Solo travel in England for first visit!

*towns a first timer wouldn’t be familiar with :P

While I love Bath, it is not a town that 1st timers are unfamiliar with, particularly Rick Steves fans. It's also pretty busy especially weekends. I also think it is very cool with the Georgian era architecture side by side with the Roman baths.

The Cotswolds are harder to do with public transit but others here on the forum have managed.

Are you flying in/out of London Heathrow? Do you need to be back for a plane departure on day 7?

I will doing the Iceland air stopover connection! I plan to book my ticket this week. Will likely be doing 6 nights in England and 2/3 nights in Iceland. I’ve been traveling to Iceland since I was 21 so I’m looking forward to returning to my place that feels like home to reflect.

I could be up for renting a car for a couple days but to be honest I’m intimidated by driving in the uk for the first time by myself haha

Also thinking: Jurassic Park/Durdle Door, Seven Sisters and hoping the Lewes is the right town to get fulfillment in cafes, walking around streets of shops and charming architecture? I mostly wanted to go to Cotswold to do a falconry tour with owls since they are a significant animal to me

If you'd like to stay in a cottage as opposed to just looking at them, I recommend checking out the National Trust and their self-catering options. https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/holidays

If you find one in an area that you want to visit, and you'll be car-less just make sure it's within easy distance of stores or restaurants. Having stayed in three of their cottages (two in Cornwall near Polruan and Fowey and one in Robin Hood's Bay), I can say they are excellent accommodations for relaxing and often located in beautiful surroundings.

In terms of areas to base yourself, I'm going to toss out a couple options north of the ones you mention (you didn't say it had to be in the south, so taking a chance here): Kirkby Stephen just outside the lake district, reachable by train. Wonderful small town with green hills and walks right out of town (head up to Nine Standards for great views, stay at Old Croft House for great hospitality). If you can get yourself over to the teeny-tiny village of Keld for a night at Keld Lodge, you will have green hills aplenty and a wonderful path along the river Swale to wander for photos and inspiration (not sure about bus service to Keld though). A larger town with more going on (Castle ruins!), but still very near green open hills that are accessible by foot from the town center, give Richmond (not the London suburb everyone talks about, but the town in Yorkshire) a look. These aren't places generally on the US tourist list, I know them from my two trips on the Coast to Coast path, but they aren't unknown either (walkers/hikers especially will know them).

Wherever you end up, have a wonderful trip and a bit of an adventure!

Keld has a fairly basic bus service from Richmond- https://www.littlewhitebus.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/swaledale-service-30-a5-jan-2023-ver2.pdf

Richmond in turn has a frequent bus service to Darlington for main line trains. The bus used to (as far as I know still does) extend up to Darlington train station.

At Kirkby Stephen the railway station is a 1 1/2 mile walk from town. A new field path avoids road walking.

However from 25 March a new bus service will link to main line trains at Oxenholme and Penrith. There is no timetable yet, as the news only broke a week ago, but it should make access to the town far easier than for nearly 20 years.

Other services are run by Western Dales Bus (I expect these to change in March) and by Cumbria Classic Coaches (also likely to change in March).

You can actually stay in a cottage at Kirkby Stephen station.

Richmond has a Castle with a major role in History, a very well converted railway station for eating and entertainment, an authentic Georgian Theatre and a wonderful cobbled market place, also one of the few remaining curfew bells. A very good place to stay.

It was also in years past one of the major administrative centres for the then vast Diocese of Chester. Yes, Chester way over in Yorkshire. That is just a fascinating fact, with no bearing on tourism!

If you are looking for peace and quiet, Bath is likely not the place to find it (though its architecture is lovely).

Keep in mind that England has two Bank Holidays (3 day weekends) in May when roads and tourist attractions will be crowded: May 3-6 and May 24-27.

Will write back more thoroughly but also any recommendation of preference in flying to Heathrow or Gatwick :)

Gatwick is much more convenient for Sussex and the south coast which seems to be your preferred focus. Trains under the airport go directly to Brighton, Lewes (via connection), London, etc.

As Nigel has stated, Gatwick would be the airport to opt for if you want to visit the south coast. Chichester might be a good option to base yourself, easily accessed via direct train from Gatwick airport. From there you can easily travel by train to Eastbourne, Lewes and Brighton.

I can't help you much with tunnels of beech trees although I know plenty of places with beech trees aplenty however you might be interested in Kingley Vale, a nature reserve in the South Downs National Park close to Chichester. It has an incredible grove of yew trees that are amongst the oldest living things in Britain. A climb to the top of the reserve will reward you with spectacular views of rolling English countryside and coastline along with bronze age burial grounds and neolithic sites. A search on google for Kingley Vale will return a very detailed pdf from The South Downs National Park.

I like JC's suggestion of Chichester. I usually go past but he's right.

In the Cotswolds, Moreton-on-Marsh is easily reached by train. From there, you can go on some very nice, peaceful walks.

You can take a bus to Stow-on-the-Wold and then walk to Bourton-on-the-Water and then bus back to Moreton. I enjoyed that very much with my husband.

How about the Chilterns? Easy to get to from Heathrow; access to beach trees, gardens and cottages. Also the Thames path, which I loved more than I ever expected to. I could get around using buses and trains most of the time, but did use taxis to get to Cliveden and Grey's Court. I stayed in the village of Bourne End, but you could stay in Marlow if you prefer something bigger. There may be better places to base yourself if you are okay getting away from the Thames.