Driving tour of England over 10 days - proposed itinerary, recommendations of places to stay

Firstly driving in Western Australia is nothing like driving in Southern England. Typically you can just set the cruise control for most of your journeys in the former. You're going to find traffic all over the place which will slow you down and tire out the driver quicker.

Having said that you are not looking at huge distances here which would cause a real issue. My main concern is that it looks like you are moving every single night. I can't imagine that your kids are going to thank you for a schedule which sees them in the back of the car for a few hours every single day. The more you move in the UK, the less you see, as you're just driving past interesting sites to get somewhere else all the time.

Beyond the castle in Dover there is nothing to see beyond a very dreary town usually filled with big lorries coming off and on channel ferries.

Are you staying in London, then going elsewhere in Europe, then flying to Gatwick? Or staying in London, then going to Gatwick just to pick up the car? Either way, it looks like a 9 night trip with each night in a different place, which would drive me and my family insane, but you know your own pace best. You are shortchanging some places that deserve more time, especially Bath, Oxford and Cambridge; if you are driving into any of these after a long day of sightseeing elsewhere, parking and checking into accommodation, then checking out and leaving the next day for more of the same, you won't see much of it. Oxford and Cambridge are similar in a lot of ways, Rick Steves advises just picking one of these on a short trip, which is good advice. At first I thought you meant Stratford-upon-Avon famous for Shakespeare, not Bradford upon Avon, but glad I checked, as Wikipedia tells me there is a place called Bradford-on-Avon, which I'd never heard of but sounds like a pretty little town, not to be confused with the industrial city of Bradford in the Midlands.

Thank you so much for the replies so far. I will definitely re-think the timeline and number of places so we have more time at a few locations. Great advice, keep it coming please.

Every day you are moving, which would get tiring, but I understand the need to see as much as you can and visit friends who are scattered throughout the South of England. Driving into major cities/towns is going to be a huge problem. There are so many rules about which lane you are supposed to be in (Bus/Bike/one-way) that it's confusing to even locals at times. Cameras are everywhere so you can't avoid a ticket if you make a mistake. I would find accommodation outside of these areas, or use the park or ride.

I am going to comment on a couple of areas:
I would hesitate to stay in Dover for a night. It is not a very nice town anymore. If you want to visit Canterbury, you could stay at Leeds Castle, the prices are reasonable and it is a beautiful setting. We did this for a two-night stay and ventured into Canterbury and Rye. Rye is a pretty cobbled street town with strange house names that the kids will enjoy. Canterbury Cathedral is beautiful and parts of the town have some nice places but there are some not-so-nice spots around town.

I know it doesn't look far on the map from Cambridge to Ipswich, but unless you are stopping at some of the Suffolk villages along the way, I wouldn't want to keep driving to go to a place that is not that interesting. Perhaps friends could meet you in Cambridge? Drop the Car at Cambridge. You won't need it. train to Stansted Airport.

I think you may be setting yourself up for some drive-by sightseeing. I found Canterbury and Salisbury worthy of a couple of nights each and while the distances are short, traffic can be slower than what you may be used to; I'm from the Canadian Prairies and I understand the wide open spaces and Southern England is not that.

It's a bit long but here's a link to my Trip Report which may be useful to you.
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/trip-report-the-south-of-england

Have you asked your teens for their input about the itinerary? Is this why you're going to both Oxford and Cambridge? If not, I would skip Oxford and just go to Cambridge. The Eagle Pub in Cambridge is where Watson and Crick first unveiled the structure of DNA and there is also a section of the pub with RAF history. Kings College Chapel is beautiful and you could go to Evensong there. If you rethink most of the driving(and I would rethink that), your locations(other than Cotswolds and Blenheim) are easily (and probably more quickly) traveled by train.

I'm intrigued that you will be visiting from WA. We have just completed watching a series of the comedian/musician Bill Bailey touring around WA and some friends of ours just returned (all the way across in Melbourne) from Australia with a gift of some Aboriginal fabric. Small world, eh?

I'm intrigued by some a couple of your days, and maybe can chip in a bit of advice.

I don't really see in your question anything indicating your preferences or interests or that of the 13 or the 15 year old. Why do you want to visit the places you have listed? There's a chance that if we (or even I) knew what intrigues you we might be able to point out something you might drive right by not knowing.

You have given two bites of the cherry to Dover - why? It has an impressive castle but the town is a real genuine dump. And so unsafe with all the heavy trucks going in and out of the port to say nothing of all the rest of the very heavy traffic. And the signage is poor, and Dover holds my personal record of the absolutely worst hotel I have ever stayed in. Where do you expect to spend the night?

Are you going to try to park in Brighton? If so please take extra doses of patience that day. Decent parking is like hens teeth.

Day 6 - why the question mark at Stow? Looks good to me (local boy). But lots more to see in the vicinity. Again back to my why and what do you like question.

Day 7 - Stow on the Wold is not particularly far from Blenheim Palace - maybe look around at things which might interest you on the way.

Further to Day 7 - if you intend to drive in the City of Oxford are you aware of the ZEZ - Zero Emissions Zone and its cost and the militantly anti-car sentiment of the Oxford City Council? They have purposely made roads difficult to drive on, driving takes a long time because of the convoluted routes you need to drive - if you can drive at all - because they want people out of their cars and preferably on foot or cycle or bus if they must. If I knew what you wanted to find there I could help. First Word to the Wise - use the Park and Rides. Street parking is nearly impossible to find and if you do if the stars align and traffic gods look favourably, is very expensive and parking time limits are mostly short.

That said, as nearby locals who used to own a business there, my wife and I know Oxford like the back of our hands, and a regular contributor here, Marco lives there.

Day 8 - Why Northampton? I live pretty close and used to work there and can think of very few reasons someone would go out of their way to visit there. The theatre? The Eleanor Cross? Silverstone? Cricket? Shoes? Lunch at Nandos? 78 Derngate? Help me out here.

Day 8 continued - what do you hope to see or do in Cambridge? I am there almost weekly. If you want to link Oxford and Cambridge by car Northampton is out of the way - the most direct way would be via Buckingham, Milton Keynes, Bedford and St Neots.

Day 9 - Do you know of the painfully slow and stupid roadworks for dozens of miles on the A14 (the only reasonable route) east of Bury St Edmunds? Nearly finished they have found that the road rebuilding was done wrong, so they are digging up all the recently laid road and binning it, and starting all over again. Deep Joy is all I can say as that is my regular route to the ferry to the Netherlands. All I can say is be sure the teens' batteries are charged and take lots of extra patience.

Day 10 - any chance of reversing Ipswich and Cambridge? Stansted is way easier from Cambridge.

I like all the places you have on your list - except Dover and to a lesser degree Brighton - and would have my reasons for visiting all of them, but probably not as fast as you. If you are a stand there while I instagram or tic toc you and move on then you can move a lot quicker than me.

I hope one day to be able to spend some time in WA. Gotta see the tidal waterfall in the sea.

We spent two nights in Bath and highly recommend 2 Crescent Gardens. Charming, quiet, excellent location, friendly, and a wonderful breakfast.

https://www.2crescentgardens.co.uk/

Thank you so much for all the responses, great advice and recommendations. I am now re-planning our time, definitely looking into accommodation at Leeds Castle and the one in Bath. Will re-visit all your wonderful comments as I continue to plan our trip. I'm now re-thinking some of our stops and planning on staying 2 nights at some places out of the main towns. Any accommodation recommendations and further advice greatly appreciated. Thank you everyone. What a great forum, truly appreciate those that have taken the time to respond.

I'm glad you're looking at this again. Wow, what a great idea of Leeds Castle. I have visited but never stayed there. That looks like proper fun....