5 Nights at the Savoy in London...then where to next?

You could work your way through the scenic south to end up in Bristol which has a fairly busy international airport for your departure. That's a multi-destination search function, and yes, you might be making a connection for the return trip. It's the elapsed time of the total flight that matters, not the route. I once flew from Britain through Amsterdam to get to Toronto; it was a convenient amount of time and a decent price.

That sounds like fun! We stayed in London 8 days and did a few day trips including:

Cambridge/Grantchester (we rented bikes in Cambridge to ride to Grantchester and went to the church there and then rode over to the Grantchester Orchard Tea Room and Gardens which is also historic--many well known people in the past spent time there and it's lovely in the apple orchards); Salisbury Cathedral/Stonehenge/Old Sarum; Windsor; Corfe Castle and Swanage (coastal). We went on up to York for 3 nights and from York did day trips to Retford for a Pilgrim/ancestry tour and Ripon for Fountains Abbey. Of these places, I think York would be right up your alley, although I've never been to Bath. There's plenty to see and do in York for two days and then it's worth doing a day trip somewhere from there. If you go to York, I highly recommend eating at the Guy Fawkes Inn, the Earl Grey Rooms and the Punch Bowl pub. Definitely historical, definitely good pubs and good food. The famous Shambles makes it unforgettable.

Adding both Bath and York to London is an excellent idea, we did this (LHR-> Bath->London->York, and then on to Edinburgh) on our last trip, now 2 1/2 years back.

But--these are in opposite directions from each other and it a long way between York and Bath. I would recommend starting at one of these and working towards the other. This depends on how you are arriving and leaving. It is pretty mellow to get from Heathrow to Bath via direct bus after an overnight flight, chill in Bath a couple days, train into London (about 90-100 minutes), and then train to York for the rest of this. However, you still have to backtrack to leave from somewhere. In our case we conveniently flew home from Edinburgh, but you have to consider what works best for your back and forth in terms of getting home..

Bath to York by train is going to take about 5.5 + hours door to door, so personally, with only 5 days, I wouldn’t want to waste half a day in transit, particularly if you have to spend further time heading back to London for your return flight. I would opt for somewhere with direct train links to maximise your time seeing places rather than in transit.

I would combine York with Durham and spend a day at the excellent Beamish Open Air Museum near Durham. The walking is better in Yorkshire than around Bath IMO.

Clearly there are way too many amazing places to visit. How will we ever narrow it down. Lol. Here’s my thoughts :

-5 days in London staying at Savoy. Amazing ! (London to Bath via train approx 1 1/2 hours)
-3 nights Bath. We could do a day trip from here to a nearby area (Bath to Brighton approx 3 hours drive or train)
-2 nights at a Coastal town that’s closer to London so we have a short drive back to Gatwick airport on our departure day.. Maybe Brighton ?? ( Brighton is 34 min drive to Gatwick airport)

Thoughts please! :)

3 nights Bath. We could do a day trip from here to a nearby area (Bath to Brighton approx 3 hours drive or train)

I would never suggest a day trip to Brighton from Bath.

Brighton is trivial from London or Gatwick, on the same train line, an hour from Victoria or half an hour from Gatwick. You will not want a car in Brighton, and the driving in Brighton can be confusing as many of the roads are not straight and a fair few are one way.

I'm curious - since you are in the travel agency, are you a travel agent?

Sorry I didn't mean a day trip from Bath to Brighten! LOL. I can see how you misread that. We've decided to stay in Bath for 4 nights and skip Brighton all together. Head back to Gatwick for our last night so we are close to airport. It felt too rushed and we would have only gotten one full day in Brighten with extra travel that takes up precious time. From my research I see that 4 days in Bath won't be too many as we can do some day trips from Bath to some nearby places like Cheddar or Stonehenge!

that sounds like a good decision

thank-you for all of your advice. Bath did not disappoint!! wow. Felt like we stepped into a dream. Hotel Indigo was amazing. A trip we will never forget.

How was the Savoy?

AMAZING!! A dream come true really. Felt like we walked into a movie set. Service was top notch. Location can't be beat and the hotel was so beautiful words cant even describe. Room service was over the top, cleaning your room twice a day, everything immaculate. Breakfast in the hotel restaurant was incredible. Worth every penny!