It may surprise you to know that we are actually a UK family travel blog. I am British, I was born and raised in Wales and my kids were born in London. We left the UK to travel and have returned for long trips and visits many times. This is our UK travel blog, guide, and tips section. It will help you plan your trip or UK itinerary. You can jump straight to a place, attraction, or destination in the UK from the links below.
The UK has some beautiful beaches and we do, indeed, swim from them and otherwise enjoy them. I love UK beaches in winter, rough seas and stormy skies on the British coastline are something you should experience. For me a deserted winter beach is far more beautiful that a crowded summer seaside scene.
All of our UK travel blog posts are in one place here. (we are updating today, somr parts are temporarily removed – sorry!)
Wales and London have their own separate sections because the volume we have on London is just too huge.
You may find our post on the UK with kids useful too, if you’re first time family travellers.
The United Kingdom is more correctly known as The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, The UK or U.K. It is a sovereign country separated from the main European continent by water.
It is a part of the continent of Europe, but Brexit is yet to determine if it will remain part of the European Union.
What a beautiful place the UK is. There are many remote, unspoiled, wild places in the UK. This one is in Scotland and is accessible to everyone, it’s in the grounds of Balmoral Castle. This is the River Dee. The backdrop for many a Royal photoshoot.
The United Kingdom consists of four countries, England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Yes, they are all countries.
I wrote a short post explaining why Wales is a country.
We are all British, but a Welsh person can never be English.
As a Welsh person, I do, sadly, have to point this out rather often.
The UK and England are not the same thing.
The British Isles are different again. The British Isles consist of the islands of Great Britain (the mainland), Ireland, The Channel Isles, The Isle of White, the Hebrides, and over six thousand smaller isles.
It’s complicated, I know.
The UK isn’t just about history, castles and beautiful wild places. The UK does modern and contemporary well too. The is the Angel of The North Statue in the North of England, UK. We took a UK road trip, as a family, to see some amazing sites such as these.
That’s the geography lesson over, now what’s on the UK travel blog?
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UK Travel Tips and FAQs
I’m not going to cover current safety, border openings, visas and so on here because it’s just too complex.
You’ll need to check your local and UK travel advice and consider your travel insurance very carefully.
I’m just going to tell you about the fun parts of UK travel here.
Some of the most beautiful and remote places to visit (outside cities) in the UK are:
The Lake District.
Cornwall’s fishing villages and beaches.
Pembrokeshire Wales and its rugged coastline.
The Brecon Beacons, Wales.
Snowdonia and Mount Snowdon, the highest mountain in Wales (1.085m).
Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in Scotland and The British Isles (1,345m)
The Dark Hedges, Northern Ireland.
Lake Windermere, Cumbria.
Fingal’s Cave, The Isle of Staffa, Scotland.
The Old Man of Storr, The Isle of Skye
Stonehenge, Wiltshire.
Durdle Door, Dorset.
The Isles of Scilly, Cornwall
The Giant’s Causeway, Northern Ireland.
The Wye Valley and Tintern Abbey Monmouthshire
Scafell Pike, the highest mountain in England (978m)
Devon’s beaches.
Dartmoor Devon
London
This playground beneath the London Eye on the South Bank of the River Thames was a family favourite when my children were small. London is our home, we love it and can share so much information with you.
London was home to us for almost a decade and my children were born there, in Twickenham Middlesex, a short walk from the River Thames in South London.
We were very close to Richmond Upon Thames, and, in fact, lived there a few years too.
You’ll find our guide to London for kids very comprehensive as not only is it “home” it’s also one of our very favourite places in the world.
There is so much to do in London for all ages and interests and it’s a firm global family travel favourite. The posts below highlight a few places and attractions we chose to share on our UK travel blog.
Wales
This place is my childhood holiday destination. I love it and it was important to me to share it with my children. This in Tenby harbour in Pembrokeshire. I took this photo as the assembled crowd sang the Welsh National Anthem at dawn. It was beautiful.
Wales is the country of my birth and I love it just as much as England.
We have a separate Wales travel blog focussing just on the country of Wales and a huge post on Wales with kids.
I most love Wales for the rugged coastline and beaches, Tenby, in the photo above, is a childhood favourite of mine and still a place I love to take my own kids.
Wales is, of course, famous for castles, it seems we have a castle on every street corner at times. Some are free to enter, others have an admission price.
Scotland
My son, then about 13 years old, almost at the top of Ben Nevis in Scotland. One trick we employ as family travel bloggers is to divide and conquer. This child wanted to climb Ben Nevis, the other didn’t. We got around this by doing it separately. My husband ran up there before breakfast, D and I wanked up more sedately once he got back. The views are pretty amazing and there was snow at the top, even in summer.
We had a tradition of letting the kids pick which country to visit for their birthdays. One year they chose Scotland. I’m not quite sure why they chose Scotland, I think they were looking for normality, British food, and a mild climate.
Read more on our Scotland travel blog page.
They really enjoyed some of it, particularly the Highland Wildlife Park.
Three of us climbed Ben Nevis, one sat it out.
It’s not a hard climb and in summer we did it in jeans and T-shirts with no gear.
My husband ran up there and back before breakfast.
The Royal Yacht Britania at Edinburgh was a stand-out for me, not so much for the kids.
England (Outside London)
Amazing York in England. This is one of England’s top must-see places, but there are so many more. I had to get here very early in the morning to take a picture of this historic street uncrowded.
That’s all we’ve got for you for now on our UK travel blog. Our family loves the UK and given the choice, we’d be living there today. Circumstance is keeping us away. One day, we will be back. To our home.