Bringing bride to England for honeymoon this summer

[bergxu]

Gents,

So I'm due to be married this May to a great young lady who not only puts up with and appreciates my car addiction, but also helps out when it comes to things like twirling spanners and getting grubby. Anyhow, she's never been out of the US, so I've chosen England for our honeymoon destination. We will be over August 27th through September 3rd. Some friends of my parents own a lovely 16th century cottage in Buxted, East Sussex, which they have kindly offered to us for free, which we have graciously accepted

Now, I know that it's fairly far south and away from a good deal of things to do. We won't have a car, but the cottage is within walking distance from the train which will get us to London in about 40 minutes. I've been to England several times, although most of that time was spent in London with the exception of when I was there in college on a study abroad program where I was at three different universities (U of N. London in Islington, Trinity in Dublin and Edinburgh). I've come to Goodwood but it has been a few years. Anyhow, few questions for the group since I'm fairly certain the majority are situated in Blighty..

1. Recommendations for what to do/see near East Sussex, aside from what the 'local online guides' mention? Obviously, we will travel all over the country, or as far as "day trips" permit, but if we want to 'keep it local' one day is what I am hinting at.

2. If you had a week to romance your new bride in England, where would you take her? (aside from to the bedroom of course! )

3. Suggestions for how much time we will need to leave to get checked in, etc..at Heathrow on our return to the US? I've always flown in and out of Gatwick, and I recall getting there about 3 hours early, but I know LHR is way busier and getting through check-in and security, especially for flights to the US could probably take forever. We're on British Airways so I don't know if they're any better at funneling passengers through check-in than the other carriers, but...

4. She's offering me a few visits to places I'd like to see. Here are my picks, tell me how you would order them, or cross any off if they're lame;

• Filming of an episode of Top Gear
• RAF Cosford Museum (I've always wanted to see a DeHavilland Comet (series 1) in person and they have the only remaining one in the world that is complete)
• Visit to Flying Spares so I can bring back a load of bits for my cars
• Visit to either the RR, Bentley, Jaguar or Land Rover factory (would like to see the Jag Heritage museum)
• Visit to any number of indie RR/B specialists such as; Phantom, Hillier Hill, Frank Dale, Stanley Mann, Nigel Sandell, etc..etc...
• Attend a Thursday evening gathering at the Ace Cafe in London

5. Any chance of organising a PH meetup whilst I'm there so I can get my fix of Turbo Rs? One member has kindly offered me the loan of his Turbo during our visit as long as I can sort out some insurance. Working on that now..

6. Anyone who travels or lives in or near Buxted, what is the way to get there from London (i.e. which train?).

Thanks all for the input. Very much looking forward to it!!

If you want, you can email me with info too, at: [e-mail]


Cheers,
Aaron

Edited by bergxu on Monday 2nd April 14:28

Edited by bergxu on Monday 2nd April 14:29

[bergxu]

Stuart,

Yeah, some sort of PH gathering of Bentleys and Royces at the Ace would be swell. As I understand it from my freebie calendar that comes in my first of the year issue of C&SC, it's every Thursday, right?

And definitely, anyone willing to show us around or chauffeur us around in their RR/B will be compensated most generously She'd think that rather neat that I was able to arrange transport by Bentley on our honeymoon. Of course, when we REALLY need the ride(s) are to and from the airport, although I think I can bumble my way through the rail system...at least, I did it in college my first time there. Didn't need to worry about it on subsequent trips to Goodwood as I had others collect me from the airport since I was solo.

[bergxu]

Balmoral,

That's fab. Would completely make my trip to partake in a PH RR/B gathering!

Because all of the old fogies here in the US with these cars hardly take them out of their garages. Shame, really.

I'm definitely one of (a.) the younger RR/B owners here and (b.) in the minority of those who actually use their cars.

Cheers,
Aaron

[bergxu]

Merc,

Thank you for the tips. I shall keep the travel times in mind.

And yes, it seems that Brighton will for sure be one of our afternoon trips. I know she will be excited to get into London to see the usual attractions, but maybe I can ease her into that with a couple of country towns first

How far north could we expect to go on a day trip from Buxted? Our usual schedule is; up at 6am and hit the sack by 10pm.

Cheers,
Aaron

[bergxu]

Shouldn't be too hard to make her see the light. After all, we were out shopping for a Subaru Outback for my missus this weekend and came home with an '01 XJR instead

[bergxu]

Stuart,

I used to have a '97 with the six-pot. Great car, but was getting some serious miles piled on it so I offed it with 160K on the clock and the subsequent owner then proceeded to put another 50K on it without any issues..

The girl has an '03 Discovery II but is tired of being greeted by a new warning light every month, hence her desire for a Subaru. Not to mention the fuel economy issue (for her). Alas, we didn't get rid of the DII (going to put up a private ad for it) but a mate with this XJR called and asked if I was interested at a steal of a price, and he bought it brand new to boot, so I jumped on it. Nothing like having your 5'-2", 8 stone girl driving around a 400hp Jag

[bergxu]

Ron,

Cheers. Thank you for that! I will duly add that on my itinerary. Please if you can suggest more (to the group too) keep them coming. I want to give her a proper tour of England!

[bergxu]

Andy,

Would be sweet to see some wheel-to-wheel action at Castle Combe. I've always wanted to see a pair of Hawthorn-esque Jag Mk.IIs duke it out on that circuit

We get in on the 27th of August, so it may be a stretch trying to get there from Heathrow, however I will make note of the event. Of course my worry would be if I shove her right into a car thing as soon as we disembark from the plane, she may file for early divorce

Cheers,
Aaron

[bergxu]

Ron,

Wow, thanks! Fine addendum to your list! Yeah, a month would be better but that'd leave me penny-less and therefore my Turbo R would suffer and that wouldn't be a good thing, for as much as I am all for helping the British economy, I tend do so so by buying my bits from Flying Spares instead of dealers over here

But nevertheless, my notebook on compiling this trip is growing. I want to make sure to give her an awesome honeymoon and maybe plant England as a place in her mind where she'd want to come back to every year for vacation.

Cheers,
Aaron

[bergxu]

0a,

Thanks for the tip on Oxford. I've been there myself several years ago, but I think it would be a good place to show her and also thank you for the tip on the bus line, that's helpful indeed.

I'm not sure how to PM though this site, so if you want to email me that's cool. It's [e-mail]

Cheers,
Aaron