England: 20 Things To Know Before You Travel

My England Notes…

A few months ago I was hired to go to England and photograph the cutest family ever. They wanted their familyness captured before they moved back to the States. (I’ll be posting more about their amazingness later.) While we were there we got to visit the Peaks District, the White Cliffs of Dover, Canterbury, Cambridge, London, Suffolk, Manchester, and drive through all kinds of little towns on back roads (my favorite part). There were so many highlights to this trip it’s hard to pick just one.

I will always be grateful to the sweet little Crowell family for creating such a magical place for us to stay while we wandered over hills and small mountains. It was amazing.

As we went from place to place I kept little travel notes of funny, interesting, new tidbits that we learned of our saw along our journey. Some of them I wrote down because I knew our kids would think they were interesting or hilarious. (And it’s possible that I have no idea of anything mathematical since there are actually over 40 things on my list…not 20.)

Here are my travel notes (feel free to ask me any questions about them in the comments):

A new building in Cambridge is one that was built in 1893

Punting is a ride in a flat boat in a river that’s only 2 feet deep. Usually a chauffeur pushes you down the river

You pay 5 pence for a shopping bag at the store

M&S is a great place to eat something delicious and healthy. Most people eat there for fast food. It’s a grocery store with delicious fresh sandwiches, salads, etc.

Potato chips are called crisps

Bathrooms are called toilets. The actual toliet is called the loo

To get to Ireland you have to take a ferry. It costs about $400

Scotland is 8 hours away

Coddenham, Suffolk is a beautiful backroad way to Woodbridge.

The B-1078 thru Hemmingstone is gorgeous.

They have alpaca farms in Clopton

The English road signs are awesome.

They have roundabouts instead of stop lights

The washer and dryer are in the kitchen but most people hang their laundry out to dry

All of the light switches are on the outside walls of the bathrooms and rooms

Switch switches off to turn them on

Three prong plugs are huge and look like our appliance plugs in the U.S.

Highways are called carriage ways

Hot water heaters look kind of like cupboards on the wall

Trash is called rubbish

Interstates are M
Highways are A

The speed limit is 70 in most of the country

The beltway is called the orbital: the London orbital

Canterbury is an incredible maze of streets that all branch off the Cathedral there. Definitely make time for it’s magical labyrinth

There is a huge stone wall around one whole side of Canterbury and you can walk along the top

Most cars are not allowed to drive on the roads of Canterbury, you park outside the village and walk into it

You can pee on the side of the road, we saw a man pull over to the side of the road and just get out and do his business

There are bus stops out in the country in places where you can’t see any houses for miles

There are pedestrian crossings across highways where there is nothing to cross from or to but a huge field

The Fox House is only 34L when you book online, next time we want to stay there, it’s up near the Peak District and Stanage Edge

Stanage Edge is where a scene from Pride and Prejudice was filmed (with Kiera Knightly). Remember when she stood on the cliff with her dress blowing in the wind? That’s Stanage Edge.

We met wonderful, helpful, nice people in many little shops in small villages

No central air or heat in homes

They have lots of cute little villages, our favorite is Woodbridge

Tesco delivers groceries to your door

The people at the post offices always treat you like there’s no one in line behind you

The fridges are tiny do they shop at the market every couple of days

They eat lots of fresh food (at least the people we stayed with did!)

Pigs live in their own little houses in a huge yard

The English are very proud of their beef and pork

You must get the English breakfast (with hot chocolate) it’s delicious

Going back over my notes makes me miss the countryside, the Peaks in the north, and the people we met….there is such a rich tapestry of people and places in the world. I love the opportunity to see how other people live differently than I do and yet realize how much we are all so similar.

What wonderful bits of history have you discovered, what people have you met when you’ve traveled?

Davina Fear is a Familyness Adventurer. She loves gallavanting around the English countryside with Hot Guy. Now she loves sipping water and eating dinners together that remind her of their adventure there.