Please help on itinerary for fall trip to England and Scotland

That's 12 locations in 17 days (does 17 include airport days? Do you actually have 15 days?). All are worthy locations, but I'd probably eliminate Scotland immediately. I'd probably go as far as eliminating everything below Cambridge on your list, just so you can immerse yourself a bit more in the places you will see. You're going to lose half a day at least everytime you pack up and travel from one hotel to the next. For reference we spent 2 weeks in Scotland and only saw Edinburgh, Glasgow and the Highlands. We've also spent 3 weeks total in England and haven't been north of London yet.

Welcome to the forum!
There is a lot of help here on the site with itineraries. See if this helps.
https://www.ricksteves.com/europe/england/itinerary

Hi, Jersey girl, I agree with Allan. With only 17 days (less travel time), and also with your husband not wanting to travel to a new place each day, I would get rid of everything below Cambridge, including Scotland, and just stick with Cambridge on up. In fact, if it was me, I would probably eliminate York as well.

You could do London at first and base yourself there for 4 to 5 days, which is really the minimum amount of time to really see and enjoy London. Then you could spend 4 to 5 days visiting Bath, the Cotswolds, Stonehenge, which are all near each other.

Then if you decided you did want to add York in, you could head up there for 3-4 days. You could possibly add in Whitby for one night, which is really all you need for that area. Or if you wanted to eliminate Cambridge, you could add a second night in Whitby.

Or another thought would be eliminating York and Whitby, and booking a multi city flight that arrives in London, but leaves from Edinburgh. So you could still do London, then the Bath/Cotswolds/Stonehenge portion, but instead of heading to York, just head on up to Edinburgh for for a few days and then fly home from there.

In fact, thinking about it, you could make one stop in York if you take the train up to Edinburgh. You can easily see York in a day.

Hello JerseyGirl, and welcome to the forum! Everyone has a different travel style so it's difficult to say, but this is definitely a very ambitious itinerary for me. But what to cut? There is no right or wrong answer, but something for you and your husband to think over.
With 17 days, I think you can have up to 4-5 bases, one of which will be London. Here is one possibility, leaving out Scotland (save it for your next trip):

Would you be willing to substitute Oxford for Cambridge? If yes, you can go there directly from Heathrow (take the Airline bus). You can visit the Cotswolds from there.

Then perhaps a base in Salisbury. Day trips to Stonehenge and Bath from there. Also possibly Dorset - which part of Dorset are you interested in visiting?

A base in York with day trips to Whitby and the dales.

And finally London, with a day trip to Brighton.

Allan and Mardee also have great suggestions, so definitely something for you to think about. Enjoy the planning and your trip!

This is quite a personal question and there's not really a wrong answer. If it was me, I would split the trip into three sections- 1) London, potentially with a day trip to Brighton, Cambridge, or Stonehenge; 2) York, with day trips to Whitby and/or Yorkshire Dales; 3) Edinburgh, and do one of those guided tours that takes you into the highlands for a day. You could fly into London and out of Edinburgh. The train from London to York is very easy (some of the services are even non stop) and onwards to Edinburgh very easy as well.

London, York, and Edinburgh all have loads of history and amazing architecture, and if you like cathedrals I would say not to miss York Minster (or St Paul's!). For natural beauty you would get the Yorkshire Dales, one of the most scenic parts of the country. I would say those three are must-sees and then you could figure out what additional day trips you want to prioritise. Good luck deciding!

Regarding car hire - a car is a liability in central London: nowhere to park and expensive daily 'congestion charge'.

Parking in Oxford and Cambridge is much the same (and Bath and York??), although no congestion charges yet. If you want to hire a car, I'd be tempted to do London and Oxford by public transport and then hire a car in Oxford in order to see the Cotswolds (much easier by car) and then drive on to Bath etc.

Do think where you will park a car in the historic cities - many hotels near the centres have little or no parking (or may reserve it for disabled guests). If they have parking, it may well be charged for.

Forget Scotland this time.

Choose three main bases - London, then either Cotswolds OR Dorset, then York and North York Moors...

Forget Brighton, unless you do it as a day trip on the train from London. Do Cambridge as a day trip from London, again by train.

Choose either Cotswolds or Dorset. Dorset is less popular with visitors but does have some very pretty small villages. Bath and Stonehenge can be done from Dorset just as easily as from the Cotswolds. (Exploring the area will be easier with a car.)

Final Base York and North York Moors rather than the Yorkshire Dales. You could either spend the whole time in York doing day trips to Yorkshire Dales, Whitby etc OR spend a couple of nights in York and then move to a base in the North York Moors, either Helmsley or Pickering would work. Do Whitby from there.

Start by choosing your top 5 and work from there. From your list I’d choose London, York, Yorkshire Dales, Edinburgh and the Highlands as my top choices, but it is personal. In my opinion even these 5 places would be way too much to accomplish in 17 days.

It sounds as if you may already have your flights determined, so an Edinburgh departure may not be possible. Echoing others (and your gut feeling) that although this is your ideal list of places to see, it is too ambitious. Think about what it is about each location which caused YOU to choose it (not because it's on a must see list). Decide which are the most important reasons. What will you be mostly disappointed about missing and why? Prioritize and see what is logical given your time. Use the wisdom of the knowledgeable forum members (all of the above).

Have you driven on the other side of the road before?

Know that there is always a little grief about what you're striking off the list. But, when you are on your trip, I bet you will not say "oh, I wish we had squeezed that in here or there" because you will be enjoying the moments and activities, and wishing you had more time for those activities and locations that made the cut.

Here's my suggested itinerary: Assuming you're flying in and out of London, upon arrival, take the train to York. After a tiring trans-Atlantic flight sightseeing is meaningless and if you stay in London you probably can't access your accommodations until later in the day. So, use that first day to take the train to York. There is plenty to see and do in York and you can access most of the city on foot.

After days of exploring York, relax and enjoy the (roughly) 4 hour train trip to Bath. Bath can be explored on foot. Day trips to the Cotswolds, Stonehenge, and even Wells or Cardiff are all worthwhile and easily managed by train or MadMax Tours.

Finally, end your trip in London. There is so much to see in London, but if you want to visit Cambridge you could do a daytrip there.

This itinerary requires only 3 different hotels, b&bs or VRBO-type apartments. My suggestion is to utilize public transportation rather than renting a car.

I like your ideas, Anita.

Thanks so much to everyone for your very thoughtful ideas on how to plan the trip. I feel so much better about it, planning to set a few base places to stay and then explore out from there. And my husband is delighted about not changing hotels or wherever every single night!

Best wishes to everyone.