“Blighty” is a British English slang term for Great Britain, or often specifically England. The term is commonly used as a term of endearment by the expatriate British community or those on holiday to refer to home.
England is a beautiful country full of quaint towns, historic cities, and rolling countryside. During our time in England, we tried to visit a different city every month and all the road trips gave us an opportunity to take in the gorgeous English landscape.
Here are some highlights from our time exploring English cities.
LIVERPOOL
Liverpool is famous for the Beetles and for its nightlife. We spent an afternoon checking out the city and learning a bit more about one of the most influential bands of all time. Of course, the Beetles Story museum was a great start to hear stories about the band while listening to their biggest hits and checking out memorabilia, such as Lennon’s iconic orange glasses.
The museum is on the famous Liverpool Waterfront at the Royal Albert Dock complex, so afterward we strolled along the water while munching on an obligatory English snack, the sausage roll, and imagining what it would have been like when these guys walked these very streets.
After the waterfront walk, we continued our stroll through the city to appreciate some of the cultural landmarks. The Liverpool Cathedral is the largest cathedral and religious building in Britain and was built in the Gothic Revival style.
Just a half-mile down the street, the Metropolitan Cathedral of Liverpool is a drastic contrast.
MANCHESTER
Manchester was the closest city to us with an airport, so we spent some time there coming and going, especially when there was a travel snafu. On our way to India, we were about to board the flight, when we learned that my India visa had a typo. It was one number off from my passport, and they wouldn’t let me on the flight!! Needless to say, the day was rough, and this sums up my feelings when we crashed at a hotel in Manchester when we should have been in India.
However, Manchester came through and offered a silver lining while we waited to board a flight the next day. We discovered two amazing restaurants that we ended up returning to on other visits. The Sparrow was a tiny mom-and-pop run spot with homemade international pasta and spätzle dishes. The pierogi (cheese and potato with braised onions) might have just been the best I’ve ever had.
Oddly, we paired our lunch with sake. The pasta shop had partnered with the fancy sushi restaurant across the street. They had an incredible selection. We were so impressed with the place that we also booked a reservation for dinner at the sushi restaurant, which also did not disappoint. This was the best sushi spot we found while in England. The highlight was a quail egg tuna roll.
Manchester scored big marks with the quality of their international cuisine and unique restaurant and bar options. Not very many places have an entire bar devoted to my favorite beer – Belgians. I rarely have a choice and here I could get an entire flight of my favorite sours and quads.
After our India trip, it became more apparent that England makes some of the most authentic Indian food outside of India. We fell in love with a restaurant called Mowgli on the famous Curry Road strip. Our favorite finds here were the pani puri and lamb roti roll.
Street food options were even noteworthy. Outside of Indonesia (and ironically) Amsterdam, where else can you find authentic beef rendang? England, apparently.
At this point, you may be thinking that all we did was eat in Manchester. Mostly true, but we did hit up a few historical spots too, such as the Manchester cathedral. King Henry V and Pope Martin V granted a priest in Manchester a license to establish a collegiate church in honor of St. Mary in 1421, and the cathedral was built in the following years in the Perpendicular Gothic style.
Manchester’s 30 misericords, the projection on the underside of the hinged seats in the choir, were carved in the late 1400s and are considered some of the finest examples in Europe. You would think most of the intricate carvings were Biblical scenes and Christian symbols, but I certainly don’t remember a monkey ever visiting baby Jesus in the manger.
Turns out most of the misericord carvings were satirical symbols or depictions of secular legends.
We also spent some time just wandering the neighborhoods of the “worker bee” city. The emblem of the city symbolizes the hard-working past as Manchester was a hive of activity during the Industrial Revolution.
NOTTINGHAM
We couldn’t resist a visit to Robin Hood’s hometown. We were pleasantly surprised with the quality of the historical tour that we took…led by Robin Hood himself.
The highlights included the cathedral, the run-down castle with a statue of the hometown hero, and the oldest still-running pub in England from 1189. Supposedly the Crusaders stopped here on their way out for battle!!
Being able to grab a pint here with the coolest Robin Hood ever was a unique experience.
Another interesting fact is that there is a network of over 450 limestone caves underneath the city. We visited one that was turned into a speakeasy. We almost couldn’t find the entry to the exclusive bar, they hid it pretty well inside the upstairs pub.
We also made our way into Sherwood forest to see the famous hangout of Robin Hood’s gang, the Major Oak, which is over 1000 years old!
I can’t end the Nottingham highlights without a food shout out. We experienced our first Keralan Indian cuisine here. We enjoyed a masala dosa (rice and lentil pancake stuffed with potatoes, onions, peas), appam (soft pancake made from yeast-fermented rice batter), and ammachi pidiyum kozhiyum (steamed rice dumplings added to chicken curry with special Keralan spices)
Wow, absolutely delicious and definitely unique from Indian cuisine we’ve had previously.
CARLYLE
We didn’t live in England very long, but we did get some visitors to see us in Lancaster for a few days. The Ledfords! After seeing the spectacular Lancaster highlights, we had planned to take them on a day trip to Scotland. Edinburgh is just a short 2-hour train ride. Sadly, Northern UK trains are not reliable like the rest of Europe. Due to some track issues, we were diverted to the great metropolis of Carlyle. Luckily, there is so much history throughout England that we still had a fun-filled day seeing the historic sights of Carlyle.
First stop, a cathedral, of course, which has been on the same spot since 1133.
Carlyle also has a cool castle to explore. The 900-year-old castle was the site of many historical events in British history, including clashes between Scotland and England. The Scottish King even sat upon the throne for a period of time.
Mary, Queen of Scots was held captive here. The exact origin is unknown, but either prisoners or bored prison guards left intricate carvings on the walls. The graffiti probably dates back to the 15th century.
An all-around interesting day in a quaint Northern England town. We may not have made it to Edinburgh that day but we made the most of it and, naturally, would enjoy our time with the Ledfords anywhere.
Blackpool
We made a quick visit to the amusement park and beachside town of Blackpool for their annual Illuminations light show, which has been running most years since 1879. We didn’t go to any of the amusement parks, but we did play a round of dinosaur miniature golf to get in the spirit of the city. And guess who made a stunning comeback at the end to win by 1 stroke and proceeded to rub it in?
The golf course is actually inside the famous Blackpool tower. So, after golf, we took a ride to the top to check out the glass bottom floors and the views at sunset with a cocktail.
The light show began as a few carbon arc lamps along the promenade (the year before Edison patented the light bulb) and has now grown to 6.2 miles along the main beachfront road, trimmed with millions of lights and all kinds of displays. Some of them are still around from the 1960s.
We took a tram ride up and down the strip to be able to enjoy the whole scene. There is also a light and music show every hour on the Blackpool tower.
Newcastle Upon Tyne
Our final day trip before moving back to the US was spent driving through the Yorkshire Dales and eating our way through the beautiful river city Newcastle Upon Tyne.
I wished we would have had more time to hike through the Dales, but a few quick road trip stops was the best we could do. Our first stop was the Ribblehead Viaduct, which was built between 1869-1874 for the Settle-Carlisle railway.
Then we cruised a route dubbed the most spectacular road in England by Top Gear’s Jeremy Clarkson through Buttertub’s pass. The pics don’t do it justice, but this windy road felt like a roller coaster especially as you crested the peak.
Sheep, rolling green pastures, and creeks pretty much summarizes the Yorkshire Dales.
Our first stop in Newcastle was to eat lunch, and we knew immediately we were near the Scottish border as all-things haggis was back on the menu. Woohoo!! One more round before we leave the UK!! We ordered a mouthwatering haggis toastie at a cool little pub underneath one of the famous bridges across the river, the New Tyne bridge.
Afterward, we wandered the neighborhood to check out the highlights.
I have no idea who these people were, but I thought this old building was beautiful and interesting that they put a plaque here to commemorate the window of a famous escape and elopement from 1772.
The city takes great pride in its seven bridges crossing the mighty Tyne. The Gateshead Millenium bridge, opened in 2001, is the world’s first and only tilting bridge. The New Tyne bridge, opened in 1928, is the iconic symbol of the city. The Swing bridge, built in the 1870s, was the largest of its kind in the world at the time. The High Level bridge, built in the 1840s, was considered the architect’s greatest feat.
One of the best views of the city is from the top of the castle. You can get a birds-eye view of the bridges over the Tyne on one side and the cathedral on the other side.
We never got sick of touring castles in the UK. They all have their own unique character and stories to tell.
The Royal chapel has some of the finest surviving examples of Norman decorative stone carvings.
A perfect ending to the day was another brilliant dinner of local specialties. We shared a Scotch egg, haggis with fried duck egg, and bubbles and squeak (British dish of fried beef, cabbage, and potatoes).
The long ride home was a sad one as we knew that was the official end of our English adventure.
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