Where to go instead of Windsor

What about going to Cambridge?

Where will you be the day before?

Crawley is only a short drive from Brighton on the south coast. The Royal Pavilion will be open, it’s not part of the Royal collection, but was a Royal residence in the past and is an amazing mix of imaginative Indio-Chinese design.

Windsor is an attractive town with some old buildings, a nice walk along the river and the castle looming over it all. There is also the Great Park which has some incredible views of the castle. It is so easy to get to the airport from there in less than an hour.

Where have you been?

I was going to do that once, and ended up in a pub in Twickenham, because I couldn't get into the international rugby game. Was a great day!

Thank you, everyone. I will probably keep our reservation in Windsor. Perhaps we’ll go to Brighton before Crawley and then on to Windsor.

There is also a village called Crawley near Winchester and another near Witney and also Crawley Down not far from Gatwick
The first two would be more interesting to visit than the nondescript town of Crawley or commuter village of Crawley Down

I hope the trip works well for you.

I'd suggest that you lower your expectations for what you'll find in Crawley, West Sussex. It does have two claims to fame. There is the Squareabout, you don't see many of them these days. And every year in November the annual London to Brighton Veteran Car Run https://www.vccofgb.co.uk/lontobri/time_table-route.html takes its midway break there so both cars and drivers can be fed and watered...

Thank you for the suggestions about Crawley. We are planning to visit the other smaller Crawleys as well as the residence of the imaginary Crawleys, “Downton Abbey,” aka Highclere Castle.