Easter Weekend, starting in London, going where?

Take a train Thursday evening to York, spend two days in the city with a day trip to Scarborough or the North York Moors. Train home early Monday morning. Train services on Good Friday (29 March) and Easter Monday (1 April) are likely to have fewer trains, but should still run. Shops may not be all open on Good Friday, but a place like York is touristy and so there should still be food and drinks open, and most visitor attractions.

Normally I'd suggest the West Country - but be aware there are very major train works on the line between London, Reading and Bristol that weekend. Don't plan to go that way by train! (Bus will be fine tho...)

Would the west country still be accessible from Waterloo?

London will be quieter during Easter, in my experience, so you should find it easier to get dinner reservations and see some of the non-touristy or lesser known things more easily. Big public holidays are a great time to see London generally because there is stuff on, the tube is less busy and it is less hectic. However, I want to mention Norfolk, which is 2 hours north of London and within easy reach by train. It will still be popular with families over Easter, but it doesn't get anything like the same level of attention as areas like the Lake District, for example. It has a huge coastline, which means you can go for http://www.nationaltrail.co.uk/PeddarsWay/index.asp. There are the http://www.norfolkbroads.com/. It has lovely coastal towns like http://www.wells-guide.co.uk/, and beautiful old houses like http://www.holkham.co.uk/. It is within easy reach of London, but in honesty to get the best out of it you would need a car. Although it is in Suffolk (on the Suffolk/Norfolk border), a lovely boutique place to stay is http://www.strattons-hotel.co.uk/ in Swaffham.* *Swaffham itself is an unremarkable place, but places nearer the coast will be both busier and probably more expensive. If you absolutely don't want to drive then York is a great option. I'd also give a shout out for the Northumberland coast, i.e. north of Newcastle. You could base yourself around http://www.visitalnwick.org.uk/ and get to see beautiful, windswept coast with places like http://www.lindisfarne.org.uk/, loads of http://www.visitnorthumberland.com/history-heritage, lovely people, great beer or choose to stay in Newcastle and day trip out from there. Newcastle is 3 hours by train from London. Newcastle/Gateshead is a cultural hub so there is a lot to do and see, including the https://www.balticmill.com/ By and large, your £ stretches further up north when it comes to food, accommodation and beer. A note on trains: they will be crazy busy on Thursday night/Friday morning and very expensive if you don't buy in advance. Choose where you want to go asap and book ahead using a service like http://www.thetrainline.com/buytickets/.

I second Jehan's suggestion. (I believe we're both a bit biased here, though.) Maybe swap Whitby for Scarborough. It's a bit bigger and has a bit more to see--I think Whitby Abbey beats Scarborough Castle, both in terms of 'interesting to look at' and 'has information for visitors'. Plus there's an arch made out of a whale jaw and a statue of Captain Cook (if that won't convince you, what will). However, it's easier to get to Scarborough. It's less than an hour on the train vs just over two hours by bus to Whitby. In York, you've got a load of museums, at least some of which should be open. It looks like the http://jorvik-viking-centre.co.uk/visit-jorvik/ is, which is well worth a visit. Supposedly the http://www.yorkcastlemuseum.org.uk/Page/Index.aspx is good, but it's basically the one thing I haven't been to in York, besides the obvious tourist traps. There's the http://www.nrm.org.uk/, though I haven't been since I was a kid. There's a model railway somewhere, too. And the http://www.yorkminster.org/home.html, obviously. (You can climb the central tower, though perhaps not at the end of March. My mother banned me from doing it as a kid and having seen the pictures my dad and brother took, I'm not sure I would ever have the nerve, as you have to walk out across the roof.)

The West Country is accessible from Waterloo. You change at Salisbury. It's about 1h30 to Salisbury and about 1h from Salisbury to Bristol Temple Meads. However, you can still get from London Paddington to Bristol over the Easter weekend. It will just take longer because the trains will go via Oxford [http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/~/media/PDF/Planned%20Changes/Feb%202013/Book%202%20web.ashx].