English Villages - Enough to keep us interested?

We used a National Trust UK Touring Pass for Overseas Visitors which you can order on their web site. We really enjoyed where it lead us to; interesting historic places that were not tourist traps. They list by region and have seasonal events.They have furnished homes and beautiful gardens and country parks. The pass is for 7 or 14 days and can be used in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. You can save a lot on admissions. We also enjoyed the English Treasure Houses which are the great estate houses like Chatsworth. Bon Voyage.

Katie, It's hard to answer your question without knowing more about your interests, but my first inclination is "What's not to like?" Historic churches, formal gardens, public walking trails, plenty of pubs, probably some interesting small town museums.

I guess if you are the kind of people who can always find something to enjoy, then you would have no trouble staying engrossed. If, on the other hand, you need to be entertained, you might want to stay in the bigger cities.

Just my 2p worth. Have a great trip.

Katie If you love charming English villages, then the Cotswold is a must see destination.

https://www.cotswoldsaonb.org.uk/

Stratford - upon - Avon, Polpero in Cornwall, Castle Combe, UK
Hawkshead, UK, Painswick, Gloucestershire, and Kettlewell, North Yorkshire.

My Wife and I had a wonderful 28 day drive tour of Wales and England. We visited places were our ancestors came from as well as places that we wanted to see. We had been to Britain before, and skipped London.

Originally we were to include Scotland, but after intense planning, we discovered how much there was to see in England and Wales. Also, we had been to Scotland twice in the past 5 years.

Here is my detailed trip report including a TransAtlantic cruise that we took back to the USA.

There is much to see in the British Isles.

I had help with the internet, of course, as well as Rick Steves guide for Great Britain. Also, the book Back Roads of Britain was very helpful.
28 days in Britain and Celebrity Eclipse home
https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=599139

A critical bit of info that's missing currently: when is the trip?

If that's during a more rainy/cool/dark time, then I might be disinclined to head for rural England, since at least in my limited experience, the charms of small town rural areas is highly dependent on nice weather. If you will be there during high summer, well, then there are lots of appealing outdoor attractions if you have the right mindset (which it sounds like you do).

So...are you going in July, or November?

I don't think you'd have much trouble keeping yourselves entertained, although you don't say how long you're planning on staying. One of my favorite-ever trips was 8 days in the North Yorkshire Moors. We took the bus from the York train station to the market village of Pickering, using it as a base to enjoy a festival on the historical railway up there and hike the moors. We then took the bus to Whitby for a few nights, which was really lovely and also had good hiking opportunities, a ruined abbey to visit, the sea, etc, and then we spent 2 nights in York which we could have easily spent 2 more in (we just returned a couple weeks ago from our 2nd visit to York).

This is all in a very small geographical area, and we had a pretty busy 8 days. No, I don't think you'll get bored of exploring England!

Katie, I think you will have a lovely time visiting the countryside. The trick is to figure out which geographic area you want to visit. I’m not sure how much time you are talking about but you could easily spend 2 weeks in a number of areas:

1. Northern England. I loved Hadrian’s Wall. I also love Northumberland. RS covers these areas but I would supplement with another guide or the internet. Great castles along the coast.

2. Suffolk, etc. We stayed in a Tudor farmhouse near Framlingham and toured around. Loved Sutton Hoo. Lovely area.

3. The area between London and Bath is jam-packed with things to do and see. Winchester and Salisbury and their beautiful cathedrals. We spent a pleasant day in Wimbourne Minster (with a very enthusiastic volunteer guide who wanted us to see everything!) and the prehistoric fortifications out of town, by an old Roman road. And you could wander around Dorset.

Look into English Heritage as well. We love their sites!

Good advice - that suggestion for National Trust.

I think you will have plenty to occupy your time just visiting villages. Yorkshire is wonderful and could also include part of Derbyshire and the Lake District. There is a great article in the Britain Magazine this month on the steam train trips through this part of the England. https://www.britain-magazine.com/ you can usually find this magazine at Barnes & Noble. Another area of small villages and beautiful countryside would be to the West Devon/Cornwall. Both done best with a car.

Margaret

Many of the small villages where I live on the Kent/ East Sussex borders have plenty of interest eg Crockham Hill (the location of Chartwell, Winston Churchill’s former home and now owned by the National Trust);
the villages of Leeds, Hever, Bodiam and Chiddingstone all have castles as do towns such as Dover and Deal;
there are fantastic gardens in Sissinghurst, Great Dixter and Sheffield Park;
nearby are the historical towns of Rye, Dover, Canterbury, Lewes and Brighton;
there are steam railways at Sheffield Park - the Bluebell line, the Lavender line at Isfield, Tenterden and the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch line;
visit a vineyard or tour Faversham Brewery;
walk part of the Pilgrim’s Way, a long distance footpath that runs between Winchester and Canterbury;
visit Chatham Historic Dockyard and the Kent Battle of Britain Museum for history.

If you are visiting between June and August, many villages will have their annual summer fete on a Saturday afternoon, a British tradition. Many people also open their gardens for charity.

Thank you, everyone, for all of your suggestions! This was very helpful. We believe we will be taking the trip the first 2-3 weeks of September. We may be able to move it to July if that is preferable.

September is better than July because the weather is still good and there might be smaller crowds.

Stick with September far few crowds.

September is the ideal month for traveling in Europe if you can swing it. Kids are back in school, lots of tourists are gone, but the weather is pretty reliably decent if not amazing. Hard to count on weather in England of course, but we lucked out in early October even!

The best part about the small villages is that you don't have to go far to find 1. A Castle or cathedral to visit and 2. A pub. I don't think you'll find yourselves bored at all.

I'm heading back to England in March, spending time in Rye. From there, I will be able to visit Hastings, Battle and Bodiem Castle, as well as Dover. So though Rick's books clearly states you only need a couple of hours in Rye, it doesn't mean one can't park there and day trip til their heart is content. I will also day trip out of London to Hever and Chartwell one day, and to Rochester/Rochester Castle on another. Let me know if you want me to report back on how this goes:)

Have fun!