Top picks for a pandemic-constrained English holiday

After nine weeks in pandemic lockdown, and just in time for the bank holiday weekend, restrictions in the UK started to ease ever so slightly. We could now drive beyond our immediate area to exercise, and meet up with a friend if we maintain the recommended two metre buffer. Thus the highlight of a holiday weekend so often spent in foreign parts was a gentle stroll around the lake at Virginia Water.

From tomorrow, there's a limited re-opening of offices for people who can't work from home. Groups of up to six can gather in gardens, with the usual rules about keeping your distance. No sharing of glassware or cutlery, and you're not supposed to use anyone else's bathroom. So the party potential is pretty limited. A handful of school kids are returning to the classroom (amidst much controversy that it's too early), garden centres have re-opened, car showrooms follow tomorrow and other non-essential shops are promised by mid-June. Given the requirement to follow one-way systems and clean anything anyone has touched, it will still be a long way from normal.

Unlikely as it seems, airlines are starting to advertise again as favourite sun spots like Greece and Portugal hint they'll be open for the British holidays. The Bencards have some potential plans to visit family in Denmark, but we're not optimistic. Practical minds will be looking to a holiday in the UK; something alien to pretty much everyone who can afford a plane ticket. Given the hit that the hospitality industry has taken, however, staying local seems an act of noble patriotism.

Here are a few ideas, if you're in planning mode:

THE NORTHEAST COAST
This is where our reservations are. All cancel-able up to a few days before, of course, since we've already been stung by a load of vouchers rather than cash for the holiday lost at the outset of lockdown.

The stretch of England between York and the Scottish border is packed with history, grand country houses, impressive castles and dramatic landscapes. We're hoping the Royal Armouries Museum will have re-opened by August to allow a pit stop on our way North, but if not we'll go direct to Harrogate. On a long-ago girls' trip I discovered this gracious, elegant town, similar to Bath in its Georgian architecture and origin as spa to the rich. York is an easy drive from there and one of England's most interesting historic cities, though we explored it on a pre-Christmas jaunt not too long ago so will probably forgo another visit. Castle Howard (of Brideshead fame) is probably the blockbuster country house in the area but my favourite is the Robert Adam-designed Newby Hall, and there are a brace of National Trust properties as well. If interiors aren't open, we could explore the evocative Fountains Abbey ruins or ramble over dramatic moorland.

From there we continue North for a couple of nights at Lumley Castle, a nostalgic trip down memory lane for me as it was the first English historic property I ever stayed in, back in 1982. The surrounding area offers us breathtaking views over the North Sea at Robin Hood's Bay, Dracula associations and jet jewelry in Whitby and the Medieval majesty of Durham.

Then we push on to Alnwick, where I've found what looks to be a world-class boutique hotel in The Cookie Jar. I loved Alnwick Castle when I visited 30+ years ago, but since then it's had the benefit of (and cash infusion from) Harry Potter fame and a new Duchess of Northumberland known for her innovative gardening style. Nearby on the coast is Bamburgh Castle, one of England's most dramatically-sited on a headland over the North Sea. The ruins of Lindisfarne Abbey are on a tide-isolated island off the coast and Hadrian's Wall sneaks through the landscape. I've hedged our bets. Even if we can't get inside anyplace, there will be lots to look at.

PEMBROKESHIRE
One of the most beautiful bits of the UK, this southwestern tip of Wales is full of gorgeous sandy beaches (that's Barafundle Bay below) and long stretches of picturesque countryside. It's remarkably isolated and undiscovered (or at least it was, when I was last here in the mid-'00s) because there are no major towns and ... once you drop off the road to the ferry to southern Ireland ... it's not a through-point to anywhere else.

It slipped behind the Northeast on my list because of less variety; fabulous for the great outdoors but limited on sightseeing fronts. St. Davids does have a charming small cathedral and some interesting ruins of a bishop's palace. Pembroke Castle ... though not as good as the more famous strongholds of North Wales ... is still an impressive site with notable Tudor history. Boat excursions offer puffin watching. My biggest holiday planning challenge, however, was that Pembrokeshire's dog-friendly accommodations all seem to be rental cottages or rather unexciting, slightly-downmarket B&Bs. There seems to be a dearth of upscale boutiques or small manor house hotels in the area.

DARTMOOR
The brooding, majestic wilderness immortalised in The Hound of the Baskervilles also offers sleepy villages, clear babbling brooks for high summer wading and expansive views. You can drop off the moor for sightseeing in Plymouth or Exeter, but a Dartmoor holiday is about the great outdoors. I've written about it before here, and it's one of the best places in the country if you're thinking about a walking holiday. Especially with dogs. And given that Dartmoor is one of the least-populated places in Britain, social distancing shouldn't be much of a problem. The experience will be much better, though, if the moor's many picturesque pubs can be open to serve walkers.

NORFOLK
If a return surge of Covid-19 closes hotels in the Northeast, we may beg a socially-distanced guest room with friends here. Like Pembrokeshire, Norfolk is an appendage of England rather than on a central path. In this case it's the hump bulging East in the middle of the country. Thus you only get people who mean to be here, rather than any passing through. The beaches are broad and sandy, especially at Holkham where low tide reveals one of the largest stretches in the world. There's no salubrious effect of the Gulf Stream here, though, so only the hardiest souls on the warmest days would ever dream of swimming.

The landscape lacks the drama of my other picks, being mostly gently-rolling agricultural fields re-claimed from marshes, but its famous fens offer opportunities for messing about with boats in a unique landscape. If they're open, the county offers one of the most densely-packed selections of grand country houses anywhere in England. My favourite is the remarkable neo-classical pile at Holkham, but it only narrowly tops Houghton Hall, first Prime Minister Robert Walpole's art-packed Baroque manor. There are at least three notable National Trust houses here (my favourite is Ickworth) and there's even one of England's best Medieval castles at Castle Rising. Swaffham is a charming, mostly-Georgian market town and Cromer is an old-world port with fantastic seafood.


It's anyone's best guess what might be open in July and August. Even if national borders are, unless the British government's travel advice changes from its current "don't leave the country" stance, your travel insurance won't be valid. Whether abroad or at home, restaurants, hotels and tourist attractions are desperate to get back in business. Many fear that without the summer season to replenish coffers they'll be out of business for good. Here's hoping things change, and we can venture out into the world in time for a proper summer vacation. Even those who love their homes and gardens are ready for a change of venue. And I feel certain that those of us who've been lucky enough to be employed throughout the pandemic are ready to do our patriotic duty and invest some cash in having fun.