My Top 10 Things You Must See or Do in England

If you have never been to England you owe it to yourself to add it to your "Bucket List" as a ‘must do' before you die.  It's actually more affordable than you think.  I have flown roundtrip from DFW to Gatwick Airport in London for less than $400 the first time and less than $600 the second time.  It's hard to get domestic flights that cheap sometimes.

I have assembled a list of my Top 10 Things to Experience in England. It is not my goal to give you the Top 10 Tourist Attractions in England, you can find a list of those anywhere.  I wanted to give you my personal top choices based on my own experiences there. England is a beautiful country full of super nice people. I can't wait to go back.

10-Visit a Tesco grocery store-I thoroughly enjoyed seeing what food products they had that we do not, what products we have that they do not, the ones that look so similar that you can tell they are their version of our same product and the difference in prices!  One thing I noticed is how thin all of their packaging is.  We seem to have fatter shorter packaging.  They are more space conscious. 

9-Blackpool, England- To me, Blackpool is a cross between Six Flags over Texas and 6^th Street in Austin, but situated at the water's edge. All of the street light decorations remind me of small town Christmas time. It's a very interesting place. It has a great carnival feel year-around. There are rides and games, trolleys, etc.

8-Avebury Stone Circle-one of the many stone circles in England. I enjoyed visiting this site because of how accessible it was to move around the stones. Sheep freely moved around as well. It just had a quaint homely feel to the place. Situated directly across the street is the Red Lion Pub. The Red Lion has been featured as a haunted location by "Most Haunted". See the links below for more info on this.

7-Cheddar Gorge-a breathtaking drive through the tallest cliffs I have seen. The gorge was formed by meltwater floods over the last 1.2 million years. This site is also where Britian's oldest complete human skeleton was found in 1903. Know as Cheddar Man, he is estimated to have been 9000 years old.

Nestled in the bottom of the gorge is a beautiful row of shops. We had a wonderful time there. I love cheddar cheese, but had never given much thought where it originated. Now, I know. 

6-Stonehenge-Stonehenge surprised me. You're traveling along and suddenly it appears in the distance. You recognize it immediately, but it's the way you just ‘happen upon it' that surprised me. I visited Stonehenge from the fence both times and it was more enjoyable seeing it through the eyes of my teenage daughter. It's a must-see if you travel to England. It is probably the most recognized icon of England and you will have many reminders of your trip whenever you see anything in the future about Stonehenge

5-Lynmouth-one of my favorite harbor towns along the Severn Sea or Bristol Channel. This little town is rich with history. In 1899, 20 horses and 100 men carried a 10-ton rescue boat up a steep hill in the dark in horrible weather conditions to try to set sail from another area in order to rescue a crew of 19 men stranded in the storm out in the North Somerset coast. I've been up this hill. I wouldn't want to walk this hill in the dark, much less the rain, carrying 10-tons of boat. It was an extraordinary feat. This same town was destroyed by flood in 1952.

4-Castles-as you drive around you will run across castles. For a gal from Texas, castles were only found in fairy tales. To actually drive by one was thrilling. I've now seen at least a half dozen.  I still find each and every one of them just as thrilling as the first.  Pictured here is Dunster Castle that we came upon.

3-Hadrian's Wall and the Roman Army Museum-you wouldn't think it would be difficult to find a stone wall that is 70 miles long, but it took some effort. We found it and explored parts of it.   There is an eerie quietness when standing at the wall knowing Roman soldiers once walked this wall. 

We visited the Roman Army Museum. The museum houses unbelievable artifacts. I was most impressed with the leather Roman sandals. They also show an amazing video that demonstrates what the wall would have looked like in its entirety.  The graphics are amazing.  You also get a birdseye view of the wall.

2-Chester-with my husband being familiar with the town he knew exactly how to present it to an outsider. We parked on the outer edge and walked around the outskirts via the Roman wall. This wall leads directly to the Eastgate Clock which is the second most photographed clock in England. It is magnificent and looking down onto the city below from beneath this clock is incredible. The rows and rows of shops with their black and white Victorian fronts give you that sense of being somewhere back in time. One of the strangest feelings was to walk along these medieval buildings and then slip into a walkway that leads you into the interior only to find a modern mall like you'd see in Texas. It was like walking through a time portal. The contrast was profound.

1-Castlerigg Stone Circle near Keswick. This circle is situated on a breathtaking piece of property in the mountains of the Lake District. I have never before or since experienced the feeling I got standing in this location. It is incredible.