@ Figle - I don't know... the castle (the tower on the hill?) has a good view of the city from the top. I wouldn't make it a priority, but if you happen to be walking past it it's worth sticking your head in. It's certainly better than the countless York attractions that have the word "ghost" or "haunted" in the title :p.

York is great as well and I would definitely second those suggesting a visit to the National Railway Museum. By the way if anyone is ever coming to Durham, drop me a line and I am always happy to recommend places to visit - and pubs to drink in!

i thibk durham is definitely on my list at this point ;-) where do you recommend?

With recommendations so far for London, York, Edinburgh and Snowdonia in Wales, you are only two territories short of the full Diplomacy set! You could arguably take the Scottish Highlands/Isle of Skye recommendation to count as Clyde so I'll recommend Liverpool if you have any interest in the Beatles. :-)

Has anyone mentioned Hadrian's Wall? It's a bit of a walk once you get there, but worth it.

"3 weeks in UK by myself" - where is everyone else going? Are you that rich that everyone has to move out for 3 whole weeks? Jeez these Americans.

not to brag but i'll be going on a three month tour of our universe in the magic school bus, No big deal I know, does anyone have suggestions? I feel that maniac will ;)

@ idealist - if you are going to stop off in Durham, drop me a PM and I'll give you some more specific advice.

@akilies - Stop drinking the green kool-aid.

If you want a look at traditional English life, there's a village called Alfriston near me in the south east where they still have marrow contests and an apothecary...

1) It isnt green this week, they changed it up on me
2) It's finals week so i need something to keep me going

what is everyone's opinion about nottingham? there's seems to be a lot of interesting things there, like the galleries of justice, the city of cave, and the old pubs.

That's the legendary home of Robin Hood isn't it?

yeh it is. the forest is there.

also, it seems that i have to pass Birmingham to get to stratford, so i might just as well as stay in birmingham for a night and check out the city a bit.

I've never been, all I'll say is that (admittedly like most cities) stay out of the dodgy/student areas - they're some of the most dangerous in the UK!

Got to be honest, don't think there's that much to see in Birmingham. Whichever station you come in at, you'll be very near the centre (New Street/Snow Hill/Moor Street) - from where it might be nice to go have a quick look around some of the shops (one of which is a windows 7 wallpaper-link below) but I can't think of any historical monuments/museums etc to visit.

http://www.createdinbirmingham.com/2009/05/05/brum-will-appear-on-windows-7/