Hi, I am sure some of this is on the forum but searching through all the postings is difficult. I apologize if I am being repetitive. I am just looking for some ideas - and in other cases, confirmation of my plans to date. We arrive early on 9/30. We have a hotel booked in London for 5 nights. This is not our first visit to London so we are seeing things there that we either missed or felt there was much more to see. High on the agenda is the V&A and British Museums. We also plan on seeing the War Rooms once more. A day is scheduled for Warner Brothers Harry Potter Studio tour (we are in our 70's but big HP fans). We also plan another day to Bletchley Park. That should easily fill our time in London.
On to Salisbury. We will be using rail for our transportation. On the advice of several folks on the forum, we've booked 4 nights in Salisbury. 3 full days and a partial day before we head to Oxford. I definitely want to see the Cathedral and absorb the atmosphere of the town. We are planning a trip to Stonehenge and dedicating at least 1 other day to Bath. There is plenty of time in this schedule for either multiple days in Bath (is that worth it?) or perhaps a tour of Avebury/Cotswolds. Or something else? This is why I am putting this out there.
On the 4th day after moving to Salisbury, we move to Oxford. Is there any reason for us to prolong our stay in the Salisbury area or should we move quickly that morning to Oxford. We have no specific plans right now in Oxford but I definitely would like to book tours of the university, Christ Church cathedral and anything else. We are in Oxford only a full day and the partial day we traveled from Salisbury (which is a 2+ hour train ride). We leave for Heathrow the following day taking the bus from Oxford directly to Heathrow.
I explored getting a rail pass for 15 days but was astounded at the $2,000+ cost. When I use the National Rail website to guestimate the cost of the train rides we will be taking, we are looking at roughly $500 even if we don't get the cheapest fare. Am I missing something?
I welcome any suggestions or recommendations this experienced group can pass on. This is our first real venture outside of London and we are very excited to see a bit of the English countryside. Thanks in advance.