I really appreciate the comments about Lake District - I always wonder if it is that unusual, say, when comparing to other famous lake areas such as Swiss Alps, Italian Alps (Lucerne, Lugano, Lake Como, etc etc).

It seems other parts of Scotland that are less famous may even be a better choice than Lake District ?

Yes, we will rent a car when we get to EDI - the options to go to EDI would be either fly or take the train - inclined to take the train as it would be one form of leisure sightseeing ...

When I mentioned about the EDI/DUB/BVA - I dont intend to take immediate connection - rather, it may be an option to visit DUB for a couple days then fly out from DUB to BVA ... I would not even consider a connection using RyanAir, :-)

Glad to know the other discounter EasyJet seems to be offering reasonable service.

Just need to figure out if we should take a Sleeper back to London then take Eurostar to Paris, or fly out from EDI, PIK or even MAN - all possible options - if we scrap DUB from the picture.