Going to Harrogate, England (near Leeds, Manchester) for a week in mid-April for work. Could easily extend trip for most of the next week, but not sure where to go. Need to get tickets fairly soon, so there's not much time to investigate. I've been to London for a few days, but that's it for the British Isles. Would like to see the rest of the UK and Ireland, but not sure the weather will optimal.
You'd be surprised - there's been great weather in Ireland in April the past 5 years. For some reason May tends to be worse than April, not sure why that is. Plus its before the main tourist season starts so you wouldn't have to contend w/ all the crowds. Fly over, hire a car and drive all over the west coast. You may be able to fly into Shannon from Manchester on Ryanair or Aer Lingus, which would be nice as well..
Try to catch a soccer or football match if you can. I don't know if you are a fan to begin with but many converts have come from watching a match in person. I know I did when I got to see some World Cup matches. It is now my second favorite thing to watch after NCAA Football. NFL and NBA are not even on the map compared. You will like the fan participation and hype/excitement of it all. Many will be overjoyed at a Yank being there. You may get some pints out of it. You may have better luck getting into a Leeds Utd. or Wiggan game as opposed to a Manchester City or Manchester United match. But either of those would be off the hook, yo.
I guess, a lot of the stuff I would suggest would be outdoors. To me it's worth braving the weather to see some really unique stuff. To me visiting Hadrian's wall was just great. It runs between Newcastle and Carlisle which is north of where you'll be, but would be well worth it. If you could it might be worth it to fly out of Glasgow or Edinburgh. There's lots to see on the scottish borders up through Edinburgh. One trip I took took me south from Edinburgh down to the wall then up the east coast back to edinburgh. It was a rushed 2 days, but we saw a ton. But there's plenty to see near where you'll be. I just haven't seen it. York has all the viking stuff. I'm not sure how touristy it is. The Yorkshire moors are famous for their scenery as is the lake district. So there's lot to choose from.
