salford. It says Lower Seedley Road and my father used the address of Glen Ellen in Salford. I know that the row houses they lived in are all gone, but I still want to see it. Thanks again.

JohnEW2912

Pendleton is part of Salford. The Town Hall was built on Broughton Road in the 1860s but it has subsequently been demolished. It could well be where your mother's marriage was registered. Both Broughton Road and Lower Seedley Road still exist, although probably very much changed.

Salford and Manchester are two cities on either side of the River Irwell. The main city centre is in Manchester, hence it being better known.

hetismij2

There is the village Pendleton, famous for Pendle Hill and the witches, and an area of Salford that was/is called Pendleton. I think it is the latter you mean?

Lower Seedley Road still exists. You can get an idea of where they lived if you have the house number. Streetview may help, or try one of the house sale sites in the UK.

There is a Facebook group called We Grew Up in Salford that you might enjoy. It has some Pendleton stuff on it.