Southern England

Canterbury and Bath might suit your requirements.

Check out Rick Steve's Southern England tour's itinerary. You can find it under Tours. They stay at Canterbury, Alfriston, Salisbury, and in or near Penzance. The tour ends in Bath so it is a good place to stay also.

You need to state whether you are driving or using public transport as that can have a bearing on what people suggest.

We will be taking public transportation.

You might like to look at Lewes for southeast England. It's a nice little town which is accessible from London and has good rail links along the coast. You can get to Hastings, for example, or Arundel in the other direction. Brighton is also very close.

Lewes itself has a river and small castle. It also has a brewery and a good pub culture, which might fit the 'flavour of life' criteria.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewes

One word of warning. There is an ongoing problem with the trains at the moment so, before making a decision, you might want to check the transport situation. My comment about good rail links doesn't apply on weeks in which there are strikes!

The trains that have been striking over the past many months are www.southernrailway.com. Not www.southeasternrailway.co.uk or other operators, as far as I recall. See rail maps and timetables for the region at http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations_destinations/maps.aspx.

Expect similar strikes soon on Merseyrail and Arriva Trains North over very similar issues; the Underground over destaffing of stations; and other rail companies, including at least one very large inter city provider, will be dealing with similar issues in the perhaps somewhat longer term.

Bath is supposedly the second most expensive place to stay in England, after London.

If you are using public transport, towns will be easier to access than villages.

Another vote for Lewes or Rye. They have more day trip options than Canterbury and they are compact enough to fully explore in a few days, but offer a good choice of restaurants etc. Alfriston has been suggested. This is a pretty village, but difficult to access without a car.

If you don't want to pay Bath prices, for the south west, I would suggest Cirencester or if you want to travel further from London, Exeter or Truro. Travelling in the summer, you may want to avoid the busy coastal resorts.

Salisbury is a very nice town with a world-class cathedral, an original Magna Carta, a good museum, and nearby Stonehenge. Good train connections to London but if you won't be driving you'll have to plan your day trips carefully.

I'm heading to London area (well W4 Acton actually) in July; after a week or so, I move to Weston-Super-Mare for some beach and Somerset accents; then end up in Hornchurch for the Romford accent (cockney). I don't drive either, and park my big luggage at Paddington Station while in other locations. Also I prefer train for its speed, there are cross-country buses (if you don't mind not stretching your legs or having a limited window view.) Weston is just across the water from Wales. Hornchurch is almost the last station on the District line, so is within London for fares but handy for trips to Clackton or points north by train. Within London, I enjoy Chiswick's slower pace and variety. This trip, I'm using London Guest House for both price and kitchen facilities, with a dozen bus routes from nearby Acton Town Hall.