England 2010

Best ways to improve this book:

Pay attention to reader's comments, and when there are several complaints, perhaps those accomodations should be deleted.

[Editor's Note: Thank you for your comments. We carefully consider all feedback before deciding to keep or drop a listing. For more on assessing reader complaints, see Rick's blog for Oct. 23, 2009, "Paola's Arc: Many Recommended Restaurants Have a Shelf Life."]

georgiana shaw in chickamauga, GA USA 09/28/2009

Overall, we were pleased with your book. The recommendations were great except Abbey House. the maps were helpful and we took it with us b/c it isn't too heavy. My wife was a Lonely Planet fan but found Steves much better for England. When we go to Rhine River next year, we'll be buying Steves!

Peter Thompson in Charlottesville, va USA 09/20/2009

Perhaps include a little more information on great Cotswold hikes?

Antje in Portland, OR USA 08/20/2009

We could not have driven our car in England without the GPS unit in the car. I think a GPS is indispensable for driving in England. You might want to highlight that in the book. Also, please emphasize how much longer it takes to get from one location to the next by car. Destinations we thought would take 1 hour (say 50 miles away) took 3 hours! We skipped out on the Lake District :( because it was too far in the car. Instead we went to the Midlands and were pleasantly surprised.

Maria Shuman in Boulder, , CO USA 08/10/2009

Hotels in the city have good rates on the weekend. We moved to Andaz, just down from Liverpool Street Station for a rate of 135 euros per night. Excellent deal for the accommodations.

Shirley in Rome, GA USA 08/09/2009

In the London section of the book, please include Balfour, 75-77 Marchmont St., Bloomsbury WC1N 1AP, 44 020 7713 6111, open noon to 11 p.m. They have terrific Mediteranean-European style food cooked and presented very nicely. The place is very attractive, red tile outside, wooden tables and chairs inside, and the staff is exceptionally friendly. As we always stay in Bloomsbury, this is one of our favorite places to eat, though I never see it mentioned anywhere. Evening meals are a bit pricey but no worse than a restaurant meal anywhere else in London. In addition, they have a set two course lunch menu for six pounds ninty five, a very good deal, indeed. As it's very close to the British Museum and British Library, a good place for lunch.

Paula Harris in Milwaukie, OR USA 08/01/2009

In the 2008, Book, there is nary a word about Southhampton. It is the homeport for the QM2 and other ships, meaning that numerous North Americans pass though every year. We have made two round trips to the UK through Southhampton. Book needs a mention of the lack of face cloths in the UK with suggestion that Americans carry with them either high quality commercial paper towels or old wash cloths that can be abandoned. A notation should be added that powdered artifical sweetner is generally not available. Would like further discussion relating to tipping in restaurants; i.e. are the tips left on the table, left in a dish at the cashier, or what?

Geoffrey B. Dobson in St. Augustine, FL USA 07/07/2009

Please add more address location information so sites are easier to locate with GPS units.

Mike Flaherty in St Louis, MO USA 06/13/2009

The book, England 2008, was excellent! I had a wonderful trip with the book to guide and I will turn to you for my next trip, Thanks Rick! Also love the show!

Paul DiBlasi in Jacksonville Beach, Fl USA 05/27/2009

Doing the mobile phone dance when visiting a number of countries can suck up days. Daze and Days. A warning about that and simple solid recommendations.

David Bean in Portland, Or USA 05/22/2009

In Great Britian 2008 I was unable to find anything about Cornwall-Penzance, Lands End, etc. In the future please add a section for Cornwall. Thanks so much.

[Editor's Note: Cornwall has its own chapter in "Rick Steves' England," but is not included in the "Rick Steves' Great Britain" book due to space issues.]

N. White in Kannapolis, NC USA 05/10/2009

I guess I'm glad you left out East Anglia - no crowds and so much to see and do. Parham Airfield was the highlight of my week.

Martha in Rockville, MD USA 03/02/2009

Add a short section for military personnel. There is an arc of bases roughly across the border between the south and the Midlands, and accomodations are CHEAP if you are active or retired (our 2 BR, 2 bath with kitchen was about $50 a night - it would be less for enlisted men; cheapest single anywhere in England we saw was about $180 a night!). From these bases you can hit the west hills, Cornwall, a lot of the the famous castles, Oxford etc within very easy driving range. If you want more data, please email.

LTC Larry Frost in Minneapolis, MN USA 10/14/2008

I would like to have seen a section on Birmingham. With the NEC being right there, and Birmingham considered "England's second city" I was disappointed to find nothing about it in the book.

L.Blair in Orange County, CA USA 08/19/2008

Your book is a good size right now and has a delightful presentation. If you add pages, you're going to overdo yourself. Perhaps, as time goes by, you'll do a Volume 2 for those who have dog-eared the first book. We are about there. We're gone twice now and have really done a good job on both trips. Next time, we'll need an upgrade of more obscure delights.

Patti Brugman in Pasadena, CA USA 06/29/2008

Maybe a 2 page, 4 week calendar that allows you to fill out with the dates of travel to allow you to sketch your trip out.

Lyn Morris in Houston, TX USA 06/09/2008

One of our English friends said that they were envious of us because we had "Rick Steve's England". They wished that an English writer would write the equivalent of "Rick Steve's England" for English tourists to use when they are touring within their own country.

[Editor's Note: While we don't have a European publisher, some bookstores in Europe sell Rick Steves guidebooks. Your friends in England should visit Waterstone's across the country, Edward Stanford in Manchester or London, and Borders or Foyle's on Charing Cross Road in London.]

Gregg W. Jackson in Cupertino, CA USA 06/02/2008

We also had the London Book and found them both absolutely invaluable - the Bible according to Rick as my husband said. We found the maps a bit challenging - nightmare finding our way around Bath. Perhaps more detail or a recommendation not to rely on them and to have a road map as well!

June Williams in Auckland, New Zealand 11/08/2007

Its hard to find out information on the city of Birmingham, UK. I found the city delightful as I was there for a few days visiting friends. I also discovered it was much easier than Heathrow to go in and out of customs and to even catch trains. My next trip to England I will probably use that same airport for the ease that I had. It took me less than 30 minutes from landing the plane to actually be at the train station on New Street in Birmingham that from there you can go almost anywhere in England, Scotland or Wales...or you can go take less than a 3 minute walk from there to get to the other station to the others! I also wish there was more mentions on the other types of travel as last year I took a canal cruise on the Trent-Mersley Canal in the Midlands, where I met many kind people and saw the true non-tourist parts of England. I am still in contact with many of those people. In fact I visited them this last vacation a few weeks ago!

Leslie Hickman in Tulsa, OK USA 10/19/2007

go to Lyme Regis...

Danielle Mussche in Hannon, ON Canada 06/08/2007