Day out ideas, NOT in London but within driving distance

mike5678 · 26 Jan 2009 at 22:09

Recently started seeing a girl who has been in the country for only a year but has never set foot outside of zone 1 and 2 in central London other than the airport when she arrived! Said I would take her for a day out somewhere outside London to see what the rest of the country is like.

I live in North London and so far am thinking of taking her to Cambridge for the day which is about an hours drive from me. Planning sort of a late morning to early evening kind of thing.

Any ideas of what we can occupy our time with in Cambridge? Nice restaurants, things to do and see etc? Or any ideas of anywhere else within roughly 1/1.5 hour drive of North London (M25/J25) that is nice and worth a shot?

I'm 23 and she's 19 so nothing too boring!

Thanks!

Gib_Gib · 26 Jan 2009 at 23:02

Or Oxford or Brighton.

Ox and Cam you are mostly looking at nice buildings, the odd gallery, looking at the colleges and going shopping in little shops. There are plenty of nice bars/restaurants in both, but to me they come to life in the summer where walking in the parks, drinking pimms on the grass and punting on the Isis and what ever Cambridge has.

Brighton has more life in it in the winter I find, its walking along the beach, little shops, bars, galleries, the peirs and the Royal Pavilion. But Brighton is further away.

Or for a random one there is always Southend on Sea

mike5678 · 26 Jan 2009 at 23:17

Yea I did consider Brighton. Southend is a big no no, I do actually want to see her again.

ste_bla · 26 Jan 2009 at 23:20

Milton Keynes concrete cows and lots of roundabouts?

thepeganator · 26 Jan 2009 at 23:24

Brighton is good, but the laines suck compared to what they used to be.

platinum87 · 26 Jan 2009 at 23:25

road trip and camping

add alcohol to that

Gib_Gib · 26 Jan 2009 at 23:51

Windsor, then you can see the Castle and go to legoland.

Well it is closer.

J.B · 26 Jan 2009 at 23:54

platinum87 said:
add alcohol to that

Before or after the roadtrip part?

Rich_L · 27 Jan 2009 at 00:23

If you live in North London, just get the train up there from Kings X, Cambridge is a PITA to drive around and there's absolutely no need for a car at all, plus you can spend the time on the train relaxing and having a nice time.

There's tons to do in a day if you haven't been there, loads of nice pubs and cafés, the colleges, walk on the Backs, punting if you're feeling adventurous and it's a dry day etc

caff · 27 Jan 2009 at 00:36

If you're North London, you have everything you need on your doorstep.

Just outside of Zones 1 and 2, you have the picturesque villages of Turnpike Lane, Wood Green and Haringey (just on the edge of zone 2, mind), all conveniently located on the Picadilly Underground Line, offering a staggering variety of middle-eastern cuisine, sights and sounds.