First trip to Europe. planning stages

My wife and I have begun planning a trip over to Europe in 2011. My cousin and his family is stationed over in Northern England, so we will be using that as our base of operations. We'd like to visit Ireland, England and possibly Paris/Amsterdam if time allots. Does anyone have any recommendations on books or any other travel guides/sites that we can check out? We are basically looking for very broad things right now and will be narrowing it down throughout the year.

The north half of England has some fantastic landscape opportunities, Yorkshire Dales and the North York Moors are great places for landscape opportunities. Where exactly are you going to?

Have a look at the Lonely Planet guide books and AA Guide books which are also good.

Right now we know we're going to Leeds and London. Other than that we aren't 100% sure. I think we might try to break it up and to 1 week in Ireland and 1 week in England.

Don't forget Scotland. Lonely Planet guides are good as are the Rough Guides. Green Michelin guides are hard to beat, particulary for their layouts of monuments. The Nat'l Geo guide books are good because of the photography. They'll give you lots of photo ideas.

Do you guys think that a week seeing England, Scotland and Wales and then a week visiting Ireland will be enough time to take everything in?

No, but that's what you have this trip. Read up before you go an prioritize your time. There's alot (and I mean alot) to see in England. Concentrate on things you are interested in and make sure you put them on the list, but be prepared to be distracted and revise your planning accordingly. And...have fun. It'll be a great experience.

Has anyone done a private guided tour? Its a 7 night/8 day tour. This sounds like it could be a lot of fun and we wouldn't have to worry about getting lost or in a wreck (or worse).

We are considering this package: http://www.exploringir​eland.net/escorted-tours-page43967.html