day trips out of London

Windsor Castle with a visit to Queen Mary's doll house and finish off with tea at the Crooked House of Windsor.

With only 4 days, I agree that Windsor is a good choice. The castle is one of my favorites and our children enjoyed when they were the age of your daughter. There is good shopping (market type, small stores and "high street" stores) and some lovley walks. You can even do a short cruise on the Thames (board the boat near the bridge to Eaton) and see some countryside (and a different view of the castle).

I am not speaking from experience as we, too, are just in trip planning mode. But my 11 year old daughter has expressed a lot of interest in a day tour to Harry Potter locations (Oxford, Lacock). I know there are bus tours as well as (pricey) taxi tours originating in London. If anyone has done any of these, I'd be interested in hearing your feedback.

I completely agree with Laurel. Your 11 year old daughter would love seeing Queen Mary's doll house, then you both can enjoy tea.

Thank you all so much for these ideas. I really appreciate your input. I will definitely look into your suggestions. Happy travels to you all!

Lacock is reachable from Bath by bus. Bus from bath to Chippenham (probably 45 minutes); bus from Chippenham bus terminal to Lacock (15 minutes). Lacock is a very small village, but I suppose if she likes Harry Potter you could end up spending more time. (I havent explored other ways of getting to Chippenham. There are a number of tours to Oxford from London, and apparantly also tours by local Oxford companies (which I would choose).

sorry. Missed half your question. The tours i was on to oxford from london were interesting, but only a few hours in Oxford (some went behind the scenes at the colleges0, and then went on to other sights. Lacock i have only done on my own

Thank you, Brian, for your input. Will check these adventures out!