Need Suggestions--English Town for Two Nights

Have you considered Norwich or Bury St Edmunds, in Norfolk and Suffolk respectively? Norwich (have been all around but never in the city, is renowned for its buildings, but maybe they are too old for you. And you are a very short jump to the north and east Norfolk coast. Bury St Eds has him, of course, but also very pretty, and easy to get to the gorgeous small town of Lavenham, a town kept pristine by the National Trust. Also, not far from Ipswich on the Suffolk coast.

I'd give you Northampton for the Art Deco masterpiece of 78 Derngate, a unique building by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, but unless you like Victorian row houses you've pretty much shot your bolt.

Stratford upon Avon can be expensive, but they do have a Travelodge and Premier Inn. Certainly plenty of tourists but for a reason. I like the river walk near the church where Shakespeare was buried (and attended services from a teeny tiny baby all his life until its end) and they have a lovely ring of bells. Nearby is Warwick too with a market at the top of the hill and an old section between the market and the castle. Beautiful views of the castle from the river and a couple of gardens too.

I know you have seen the Cotswolds, but have you visited Hidcote Manor Gardens or Kiftsgate Court Gardens right next door? If you want gardens, like Crocodile Dundee - now that's a garden(s). Sorry.

Do be aware of the drought we are experiencing. The most beautiful gardens will be dry and parched in large part - we have had successive heatwaves and no precipitation for months - and there are consequential bans on the usage of hoses because the water supply is so limited. Just be prepared...

Have you considered basing in Colchester. I hour out of Liverpool Street.

Not quite as modern art as you requested but ... Would then be easy to get to the National Trust, John Constable's Flatford Mill site. I notice that there is a walk you can do to reach it starting at Manningtree Station (short rail hop from Colchester station). Or, I guess, there are probably other ways of reaching the site directly from Colchester.

https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/flatford/trails/flatford-and-constable-country-walk

Colchester itself has a castle. Some Roman walls + A Saxon chapel to St Helena https://www.britainexpress.com/counties/essex/churches/colchester-st-helens-chapel.htm

For ease of getting around I’ll throw Ealing onto your consideration list. We’ve done a house exchange in Ealing and just went back for 4 nights last week. The Ealing people we spoke to were so excited about their newest transportation link, Lizzy, or the Elizabeth Line that quickly takes you to LHR and, so far, into Paddington. They already have the Circle and District Lines and the Great Western Railway at Ealing Broadway. We stayed at a Premiere Inn just an 8 minute walk from that transportation hub, Ealing has other lines at other stations. They also have an excellent bus system that took us down to our favorite town of Richmond in about 30 min. Ealing has done a lot of building in the 5 years since we were last there. Modern buildings have gone up in the downtown area. We enjoyed their renovated Art Deco movie theater turned into a fun restaurant, Teatro, and many other little eating places with outdoor dining. Ealing Studios is near the center of town and the large Walpole park, now suffering from the drought.

Hope you find a place that’s convenient and just right for you.

A second town I’ll suggest is St. Albans which is about 20-30 minutes north of London with a good ThamesLink connection to St. Pancras/Kings Cross. St. Albans has a nice high street, interesting cathedral, Roman ruins which may not interest you but it’s a nice walk. It’s a leafy nice city just north of London. Don’t know about the city center hotel situation because we stayed in a home but it would be easy to check.

St Albans is a good suggestion. But I'd like to give some small advice based on my years working on the railway, and in particular working on the "St Albans Abbey" line to and from Watford Junction and the lines north and south from Watford Junction to London Euston and down to Tring, Milton Keynes and north.

There are two train stations serving St Albans, called St Albans Abbey and St Albans City, and the stations and clientele on them are quite different.

St Albans Abbey is at the end of a little 6 mile branch line from platform 11 (no lift available, must use the stairs) Watford Junction only calling (very slowly) at just 5 intermediate stations between Watford Junction and St Albans Abbey. Because there is only one track and no passing places there can only be one train on the entire branch at a time, and it shuttles back and forth with breaks at each end. With a great deal of dry humour and not a small measure of irony, the train is referred to by staff and passengers as the "Abbey Flyer". When there are staff shortages (common since covid is still rampant) the Driver and Guard are taken off the service and put to work on main line services to London, Tring or Milton Keynes and a Rail Replacement bus is drafted in, or taxis in the off-peak times. Normal frequency is between 45 minutes in the daytime and an hour in the early evening and weekends. There are no late evening trains on the Flyer. A delicate point is that the intermediate stations are in socially deprived areas and ticket dodging and anti social behaviour are common, particularly at two of the intermediate stations. The stations after Watford Junction are unstaffed and only some have a ticket machine.

For travel into London the other station, St Albans City, is on the main Thameslink line between Bedford and London St Pancras International, with trains continuing through the City at Farringdon, City Thameslink and Blackfriars, continuing to either Sutton or London Bridge, with easy connections to Gatwick and Brighton. Most trains serving St Albans City originate/terminate there, some continuing through Luton/Luton Airport and Bedford. The station is fully staffed, there is an old signal box just off the platform, there are ticket machines, much more frequent trains, and the ride is much faster. St Albans City is very much more busy than St Albans Abbey. Both stations will have trains very full at morning and evening peaks, with City being in a different league. City is a Thameslink station served by Thameslink trains, with East Midlands trains passing through. Abbey is a London Northwestern station with a single London Northwestern train.

I hope that the differences I have pointed out will help.

As I said, St Albans is a decent option for the reasons in Mona's post.

Thanks for the clarification, Nigel. We had a home exchange in St. Albans years ago and only used the City station, I wasn’t even aware there was another one. We always went in to the city after 9, Off Peak, with a day pass that gave us Underground and bus access too. There were direct trains that just took 20 minutes or so and trains that made stops so they took about 30 minutes. It was a little further out than I’d planned for our first London visit but it was very workable with the lovely train.

Ealing is just a London suburb - it sounds as though you want to be away from London.

Sevenoaks has a pleasant town centre and the National Trust property Knole in the town centre has extensive grounds that you can walk whilst spotting the deer. It’s 25 minutes out of London on a fast train, so similar to St Albans. Take the train to Rye for a day trip.

Norwich is a good base for exploring the north Norfolk coast and it has plenty to keep you occupied in the city.

North, Tring or Berkhamsted aren’t too far from London, but very different. Berkhamsted has a ruined castle and Tring has a Natural History Museum. Nice walks from each town - they are one stop away from each other by train - a short 5 minute hop.

I will research those suggestions. I have been to Norwich--which I especially liked (great museum with a lot of Asian art) and Bury St. Edmunds.

I appreciate the reminder about the drought; it seems like this isn't the year to devote a lot of time/money/effort to getting to a garden out in the countryside. Those aren't always easy to reach without a car (a limitation I failed ro mention in my original post).

I'm glad to have these additional ideas for use in the future, whatever I decide this year. I end up in the UK quite often because of the Schengen limit.

Sevenoaks--mentioned by Jennifer--is not far from Chartwell, Winston Churchill's home. Chartwell has his painting studio intact with many of his paintings displayed there and throughout the house. Easily reached by taxi from Sevenoaks station; 6 miles. Could be an interesting day trip if you choose to stay in Sevenoaks.

Thanks, Rebecca. I confess to being anti-taxi. There are so many places you can reach without them. I'll be alone on August 24-25, so I'd be footing the entire bill. But I will make note of this and share the info with my sometimes-travel-mate, who's big on stately homes. We might be interested in that area the next time we're in southern England.

Lived near Winchester for a year c. 1983. Loved that. Beautiful and interesting cathedral, (look up the history about the foundations being shored-up by a diver,) old city gate, good town for just walking around. Market once a week. One of Jane Austen's homes. Ancient capitol of King Alfred the Great. Around 1.5 hours from Waterloo Station to Winchester. I can't remember whether the station in Winchester is very near the city centre, so research that. From what you said about the size of your luggage, it would be prudent to cut that down, (no one outside the capitol will care if you wear the same shirt, suit, or pants two days in a row,) and consider strongly taking a cab from the station to your lodgings.

Near Winchester are the town of Romsey and the New Forest. Romsey used to have (when I was there) the art/ crafts/ scene and has interesting history. It is a favorite day trip for the English, so you would need to plan accordingly. It coulf be impossible to get there by train; I don't know.

If you want gardens there's always Kew, which is on the Tube or train from London (I forget which line) about as far as you can go. The Gardens are massive and you could easily spend several days there. Both entrance to the Gardens and lodging will be expensive. There's a huge exotic seed "library" and research centre.

Have you thought of the Isle of Wight in the Solent?

If you go to Kew Gardens, take the boat from Westminster Pier either there or back.

I really liked Winchester for its cathedral. Also the tourist office has a walking tour (Verify this, but I did the tour in the 1980s and again about 10 years ago!) Winchester is also closer than some of your other options. Very historic but I’m not sure it’s your kind of history.

With your interest in history you might enjoy Portsmouth and its museums.