We will have no car, will rely on train, any other mass transit available to travel from outside London. We want central point to be quaint village, town, small city to rent a house. We would then travel to destinations around there but come back to our rental.
Any towns you would recommend with easy access to rail travel would be great. Thanks Jackie
There are many locations that meet your criteria but I really like the South Downs. Somewhere like Rye would be perfect. It's stunningly beautiful, small enough to be cute, big enough to have facilities.
If you want to explore the surrounds, you may want to hire a car.
Alternatively somewhere like Lewes is also nice, and grateful for hiking.
Both are short 1 hour or so train rides from London
See also this thread about Marlow- https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/england/marlow-things-to-do
Exactly the same principle works for Henley on Thames.
Regarding High Wycombe on the above thread there is also a half hourly train, taking 50 minutes, to Oxford.
You could do a huge loop to Oxford, as there is also a half hourly scenic bus ride (or of course frequent train) back to Reading for the bus back to Marlow/Henley.
From Reading it is as fast as 34 minutes by train to Winchester, or about 1 hour 10 minutes (change at Basingstoke) to Salisbury.
The problem with both Henley and Marlow is that they are at the end of railway branch lines, so you're likely to have to keep going back to the main line.
I'd put in a shout for Brighton - plenty of accommodation, the very interesting a quirky Pavilion and so o on but fairly busy. From there you can easily get to Lewes, Arundel, Chichester and Fishbourne (remains of roman villa) by train and to the Seven Sister and South Downs etc by frequent buses.
It's also easy to get to from central London and Gatwick if that's the airport you are flying into (less so for Heathrow, though).
Ely is another possibility, a fraction over the hour from London Kings Cross. It's a small city (about 20,000 population I believe) with a magnificent Cathedral. Very easy rail access to Cambridge, but also on the lines to Kings Lynn (for the North Norfolk Coast by bus), Norwich (all sorts of things to do in Norfolk), Bury St Edmunds and Ipswich (for the Suffolk Coast) and the Cross Country line to Nottingham via Stamford, Oakham and Melton Mowbray (all in Rutland/Leicestershire).
That also passes through Peterborough (for it's Cathedral)- actually also quite a 'green' city.
Even York is a doable day trip, at about 2 hours each way.
The multiplicity of rail routes means that the relative lack of useful bus routes from Ely nowadays doesn't much matter.
It probably isn't a particularly cheap place to stay.
Also Marlow and Henley are only short branch lines, not a significant inconvenience.
There are the good value Anglia Plus one and 3 days in 7 for all rail lines (except to Peterborough and beyond) radiating from Ely- https://www.greateranglia.co.uk/tickets-fares/discounts/rangers-rovers/anglia-plus
noting the mention above of Stamford - in Lincolnshire actually but close to the borders of Northamptonshire and Cambridgeshire - a beautiful stone built market town with the magnificent Burleigh House (where the best Five Star eventing horse show just took place where Ros Canter on Walter took the double). Double of Badmintons, double of Burleigh, team Gold at Paris Olympics
What are the sort of places you are interested in visiting? Palaces/Castles? Historical houses? Churches? Gardens? It will make a difference in the location to base yourself in. One hour radius will give you a lot of options, so a sense of your interests will give us a chance to narrow it down.
