Fav towns

Winchester, Chichester, and some of the smaller towns around them - for instance Bosham Harbour near Chichester with its Saxon church and Fishbourne with its Roman Palace, also near Chichester. Both towns have ancient cathedrals. Chichester is on the coast as well, an added bonus.

I was in Bath for 3 nights in Sept and really enjoyed it. I did a day trip with Mad Max to Stonehenge and wished I had spent another full day in Bath. One thing to consider when you are planning is that the lodging prices go up substantially in Bath on Friday and Sat nights and there is often a 2 night minimum. Knowing what I now know, I would probably not plan to be there on a Friday/Sat but would come in on a Sunday. However, by being there on a Saturday I wound up being able to attend an organ concert at Bath Abbey on Saturday evening. It was wonderful!

If you are visiting Bath ,which is certainly well worth seeing, two contrasting nearby towns/cities shouldn't be missed.
Bristol is the major city in the West of England with museums, architecture and restaurants of great quality. It is a city with lots of alternative attractions such as street art including near native Banksy. It is in my opinion a much more vibrant and less genteel city than Bath.
Bradford-on Avon which can be reached from Bath on the train which goes towards Salisbury is a very attractive small town in a steep river valley with a Saxon church and lots of picturesque weavers houses. It is worth at least a few hours of your time en-route between bigger attractions.

We have enjoyed seeing Bath as day trips from London. Lovely town. We also enjoyed Brighton. Easy to reach by a short train ride from London. Nice beach town. We went in winter, and I expect it would be even better in summer as many things were closed or on restricted hours (as we were there on a Sunday afternoon, we couldn't see a lot).

Hastings is fascinating - lots of history by the beaches. You might also want to visit Battle if you are interested in the 1066 invasion. Both towns are easily reached by train from London - Charing Cross station. Also in that area is Bodiam Castle.

It's been many years since I went to England but I still remember that I really enjoyed both Brighton and Bristol. We were there the last week in May so Brighton still wasn't as crowded as it gets later in the summer but we had lovely weather and it was fun walking along the Piers. I was very impressed with the Royal Pavilion there also. In Bristol we stayed at a hotel across from the church of St Mary Redcliffe - we weren't able to go in when we were there but we explored the grounds a bit. It's from the 12-15th c and is a classic Gothic church. It also has a famous set of bells that we enjoyed listening to in the evening.

I would agree and recommend Brighton for the architecture and the Royal Pavilion.