Please help us with longer day trip ideas

Since you've been to a lot of the more obvious towns, how about Norwich? A spectacular cathedral, some nice old buildings, and an interesting art gallery on the university campus.

Deal, Whitstable, Chichester, Salisbury, Colchester, Ely, Lincoln.
Manchester would be interesting for a day.

Hi

Add a vote for Norwich - direct train ride from London Liverpool St. Lovely , historic city centre; two interesting Cathedrals (Medieval one, and Pugin Victorian Catholic one); castle/museum; market; very early and historic old shopping Mall; and loads of independent shops. Great place to go.

Bletchley Park is a very easy day trip on the science category.

I found this awesome site when trying to find day trip ideas for our upcoming trip. I'm not sure how old some of the info is, so best to double check everything, but it's a great site with some great ideas...

http://www.beenthere-donethat.org.uk/londondaytrips.html

Dover would also be an excellent choice. Plenty to see and do and in the summer, the castle hosts a variety o activities such as archery demos, falconry demos, etc. WWII tie ins, the chalk cliffs, Henry VIII stuff....

Or what about Winchester? Not too long a train ride, nice cathedral, some small (very small) museums. Rather pretty.

Winchester, Salisbury, Dover. Closer to "home," Windsor, Hampton Court, Greenwich.

Great ideas so far. We are busy investigating all of them. We're definitely taking a look at Norwich. My husband was there several years ago with our student group to visit the Julian of Norwich chapel. I spent the day with a student who was admitted to the hospital at Bury st. Edmunds. Might be our time to both visit the historic beautiful town on this trip. We are also interested in many of your other suggestions so there could easily be time for a couple of full day trips.

We already have Windsor on our agenda since we've never been there. We are planning to take our son's family to Hampton Court Palace and Greenwich sometime during the week they spend with us before they leave for Scotland. After they leave we have 12 days on our own. We have a nice list of things we want to do again or for the first time in London that we've enjoyed putting together. From our experience of spending longer periods of time in cities it's good to have a mix of nearby things and outings and even then not all gets seen/done. We're firm believers of "we will return". Thanks for all of your great suggestions and websites so far.

How about Leeds, slightly more than 2 hours by train from London. Nearby is Harewood House, which is lovely, with fantastic grounds and bird gardens. Also located in Leeds is the wonderful Royal Armouries Museum.

How about Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. Historic ships and more on display. You can see HMS Victory, HMS Warrior and Henry the 8th's warship Mary Rose, being restored. Climb the Spinnaker Tower for a view all over the harbor. Or take a cruise around the harbour in a boat for £7. http://www.historicdockyard.co.uk

Not far away is Fort Nelson, an interesting old fort.
Royal Armouries - Fort Nelson:https://www.royalarmouries.org/visit-us/fort-nelson
http://www.visitportsmouth.co.uk/things-to-do/royal-armouries-fort-nelson-p2831

You can also visit Southsea Castle, a fort built by Henry the 8th to guard the English coast and the port. It was from this castle fort that he watched the Mary Rose sail out from the harbor and sink. In recent years, the Mary Rose was raised and restored. The Mary Rose Museum tells this story.

I enjoyed visiting Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, but my husband loved it.

Love the suggestions you've received. I too was going to mention Norwich - was there last year and loved it! Didn't see Colchester mentioned and that's also a nice town to visit.

We were also informed by the guide that the Mary Rose sank right in front of Henry VIII's nose. But when I mentioned that once on this forum, Ed (of sainted memory) scolded me and said that was a load of nonsense. Ed the Myth Buster.

Norma, that's what we were told at the Mary Rose Museum also.

Keith, thanks for the additional details. You are right, the Mary Rose was completed in 1511, served until she sank on 18 July 1545. In service for 34 years. Southsea Castle was built in 1544, so was a new castle, but existed there at the time of the sinking of the Mary Rose. http://www.maryrose.org/