Hi, folks!
My partner and I (both in our 20s) have been planning a trip to Oxford and London in late August/early September (me for work, him for family), and it just so happens that we'll have a few extra days to spend in the UK before flying home via Heathrow. We know that we'd like to visit Bath, probably for 2-3 full days, which leaves us with 2-3 days to go elsewhere. We'd like to stay in the south if possible, as it would be easy to get back to London for our departing flight, but we do just want a few days outside of the hustle and bustle of the city.
To finish our itinerary, we'd love your help and thoughts!
We do have a few considerations and limitations, the first being that we won't have a car. If we did have a car, we would almost certainly go to the Cotswolds or Lake District and explore, but it seems a bit too spread out to not have a car there. Thus, we would like to stay somewhere we can easily access by train. We also would like to spend time in a more quaint and/or pedestrian-friendly area, with a pretty walkable town/city center and centralized attractions/accommodations. We also love hiking, so the chance to get out into nature without having to rent a car is certainly a plus. Cost is, of course, a large factor; we're both researchers working on limited grants, and while we're contributing equally to this trip, I want to make sure we're not going to a place that is overly expensive to get to and stay in.
As we've been looking, we've come across York (we're already spending a day there to visit part of his family), Brighton, Dover, Stow, Stratford, and a handful of small towns. We think Brighton would be fun, but after perusing Rick's recommended itinerary and our guidebooks, we decided that we'd love to hear from other travelers. What's a fun side trip from London for 2-3 days that you've made or heard about that you might find worthwhile? We really just want to hear about your experiences, and we'd be immensely grateful for any advice you might be able to offer.