Greetings. Back again for England trip planning. Now looking at 2027, rather than ’26. Done some guidebook study, looking at this forum, some TRs, the National Trust website, a little RS and more. Been to London before … Oxford too. Looking to what we’ve not seen in London, as well as England's countryside and smaller cities.
We want to include London sights, history, stately homes, country gardens, smaller towns and countryside – and some leisure cycling. 30 days. Whether to travel England only or travel open jaw and include Edinburgh is an open question.
Current thoughts:
- London, 6 nights, including a day trip or two from that base. Current thoughts: Tower of London, Greenwich, National Gallery, Churchill War Rooms, Tate Britain, Parks (Hyde, St. James, Regence). Perhaps see a play? Further out: Richmond, Kew Gardens, Hampton Court. Day trip to Bletchley Park. Do you have other, less travelled suggestions for London? (Prior visits took in British Museum, Sir John Soane House, Wallace Collection, Tate Modern, V & A Museum, Westminster Abbey, St. Paul’s, The Old Bailey & Hampstead Heath/Kenwood House.)
- Kent/Sussex. 2 night base in Canterbury? Other sights: Rye, Hastings/Battle Abbey, Leed’s Castle? How is public transportation through this southeast area?
- Off toward Thames Valley, via Portsmouth? Or Salisbury (and Stonehenge) including a night? Stay in Salisbury? Or Oxford? (Oxford is not absolutely necessary, as we spent a full day some years back and visited the Pitt Museum, Christ Church College and the Ashmolean, though it may be a well situated one or two-night stand). Spend a bit of time at Blenheim Castle. QUERY: How long for this stretch … 2 or 3 nights? Do we transit through London from Sussex? Or circumnavigate London and travel from Sussex to Salisbury or Oxford by some other route?
- Then to Cotswolds for a 5-night leisure cycle. Now we are up to 15 or 16 nights.
- Bath 2 nights? Or pass it by? Nearby is Stourhead House & Gardens ... how is that?
- Stratford/Warwick. 2 or 3 nights? See a play, perhaps.
- Cambridge East Anglia. 3 nights. 1 day in Cambridge and other time to which of the following: Colchester? Ely Cathedral? Norwich? Sandringham? Burleigh House & Stamford on the way to York, potentially.
- York – 3 nights? Or just 2? Do we see anything in Yorkshire beyond the City of York (this is now up to 24 to 27 nights; 2 fewer if we skip Bath). Moors, Dales, coast, or castles would necessitate 3 nights.
- Lake District. 5-night cycle tour. Wordsworth House & Garden and Beatrix Potter
- Now up to 29 to 32 nights.
- Still need to get to a departure city for 1 or 3 nights; London or Edinburgh.
This is 30 to 35 nights – potentially 5 more than my beloved will tolerate. Where I ask about 2 or 3 nights, what is realistic for comfortable and meaningful travel?
The two self-guided e-bike journeys (looking at Mac’s Adventures and Saddle Skedaddle) are essential. Otherwise “she-who-must-be-obeyed’s” endurance/tolerance drops to 17 days.
And so ... What should we keep and what should we shorten or scuttle? Or what else should we do or what should we do differently? I had earlier thought of Cornwall, but I now think our 30 day limit does not make that possible.
Also, are there any portions of this journey where we would really be best served to have a car? Perhaps Kent/Sussex and on to Salisbury or Oxford? Or potentially East Anglia?
BTW, the sequence of travel will change with departure city, London vs. Edinburgh. The former involves a circular route; the latter involves more or less a south to north journey after London, unless East Anglia/Cambridge is best visited before Kent/Sussex.
Thanks for your guidance and suggestions.